Ok, so they’ve announced the shortlist for this years Mercury Music Prize.
I’m never sure what sort of credence this prize has, but it does tend to showcase some more independent music interspersed with the usual big names. And this year, its not different:

Anthony & the Johnsons
Bloc Party
Coldplay
Hard-Fi
Kaiser Chiefs
KT Tunstall
Maximo Park
MIA
Polar Bear
Seth Lakeman
The Go! Team
The Magic Numbers

There’s some very good albums on that list - The Bloc Party and Maximo Park albums are 2 of my favourites of the year, plus the KT Tunstall and Coldplay albums are good too. Of the others, Magic Numbers has some nice tracks on it, but Hard-Fi, The Go! Team and Anthony & the Johnsons are over-rated, the Kaiser Chiefs disappointing and the others I’ve not heard!