On Friday, the prestigious and highly debated Mercury Prize nominees were announced and The Vaccines' frontman, Justin Young, had some harsh words for the voting body, saying, "It looks like a list that's compiled by old people. It looks like the 12 records my dad bought this year."
As reported by Music Times earlier today, the prize is one of the most coveted among UK musicians and is selected by music critics and music industry insiders selecting their favorite albums of the past 12 months.
This year's nominees include How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful by Florence + The Machine, Syro by Aphex Twin, In Colour by Jamie xx and My Love Is Cool by Wolf Alice among others.
In an interview with NME, Young criticized the list for being out of touch with modern music, but that's not a slight against the nominees he said.
"... I'm not saying that in a nasty way because there are records on there that I love, but there are elements of it that feel slightly out of touch," he told NME.
He said acts such as Foals, Maccabees or Everything Everything would have represented a swath of the British music scene that doesn't get enough attention. Out of the nominees on the list, Young picked Wolf Alice as his favorite to win. However, Florence + The Machine and Jamie xx are the current frontrunners.
For those thinking Young is just bitter over the fact that The Vaccines weren't nominated, he had this to say:
"We've never been nominated so we never expect to be," he told NME, adding: "The cafetiere drinking, Kentish Town-dwelling, Pizza East, 6 Music listener; that's not our demographic."
The winner of the prize is announced at a ceremony at London's Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House on Nov. 20. Watch The Vaccines and more discuss the award below.
Full list of nominees:
Aphex Twin - Syro
Benjamin Clementine - At Least For Now
Gaz Coombes - Matador
C Duncan - Architect
Eska - Eska
Florence + The Machine - How Big How Blue How Beautiful (pictured)
Ghost Poet - Shedding Skin
Jamie xx - In Colour
Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys
Slaves - Are You Satisfied
Soak - Before We Forgot How To Dream
Wolf Alice - My Love Is Cool
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