Jools Holland took to the stage (um some stage?) in London this morning to announce the shortlist nominees for this year's Mercury Music Prize. As I'm sure you all know, this is one of the most prestigous awards to be given out in the UK music world... as well as the fabulous cash prize of £20,000. Personally it lost a little prestige in my eyes the year they overlooked Pulp's "His n Hers" in lieu of giving the prize to M People. Upon reflection I'm sure they now agree with me... anyhoo...We'll find out September 6th exactly who won but for now we can all argue about the list below to suss out who deserves it most...

XL Recordings has finally announced a March 22 release date for the stellar debut full-length from Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. Yeah, we know. But trust us, it might just be THE album to beat in 2005 - it's THAT good. The record was initially penned in for a February release, but was held up due to legal issues with clearing the samples on the record. The track, "U.R.A.Q.T.," found on album advances and promos, will now NOT appear on the US version of the disc, due to an uncleared Quincy Jones sample. The same week that "Arular" hits stores will also see M.I.A. making some rare Stateside appearances. We've got 'em on our TOURS page.