The Mercury Prize-winning, chart-topping alt-J start 2022 with a bang, releasing their electrifying new track HARD DRIVE GOLD, the third song to be taken from their forthcoming album THE DREAM, set for release on 11 February via Infectious Music / BMG.
Hard Drive Gold is a true burst of energy; a spiritual successor to 2014’s Left Hand Free. The song is propelled by a direct and relentless groove, with vocalist Joe Newman finding space to launch into gently subversive lyricism that sends up those looking to make a quick buck from cryptocurrency. The chanted refrain of “Don’t be afraid to make money, boy” increases in force throughout the track, and seems to resemble more of a warning than a celebration.
Speaking about the song, band member Gus Unger-Hamilton says, “Hard Drive Gold is a slightly tongue in cheek song written at what we thought was the height of the cryptocurrency gold rush. It’s the story of the ultimate childhood fantasy, the schoolboy who becomes a millionaire overnight, and the different interactions he has with people in his life from teachers to neighbours. How ironically you interpret its message is entirely up to you …”
The song is accompanied by a video which is Joe Newman’s directorial debut. Across the band’s career Joe has been involved in developing the ideas of several alt-J videos and now with Hard Drive Gold he takes the full step up. The video is co-directed with his partner Darcy Wallace who choreographs for both film and music videos. Speaking about his involvement in the video, Joe says, “Growing up enjoying cinema greatly, I saw our videos as opportune moments for directors to create stories purely, so the band did not appear in our videos. By avoiding cuts to a band playing in an aeroplane hangar, the audience could focus on the cinema rather than the indie band music video tropes. I had ideas for videos that I passed onto directors to develop, and watching these directors execute some of those ideas inspired me, and now I want to understand and experience the process at a deeper level.”
Any help in finding the sessions (I know there's a couple on YT) would be great, thank you :)
As a Brit and a music lover, the Mercury Prize is an interesting award. For those outside of the UK, it is a shortlist curated by a panel of judges who decide what they believe the 12 best albums released by British and Irish artists in the past year, and the shortlist for 2021 was just announced today. A winner is then announced in September who gets given a £20,000 money prize.
Now the Mercury Prize is rather infamous for favouring certain genres and more 'artsy' acts, Rock and Indie has always been a favourite, jazz often only gets one nomination each year, and metal gets no recognition whatsoever. They are also infamous for a trend in choosing really left-field and unexpected albums as the winner - the most infamous example being the M People's win in 1994, when they were put up against Blur's Parklife, Pulp's His 'N' Hers, and The Prodigy's Music For The Jilted Generation. These biases and often odd choices has made people as nothing important for any artist.
But the Mercury Prize is also well known for giving artists a huge boost in sales, in 2008, Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid won, and sales for the album went up by 800%. Other acts have seen their Mercury winning albums as helping to propel their career, Dizzee Rascal, Franz Ferdinand, and the Arctic Monkeys all won the prize for their debut, and since then have become some of the most celebrated British acts in their field.
But at the end of the day, does it all matter? Is it all just a personality contest, or should the prize be lauded as a trophy that they should strive for to help catapult their career or cement their legacy? Each year I enjoy listening to the Mercury Prize nominees and ranking them; and see if I can predict the winner. I would love to hear other people's thoughts on the prize, whether it be from outside the UK or not.
There don't seem to be any clips of them performing at the awards ceremony in 2006 available anywhere on the internet and all summaries of the event I came across don't mention anything about them performing at the awards.
Shortlisted nominees as below.
Are there any artists that you think should have been shortlisted? Have you listened to any of the albums nominated and what did you think? Who would you like to win?
Feel free to discuss!
- Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
- [Berwyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berwyn_(musician) – Demotape/Vega
- Black Country, New Road – [For the First Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_First_Time_(Black_Country,_New_Road_album)
- [Celeste](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeste_(singer) – Not Your Muse
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – [Promises](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promises_(Floating_Points,_Pharoah_Sanders_and_the_London_Symphony_Orchestra_album)
- Ghetts – [Conflict of Interest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_Interest_(album)
- Hannah Peel – Fir Wave
- Laura Mvula – [Pink Noise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Noise_(album)
- [Mogwai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogwai_(band) – As the Love Continues
- Nubya Garcia – [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_(album)
- [Sault](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sault_(band) – [Untitled (Rise)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_(Rise)
- Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend
Mogwai attend & perform at the 2021 Mercury Prize in support of their #1 album! Though this is not a normal gig for the band, it will still be interesting to see what song is played (probably a single!).
Tickets to the show are still available as of this post! To enter the venue you must be vaccinated or provide a negative test result.
Stay tuned as we update this post.
Photo Credit: Apollo in London
Good luck, guys!
|EVENT INFO|
- Times:
- Doors @ 7pm
- Event appears to begin at 8pm (per tickets page) but according to Mercury Prize website it begins at 9pm (3pm CST in the US)
- Free Streaming* on BBCFour (iPlayer) begins at 9pm.
- The majority of the artists shortlisted will perform one track from their shortlisted album.
- Arlo Parks ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams‘ - 2021 WINNER
- BERWYN ‘DEMOTAPE/VEGA‘
- Black Country, New Road ‘For the First Time‘
- Celeste ‘Not Your Muse‘
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra ‘Promises‘
- Ghetts ‘Conflict of Interest‘
- Hannah Peel ‘Fir Wave‘
- Laura Mvula ‘Pink Noise‘
- Mogwai ‘As the Love Continues‘
- Nubya Garcia ‘SOURCE‘
- SAULT ‘Untitled (Rise)‘
- Wolf Alice ‘Blue Weekend
|REHEARSAL|
- Pics from rehearsal posted by Martin
|SONG PERFORMED|
- Ritchie Sacramento
|MEDIA|
- Free Streaming on BBCFour (iPlayer) begins at 9pm.
- Video of Mogwai's Performance
Mogwai at the 2021 Mercury Prize
* I tested streaming BBCFour via iPlayer with a VPN and it appears to work in the US. Your mileage may vary.
Edit: I can't edit the Post Title but yes, I understand it's generous to specify there will be a Setlist when it's reportedly one song. I meant to change before posting but didn't. Sorry if this causes any confusion!
Edit 2: Bummed that they didn't win but the fact that they made it to this and had a #1 album this year is n
... keep reading on reddit ➡
