The xx win Mercury Prize, the oOoOO next year?

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The Arts Desk has been in two minds about Mercury Award winners The xx, who picked up the £20,000 cheque last night. Joe Muggs loved them, Bruce Dessau was sceptical. Singer and bass player Oliver Sim told the audience at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London that they weren't expecting to win.

"Wow," he said. "Thank you so much. We've had the most incredible year and it has just felt like every day we've just woken up to something incredible we just weren't expecting." Everyone else rather did expect them to win, including the bookies, although grizzled ex-mod Paul Weller made a late run.

Watch video of "Chrystalised" (YouTube):

The band only released their first album in the last year so their rise has been swift. A good tip for next year's prize is to check out the up-and-coming bands at Manchester's In The City shindig next month, known for its unerring radar for the Next Big Thing. Consider the time that went into coming up with these names, let alone any actual music.

Sky Larkin, Is Tropical, Porcelain Raft, Oh No Ono, O Children, Team Ghost, Chad Valley, D/R/U/G/S, Hype Williams, Mz Bratt, Ruff Diamondz,
American Men, Fiction, Breton, Brown Brogues, Ellen and the Escapades, Eagulls, Scorcher, Jodie Conner, Dog Is Dead, Slow Motion Shoes, Lissi
Dancefloor Disaster, Beaty Heart, The Bewitched Hand On The Top Of Our Heads, Mujeres, Youthless, Bright Light Bright Light.

They will be joining the already announced No Age, Mount Kimbie, Male Bonding, Yuck, Crystal Fighters, Factory Floor, oOoOO, White Ring,
Skepta, Kisses (debut UK shows), Ital Tek, Teeth, Andreya Triana, Mazes, John Weise, Spectrals and "many more".

We quite like Christopher Dexter Greenspan, also known as oOoOO: with his haunting beats and ghostly sounds it’s not a surprise that some people are categorising his work under "Witch house", “Drag” and “Haunted House" - it's goth meets disco, sort of. If only The xx and oOoOO could have a battle of the bands, or, failling that, at least a friendly game of draughts.

Watch oOoOO video (YouTube):

Comments

Just a quick clarifying note to say that I always thought The xx's debut album was sinuous, soulful and frequently sublime. I simply thought that when I saw them at Somerset House earlier this year they were a bit of a pop bell jar, sucking the life out of a beautiful venue. And post-prize I'm not flip flopping on that opinion. I didn't see anything in their onstage performance at the Mercurys last night to change my mind. Though they were possibly the most polite band ever at the press call afterwards. Good manners in pop is a rare commodity indeed.

Quote: "Consider the time that went into coming up with these names, let alone any actual music." Well in the case of oOoOO possibly not very long! Yoshimi P-we of The Boredoms other band is called OOIOO and I have 4 CDs by them, so they've been around for a while! I mean I'm sorry, but that's a very, very similar name... As for The xx, it's not just the fact that some older listeners may have come across Young Marble Giants in the past, but in order to be "soulful", in my book, you need to be possessed of a certain level of singing ability, which to be frank the xx, rather lack...

And I should add that I can very well imagine that their sound could get lost in an open air venue, as compared to the beautifully dark and cavernous place where the gig I reviewed took place!

Also as we're mentioning the In The City events, it should be noted that *ahem* Theartsdesk's Joe Muggs is chairing a panel on the rise of dubstep in the industry conference part of proceedings...