A tense hush falls upon the blog as I make my way towards the podium, badly disguised as Jools Holland. "Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the 2005 Culture Vulture Mercury Music Prize is...."
Well, not Antony and the Johnsons, for a start, underlining this prize's motto that "aesthetic judgments are largely arbitrary". (Though having said that, something dangerously like a Nationwide/Culture Vulture consensus looked poised to emerge at times during the raucous deliberations of our jurors, some of whom seemed very keen on spoiling their ballot papers - and I Am a Bird Now was actually the very close runnerup.)
It wasn't won by William Hill's contenders-of-choice Kaiser Chiefs, either, though they had their champions. So, too, did Bloc Party, Polar Bear, the Magic Numbers, the Go! Team, Maximo Park and Hard-Fi, but not enough to bring them the much-coveted laurels.
It was, as we judges say on these occasions, a very tough decision; one that caused a certain amount of mindless violence before voting closed early this afternoon. Our thanks for the unpaid judging time put in by our panel - a select bunch they may be, but there are still about four times as many of them as there are Mercury judges.
Without further ado, then, the winner is Maya Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., for Arular, praised by many of the judges for its "unique" blend of ragga, hip-hop and grimy pop. Anyone who disagrees with this verdict is encouraged to set up their own prize.
