Is the Mercury Prize killing music's integrity?

By: Rachel Pronger

Earlier this week, the Barclaycard Mercury Prize was won by the bookie`s favourites, The XX; a crowd of endearingly awkward nerds from South London whose debut has been well received by critics and TV producers alike. Whilst this is an uncontroversial victory for the Mercury, famous for last minute side stepping of dead certs, it has not done much to exempt the annual bashing from the media that the award inevitably receives.

Is the Mercury Prize killing music's integrity?

By: Rachel Pronger

Earlier this week, the Barclaycard Mercury Prize was won by the bookie`s favourites, The XX; a gang of endearingly awkward nerds from South London whose debut has been easily received by critics and TV producers alike. Whilst this is an uncontroversial victory for the Mercury, famous for last minute side stepping of dead certs, it has not done much to relieve the annual bashing from the media that the award inevitably receives.

EXCLUSIVE Interview with Scouting For Girls!

Today, I got the chance to speak on the phone with huge British Indie band Scouting for Girls on cricket, music and reality TV.CM: So you`ve recently been doing a lot of charity work, for example cycling from London to Brighton on chopper bikes in August, raising 20,000 for WellChild. Is philanthrope work important to you guys?

FG: I think, yeah, it`s something that we`ve always done before.