Patrick Kelleher!! yay! At least David Kitt will be appeased!!

Ooh, a couple of pop albums I was expecting to get on didn’t. I think I only predicted 5 of these, which is bad form for me, but also pleasantly surprising.

I wish Cian Nugent had made it. I think he’d have had a real shot once on the shortlist, but unfortunately it was always going to be a long shot.

Le Galaxie appears to be a rather big omission. Not a bad list, there’s no there making up the numbers anyway.

Jaysus, poor call by the judges to omit The Minutes from that list.

7 of the judges have already been judges – are they running out of people? Very poor showing in that regard

Good list and a good night of live music.
We cut corners, Lisa Hannigan or Tiernnasaur to win.

Great to see Patrick Kelleher & his Cold Dead Hands on there. David kitt was right !
just took the rest of Ireland 2 years to catch up.

Looks like The minutes and la Galaxie are vying for the ‘Patrick Kelleher choice omission’ award, last year won by Solar Bears.

Is Naomi on the judging panel the same one who came on here every year slagging off the shortlist? It is, isn’t it? Wow, what a neck!

Pugwash, by a country mile

@15 not fair on Nay, in that I would see her inclusion as a proactive decision by the organisers to be more recognising of the sort of music she felt was overlooked in the past.

As for the list: it would be lovely to see Patrick Kelleher win. His Golden Syrup album has a very mysterious heart and depth to it (not to mention great tunes).

@18 Music appreciation is not bird watching or train spotting or buttefly collecting; it is not the case that the rarer the species the better. To paraphrase Obi Wan, this is not the shortlist you are looking for.

@18 – Ciaran.

TBH I can’t remeber the points he made. Do you have a link and save me searching. Would be interesting to read it again.

What albums would you have included if it was your top 10 out of interest…you don’t mention them.

I think it’s a strong list for the small inde labels. Popical Island + Richter (to highlight two) both reaping rewards for all their great work.

I second what was said by someone else about Land Lovers. Shame. Theirs would be on my general albums of 2011 list, not just irish ones.

“I can’t help but feel that there’s other albums that could have been highlighted instead of ones with major label backing that have made it on.”

so if you were going to change two albums from the list, would it be the two through EMI ?

@15: Yep, been here yelling every year. My slagging store ain’t depleted yet either.

No doubting the quality of the top 10 listed, great selection but a tad disappointed “Blood and Bones” from SJ McArdle didn’t make the cut. Far and away the most played Irish cd in my collection during 2011. A totally unique voice and superb songwriter.

Tieranniesaur (and Popical Island) all the way!

BellX1??? Lisa Hannigan and Jape are a bit safe, pity there’s not more surprise’s, altough yer man and his dead hands were a surprise. Anyways may the best haircut win.

ciaran @18

I declare thee winner of the most unoriginal, moany, contradictory Choice Prize comment of 2012.

Every year people moan about how the list includes albums released on “major” labels and how it should have been used to highlight lesser known works. Newsflash for you: the prize is for the BEST Irish album, not the Little Irish Album That Could (with a bit of leg-up). The fact that some of the nominees have been nominated before isn’t a cardinal sin either. It shows that there are genuinely talented people in this country who can follow up one album with another of a similar standard. That kind of ability and professionalism deserves to be celebrated as much as any homemade, self-released album.

“it seems like the same acts over and over again (Jape, Hannigan, BellX1), and then the year’s usual ‘up-and-coming’ bands.”

God, that’s awful, isn’t it. A mixture of established acts proving their staying power and promising new acts. What kind of monsters would want a shortlist including such an evil concoction?! You seem to have a problem with any kind of shortlist. You’re not happy if they’re well known and you’re not happy if they’re new bands that have done well in the previous year. Who the hell would you nominate??

Calling this list “Meteor-lite” shows how quickly some people have forgotten the awful depths that the Meteor Awards’ nominations sunk to. Most of these acts would not have gotten next nor near a Meteor nomination. They’ve been nominated for the Choice Prize because they deserve to be. The democratic process of selecting the albums and choosing a winner naturally favours work that can appeal to a decent range of people so, sorry, but niche releases just aren’t going to compete in this arena. That’s the way it works. See also: politics.

I’ve heard all these albums and while some of them aren’t my cup of Barry’s, they’re all of a suitably high standard to deserve their place. If your own personal fave didn’t make the cut, it’s because it didn’t have the same broad appeal as these ones did. I suggest you get the safety scissors and Corn Flakes box out and make your own award for the album you think was criminally overlooked. Or, more constructively, go and support the bands you feel were shafted by buying their releases & merch and heading to a few gigs. That’ll do them more good than the unsuccessful nomination will do for 9 of these 10 acts.

slightly OT but this is by far the best irish album iv heard in 2012: http://jimmypenguin.bandcamp.com/album/ninjenisid

Disappointed Fred and (esp) Mojo Fury not included, though not at all surprised the latter didn’t make it – very overlooked in the south for some reason – their album is a belter.

Amazed Rubberbandits not on the list

Seems like a good solid list to me, with the possible exception of Bell X1. I’ve been a fan of theirs for years but this new album certainly isn’t in the same league as Passenger or Ocean of Frequency (I’m not familiar enough with the other albums to judge but I’ve heard only good things about all of them). A weak album coupled with what can frankly be described as a dire performance in Cork at the start of December really makes me think that they are possibly occupying a spot undeservedly.

I would have really, really liked to see little xs for eyes nominated, and I’m quite surprised at the omission of Gemma Hayes, I thought her new one was a really strong, cohesive, mature and enjoyable body of work.

Place your bets…Paddy P wants a new pair ( of diamond encrusted ) shoes

Lisa Hannigan 5/2

Cashier No 9 6/1

Jape 12/1

ASIWYFA 16/5

The Japanese Popstars 7/1

Bell X1 16/1

Tieranniesaur 9/2

Patrick Kelleher & HCDHs 10/1

Pugwash 18/1

We Cut Corners 9/2

Good shortlist though bit disappointed that The Dying Seconds or Le Galaxie didn’t make it on…

BellX1 all the way!

Why is it that so many people involved in the Irish music scene, fans and writers alike, have to fall into a distinct camp based along the lines of popularity of a given musician or band? they remain worthy if they remain obscure and if they become popular they are relegated to the dreaded “mainstream”……bellx1 are in the unfortunate position of being just well known enough to be deemed “popular” and therefore not worthy of ANY awards, but not massive enough for it not to matter…..this music snobbery really bugs me because it’s not about music and all about image…this just doesn’t happen in other art forums like film/literary criticism for example….anyway, would love the bellies to get their due but there’s many worthy winners on this list and one or two I have to check out…..but whose idea was it to switch venues to the Olympia, impractical much??

A decent enough list. I have 7 of those albums, and I’m very fond of them all. I never liked Bell X1, so I hope they don’t win. Passenger is a good album, but I’m guessing Lisa’s all right for a few pound, so I’d like the €10,000 to go to somebody who could use it. I know that probably shouldn’t come into it, but it’s a nice injection of cash for those on the list who have a bit of a struggle. I would really like to see Pugwash or Patrick Kelleher get it.

@John Haggis

Another year, another Choice Music Prize, another narrow list. Been saying this from the very first Choice prize. Maybe the Mercury’s inclusion of jazz, classical and trad. is tokenism but at least they’re included. For Chrissake there’s a world of music out there beyond the safety of indie rock – isn’t it about time the judges woke up??

Overall the list is indicitive of a very strong live, original music scene in Ireland presently.

I agree with the comment son the narorwness of the scope of the list. Primordial released a critically acclaimed album in 2011 and despite being very popular in several countires they are largely overlooked here in Ireland. It is not jsut Jazz and Trad that are marginalised.

Having said all that the shortlist contains a lot of extremely hard-working bands and that is always worth commending.

Wow, how predictable…….the comments, not the list
Seems to me like its a pretty solid list but like Ger-Z said, it is a reasonable criticism to say that perhaps the award could cast the net a little wider in terms of the judges and hence the type of music selected. Donnacha Dennehy’s Gra agus Bas comes to mind this year, maybe that Martin Hayes and Denis Cahil album from a while back also.
It’s funny with the comments though, some people get very snide about there being too much “popular” (meaning shite) music, while others get snide about the “cool” (also meaning shite) music. Seems to me like there’s plenty of snobbery on both sides of the arguement.
The award is supposed to be solely about quality of music, so really popularity or lack of is neither here nor there. The problem of course is that this type of comparison and competition between completely different styles is incredibly difficult, something the Mercury prize struggles with every year.
Maybe the solution is to just add an additional one or two acts to the number shortlisted and throw in another “wildcard” judge with slightly more obscure interests just to mix it up. There’s clearly enough good music here to do that, plus wouldnt you love to know that someone like Tony Fenton was made to listen to something like Gra agus Bas, while Donal Dineen had to assess a Script album!
Just my two cents anyway. Its a good list, and as always the award is really useful. Popular acts are well represented (as they should be) but perhaps the odd wildcard in there would be interesting to see.

Fergal/Enda – the same arguments – the same fuming – occur every year with this. Methinks the second Wednesday of every January is becoming a little like Groundhog Day for Irish music scenesters and observers.

@ 52

I agree. Fionn Regan is the glaring omission for me. The list is ok

@enda 69 – it seems to me that the list is indeed predictable since Jim, with the exception of two entries, predicted it. Just sayin …

@ 64

I was at the awards in 2009 and 5 or 6 acts played about 3 songs each

Enjoyable evening with not much in the way of shite talk or brown-nosing

I’m probably lining myself up for ‘whiny non runner on the internet 2011′ award here but i am kinda gutted about not making the long list. Its either because A: my record is too short or B: nobody remembered it and if they did the time/length hurdles would omit it from the long list anyways. To qualify i would have had to add about 6 minutes of music to the record and somehow split the songs into sections to make it into 9 tracks. For anyone who’s ever made a record, both suggestions are just a bit silly and would probably wreck the intended continuity.

A likely response to such internet whinery is something like ‘6 tracks and 20 minutes is an EP, not an album’, to which i would suggest several responses:

‘well, i could have lobbed another few tunes on there that i hadnt spent 8 years writing just to fill it out, as people like nothing more than filler on an album’

‘the uk chart specifies four songs or more, so its an an album in belfast but not dublin apparently’

‘play it twice’

‘fuck you, who made you god of time?’

here it is anywhooo:

http://captaina.bandcamp.com/releases

Anyways, silly time based rule books and whinery aside, Tieranniesaur is my hopeful winner out of the 7 off the list i’ve heard – a lot of the others are great but i just keep coming back to the monolith that is here be monsters – my go-to song of 2011.

Cant be easy being a judge for this thing.

There’s no way in hell that longlist for the choice is a best of list . I’ll bet it just a list of ALL Irish albums released in 2011( or at least all that were on the radar for those compiling the list )

And there is a glaring reason why if you look at the list ……………..i’ll leave it with ye

@ 72 Jim

Phil at @66 and Fergal @ 68 were under that impression……..or at least I was under the impression that they were under that impression

in fairness, my hissy fit this year is about album length, rather than the shortlist.