James Blake: 'When they said I'd go on to great things after winning the Mercury, I didn't think they meant Wheel of Fortune'
The week in ADM
Michael Palmer reflects on the week's notable action in the ADM chart
So. Another week. We made it, guys. We survived another one.
Phew! What happened this week then? Oh, they announced the winner
of the Mercury Music Prize! It was James Blake. So
there you go. It may end up appropriate that this year's
announcement was made on Halloween, given the dreaded curse of the
Mercury Prize winner - oooooooooo!. If you can add your own sound
effects at home now, that'd be greatly appreciated. Though previous
winners seem to have found away to get over that. As with ALL scary
curse stories, a quick glance over the facts seems to immediately
disprove the whole thing. Previous winners include Primal
Scream (ooooo - sorry), Pulp,
Dizzee Rascal,
Franz Ferdinand, Arctic
Monkeys, Elbow and The
xx who all seem to be doing fine.
Ever wondered what the Mercury Music Prize winner scored on our
humble ADM Chart? Wonder. No. More: he got 7.9. In fact, let us
have a quick peek at the ADM Mercury Music Prize Nominees League
Table:
Laura Marling - 8.3
David Bowie - 8.1
Jon Hopkins - 8.1
Arctic Monkeys - 8.1
Savages - 8.0
James Blake - 7.9
Villagers - 7.9
Foals - 7.6
Jake Bugg - 7.5
Disclosure - 7.3
Laura Mvula - 7.2
Rudimental - 6.8
So the prize goes to 6th place! Who's wrong here, the Mercury
Prize judges, or our collection of sources? Answers on a postcard
please. Except obviously not really. Who still buys
postcards?
In news closer to ADM home, Arcade Fire's
Reflektor just will not run out of steam. After a rough start, with
some average reviews, their score just keeps getting better and
better. They're up to 7.4 now (7.1 last week, 6.7 the week before)
after a handful of strong scores. Prefix chipped in with a 9.5,
saying it's "so beautifully and flawlessly presented that it can be
baffling at times". Its score is hampered by the fact that it still
hasn't received a perfect 10 from any source, unlike their previous
effort The Suburbs, which managed six 10s for an 8.6 average.
Still, at this rate Reflektor will catch up in another three or
four weeks.
In the meantime, Future Of The Left still top our
Current Chart with their 8.6. And they're sitting pretty with no
new reviews for their challengers, and no new entries getting close
to the top this week. The closest was Moonface -
Spencer Krug's third album charting with a 7.6. Mostly 8s, though a
9 from The 405 being anchored by some high 6s and a 7 from Pretty
Much Amazing, Paste and Consequence of Sound. In a close second for
highest new album is White Denim. Their 5th album
includes a few Jeff Tweedy-produced tracks and a
hefty bulk of 8s gives them a 7.5.
Elsewhere: early reviews are in for M.I.A. (more
on that next week), Son Lux charts with a 7.2,
Connan Mockasin confuses our critics to a 6.7,
Midlake's first effort sans former songwriter gets
a 6.5, and our wooden spoon this week goes to Unknown
Mortal Orchestra who only manage 5.9 for their new EP.