Here in the UK, the nominations for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize have just been announced. This annual award has been going since 1992 and is rather coveted among many British artists due its unique remit – to recognise quality new albums regardless of any commercial success or media profile… “the music on the album is the only thing taken into account”.

What the nominations produce is a list of 12 albums released in the last year which should definitely be heard, but for many would otherwise lay undiscovered. In this respect the nomination is almost equally as important as scooping the award. The couple of months between nominations and award ceremony allows extended exposure for music fans to digest the highlighted albums, often producing significant sales spikes which needless to say are extremely important for the lesser known artists.

2010’s nominations see three EMI artist albums – Laura Marling, Corinne Bailey Rae, I Am Kloot (UK-distributed) – recognised as well as two Domino artist, the superlative Wild Beasts and the Irish folk sesnsation Villagers. The full list is below, this year I’ve got an unprecedented 7 of the albums which has produced a very smug appearance on my face. How many have you heard?

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can (buy) Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea (buy) I Am Kloot – Sky At Night Wild Beasts – Two Dancers (buy) The xx – xx Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions (buy) Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N’ Cheek Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation Villagers – Becoming A Jackal (buy) Kit Downes Trio – Golden Foals – Total Life Forever (buy) Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

Latitude is a music and arts festival that takes place near the east coast of England in Suffolk. Now in its fifth year, Latitude presents a popular yet relatively niche collection of established artists from a very broad and respected spectrum.

I’m currently on a 100% attendance rate and it’s been a real pleasure seeing it mature into the celebration it has become. Unfortunately my veteran status didn’t stop me from taking every wrong turn on the way there, thus turning a three hour trip into a four hour slog.

I digress. Once I had exposed the lying wench within the satnav, I spent a glorious few days in almost unprecedented thirty degree sunshine and in the company of (among very many others) – Empire Of The Sun, Laura Marling, Corinne Bailey Rae, Richard Hawley, Wild Beasts, Chief, Hockey, Yeasayer and a fresh-out-of-retirement Belle And Sebastian.

Empire Of The Sun - Latitude 2010

Check out these photos from a glorious festival weekend, and have a look at the official site to see more of Latitude.

Image credit: John Williams Photography.co.uk