The Nationwide Mercury Prize, Europe's Number One Arts Prize, according to their website, just announced the shortlist of twelve British artists eligible for this year's prize. Alternative rock stalwarts, Radiohead, made the cut for their groundbreaking In Rainbows, one of 2007's most blogged about records. So did the unusual pairing of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for the surprisingly successful, Raising Sand, but a host of newcomers are also in the running.

Via Billboard:

The Mercury judges will select their album of the year from the shortlist at a ceremony held in London Sept. 9. The ceremony, which will feature live performances from various nominees, will be announced live on national TV channel BBC 2, which will also broadcast the awards show on Sept. 12.

NME's odds gives the venerable Radiohead and The Last Shadow Puppets' The Age Of Understatement a five-to-one chance of winning.
Since the success of Amy Winehouse, Britain has offered us another smokey-voiced chanteuse. Adele (and 8/1 from NME) and her album 19 (she really is only nineteen) of course draws the obvious comparison to Winehouse, with her soulful style.Betty Rocker has this to say:

It's hard to say who came first, who's truly better, but I don't really care. I'm just really enjoying all this Pop&Soul-y stuff that's coming out. Everything old is new again.

But is everything old new again? Carrie Brownstein formerly of Sleater-Kinney and currently writing for NPR's Monitor Mix says:

...which is to export a new batch of blue-eyed soul in the form of (thus far) Duffy, Adele, and Amy Winehouse. It's almost as if Sandie Shaw, Cilla Black, and Lulu (let alone Dusty Springfield) never existed. The 21st Century versions of these songstresses look and sound retro; in fact, the only update I can think of is that the U.S. is paying more attention to their music this time around (tattoos and a drug addiction hardly count as an improvement on the old.)

The Guardian:

Great albums by Estelle and Laura Marling count for two of the five female solo acts nominated. After overlooking last year's best record (Amy Winehouse's Back To Black) will the judges finally give the gong to a woman? (It's been five years!)

Though the sound is similar, it's a little unfair, if completely understandable, to label her the "next Amy Winehouse."
One breakout British act surprisingly not up for the Mercury prize is the much talked about and universally acclaimed Kate Nash. Her 2007 debut album, Made of Bricks, peaked at number 36 on The Billboard 200. Pitchfork was one of the firsts to call foul.

But no M.I.A.? No props to Coldplay for actually giving us something to work with this time out? No fucking Portishead? Where's the Kate Nash? The Duffy? And if you're gonna throw a bone to jazzbos like Portico Quartet's Knee-Deep in the North Sea, why not fling it in the general direction of Robert Wyatt's awesome Comicopera? Just sayin'.

Of course, someone's favorite will inevitably get left out.