Burial - Untrue LP - Mercury Awards 2008 Nomination

[djfurness]

I dont think the fact he didnt show up means it didnt mean much to him, he will be immensely proud I reckon and so he should be.
as hes already stated, hes just the type of person that can step up like that and put himself in what is even more of a public eye than just being known in dubstep circles. he wasnt doing a Mike Skinner 'I dont care' routine

[buzzy]

it was pretty obvious he wasn't going to win as soon as they said he hadn't turned up

I sort of had a bad feeling about it at that point too.
But you would have thought that the Mercury people could show a bit of imagination and just gone with it. It would have been some newsworthy controversy for them.

Lauren Laverne....what a snide bitchy comment that was about him not catching the bus.
What is her problem?
If I remember rightly Lauren Laverne was on one of the Mercury Prize judging panels in recent years. So it would appear that this is really the sort of thing he'd be up against.
You have to be slightly concerned about how they wax lyrical about some of the utter junk that they put in amongst the nominees every year, yet they get really snidey about Burial just because he didn't turn up?

But I suppose Burial not winning is only going to get to you if you really take it that seriously.
You have to remember that it's a handful of about four panelists who are deemed to be musical 'experts' who declare to you what is the 'best'. They're there to tell you what the best album is, as though their opinion is more valid than your own.

I predicted that Burial would win, but only because I thought that they'd realised that they made a cock up of it last year. I mean these people were banging on about Nu-rave as though it was something real and taking it really seriously. These are the people telling you what's the 'best'.

I also thought that Burial would probably win due to what the Mercury's profess their judging criteria to be about. Something about progressing music and moving it forward apparently.
We weren't to know that they were going to move the goalposts this year.
Elbow win, who I don't begrudge for a second as they were one of the decent contenders in my opinion, but it's funny how after the announcement was made they weren't banging on about musical progression and moving music forward this time were they?

I don't think that this awards really achieves what it says it's supposed to do, so it's hard to take seriously.
For three years now there's been what I'd call some very interesting acts who you'd have thought live up to the remit of a Mercury winner. MIA, Bat for Lashes, and now Burial, all doing something different and pushing music forward. But they all lose. Why is this?

It's supposed to be the 'credible' alternative to The Brit Awards isn't it? But I think for three years now it's supposed credibility is diminishing rapidly.
Don't get me wrong, I think Elbow were amongst the top three, they've been slogging their guts out for years with no real recognition, seem to be top blokes, and are a very decent band, but pushing music forward and progressing music?

No slur on Elbow at all, but the last thing I think music needs right now is yet another wave of boy bands with guitars whose names begin with the prefix 'The...' trying to ape Elbow and the like.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that Burial didn't win, there are good things about him not winning. I'm not saying this in hindsight either as I was saying this on another forum should Burial not have won.
I don't know what he thinks but I am just hoping that he isn't too bothered about it. I would have been happy for him to win for how it might have made him feel, but on the other hand it's possibly good for Dubstep to keep buzzing away not on everybody's radar but yet still thriving and continuing in a healthy state.

Anyway, well done Elbow, Lauren Laverne you're a disgrace, and well done Burial.

[ufo over easy]

Lauren Laverne....what a snide bitchy comment that was about him not catching the bus.
What is her problem?

erm..

[buzzy]

Could even be a good thing he didn't win. Don't want a raft of commerical copy cats now do we?

I agree. There'd be thousands of new members swamping the production forum asking "Where's the button in FL Studio to make 'dirty' vocals".

[ajantis_art]

that was a serious post buzzy!

[pangaea]

from the organisers/sponsors perspective, it undermines the event a lot if on announcement of the winner, they can't cut to a big round table of rapturous hyperdub artistes. hugging and kissing each other.

but saying that, maybe the judges genuinely preferred the elbow album??

[optimum]

Lauren Laverne....what a snide bitchy comment that was about him not catching the bus.
What is her problem?

erm..

Yeah I actually thought it was a witty comment about catching the 'Night bus'. She did some ok tunes back in the day too.

[ufo over easy]

i might just be biased in her favour cos she's hot

[mos dan]

kenickie ftw!

[setspeed]

i might just be biased in her favour cos she's hot

yeah, i'd bias in her, er, favour

[Pistonsbeneath]

elbow are ok but cmon...did they really deserve to beat burial or even the portico quartet?

[threshold collective]

Seriously, Burial should have won hands down. SAD to see some inferior artists win it, but oh well "thats the way she goes boys, the way she fuckin goes".

[buzzy]

Lauren Laverne....what a snide bitchy comment that was about him not catching the bus.
What is her problem?

erm..

Yeah I actually thought it was a witty comment about catching the 'Night bus'. She did some ok tunes back in the day too.

It was the extremely sarcastic way in which she added "Shame" with a 'whatevva' expression on her face at the end which struck me.

But I put my hands up and accept that I may be wrong if misread it.

[buzzy]

Seriously, Burial should have won hands down. SAD to see some inferior artists win it, but oh well "thats the way she goes boys, the way she fuckin goes".

I think it's a very flawed Awards.
For a start nominations are chosen by a selected panel of musicians, music executives, journalists and other figures in the music industry.
Music journalists who sometimes talk utter nonsense, such as buying into this notion of Nu-Rave as being the next big thing. What a joke.
Music executives,....speaks for itself really.

It really is just all about other people deemed to have more qualified tastes telling you what the 'best' is.
How on earth can something be subjectively judged as being the best if you have say two or more acts whose albums are all very good?
Of course it's very difficult to not get caught up by it and buy into it all when it comes round each year. If your favourite act wins then it's a very credible setup and they must be the 'best'. But if your favourite act doesn't win the prize then it's just a load of shit.

Part of me couldn't help really wanting Burial to win, and I suppose that if he had done then I'd probably quite readily accept it was because it was the 'best' album. That would be my own double standards making themselves evident because it would suit me.

He's in good company though. You have to remember previous years such as 1994 and subsequent years when many a great act didn't win.
Poor old Radiohead, they lost again.
Take Burial out of the equation and I'd have to say that Radiohead should have won over Elbow. Not because Elbow aren't any good, but because Radiohead live up to the criteria the Mercurys say should befit a Mercury Prize winner, in respect to progressing music and pushing music forward. Although the Elbow album may be good, I don't think that it really lives up to this remit.

[little boh peep]

Buzzy speaks some of the best sense I've seen in this thread.

[buzzy]

Buzzy speaks some of the best sense I've seen in this thread.

Thanks Little Boh Peep, that's kind of you to say.

But whatever I'm saying I think it's probably motivated by a bit of bitterness and sour grapes because Burial didn't win.
If Burial had won I'd probably be posting about how The Mercurys have got themselves on track after last year's farce of a result.

I don't begrudge Elbow at all, but how I feel about these ponsey Mercury music type journos is probably unprintable on the forum.
May as well call it the NME Awards or something.

I still can't believe that somebody interesting like MIA a couple of years ago lost out to a Nina Simone tribute group.

Don't be surprised that if next year it's won by somebody like Ting Tings who the music media have been banging on about a lot recently.
When I finally got round to listen to them I was asking myself "Is this a joke?". The media champion some utter mediocrity as though we are witnessing musical genius.

[capo ultra]

You have to remember that it's a handful of about four panelists who are deemed to be musical 'experts' who declare to you what is the 'best'. They're there to tell you what the best album is, as though their opinion is more valid than your own.

That's exactly why I love the Mercury. Its what sets it apart from most other piece of junk awards show. The majority vote (ie Home voting, popular consensus etc) is nearly always not ever 'the right choice'. Thats why the pop charts are so shit, most people dont know what the fuck they're talking about. That's why underground music is so vital. Elitism is the answer unfortunately, even if we dont agree with the end result. How else would Roni Size gain recognition over the top of Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Radiohead? How else would the talent of the likes of Badly Drawn Boy or Anthony and the Johnsons be showcased?

[spiderman]

The media champion some utter mediocrity as though we are witnessing musical genius.

this!

to me it seems they choose music which "stays in the box" if u will. like against change and new ideas IF they go against their kind of ethos...

maybe even subtley their pickin music which impressions society to be most socially compliant and bland.

[haridas]

in my opinion no music award can amount to accomplishment of producing an album like Untrue. in a way im kind of glad he didnt win because i didnt want it to be labeled as "the dubstep album that won a murcury" when it is so much more than that. im not trying to kiss his arse but i listen to this album almost every day too and from work and i just get repeatedly blown away by composition and feelings put into it

[spaniard]

Big up Burial.

At the end of the day it wasnt meant to be. Dunno why people are getting angry about Burial wasnt the only good artist nominated who also missed out on the prize. At the end of the day he has got positive recognition for what he does got a fair amount of exposure which led to people recognising what a heavy producer he is.

And just cause he didnt turn up it doesnt mean he doesnt care, just means he couldnt be bothered with all the hassle and questions he would have been asked.