This week's show looks ahead to the Mercury prize, to be dished out to one of 12 nominees next Tuesday (7 September). Alexis Petridis is joined by Rosie Swash, Alex Needham and Michael Hann to discuss albums by Dizzee Rascal, Paul Weller, Foals, Corinne Bailey Rae, Mumford & Sons and Biffy Clyro, and there are interviews with Kit Downes Trio, Laura Marling, the XX, Wild Beasts, I Am Kloot and Villagers. The panel also give their verdict on who they think will walk away with the prize â€' and who they think deserves it.

Let us know your thoughts on this year's prize (and friend us on Facebook and Twitter), and we'll be back next week.

Dizzee Rascal has told Newsbeat that he "doesn't know why" he's not headlining this weekend's Reading and Leeds festival.

Plus Cribs, Pendulum, Maccabees all set for second day of this year's event

Main Stage crowd gets hit-filled set

Plus Cribs, Pendulum, Maccabees all set for first day of this year's event

Plus singer dedicates song to Dizzee Rascal

WHAT: End of the Road Festival
WHEN: September 10-12
WHERE: Dorset, England
WHO: Wilco, Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, Wolf Parade, the Mountain Goats, Black Mountain, Iron & Wine, the New Pornographers, Caribou, Phosphorescent, Here We Go Magic, the Antlers, Mountain Man, Phil Selway, Edwyn Collins, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Ra Ra Riot, Ruby Suns

WHAT: Bestival
WHEN: September 9-12
WHERE: Isle of Wight, England
WHO: The Flaming Lips, LCD Soundsystem, the xx, Hot Chip, Dizzee Rascal, Fever Ray, Flying Lotus, Sleigh Bells, Gil Scott-Heron, Black Mountain, Four Tet, Jonsi, Roxy Music, Skream, Memory Tapes, the Prodigy, Simian Mobile Disco, Echo & the Bunnymen, Wild Beasts, the Antlers, Neon Indian, Toro Y Moi

WHAT: LOLA
WHEN: September 16-19
WHERE: London, Ontario
WHO: Caribou, Jamie Lidell, My Brightest Diamond, Lee Ranaldo, Born Ruffians, White Rainbow, James T. Cotton, Tony Conrad, Rhys Chatham Trumpet Trio, Land of Talk, Chicago Underground Duo, Christopher Willits

WHAT: Middlewest Fest
WHEN: September 10-11
WHERE: DeKalb, IL
WHAT: P.O.S., Maps and Atlases, Owen, William Elliott Whitmore, Murder By Death, Russian Circles, Smoking Popes, MC Chris, Frank Turner, Ha Ha Tonka

The latest talent-spotter to enter a crowded marketplace is offering unsigned acts a cooperative record deal along with their taste of success. But is it as fair as it sounds?

For nearly a decade, Simon Cowell has dominated the format of talent contest TV. In the process, the Pop Idol and X Factor machines have come to dominate the charts, leaving bands and artists that don't fall into the narrow formula of these shows struggling for broader attention.

More recently, rivals have attempted to get in on Cowell's act. In 2007, MobileAct Unsigned (which turned into Orange unsignedAct in 2008) gave exposure to artists on Channel 4, with Lauren Laverne, Alex James, Jo Whiley and record executive Simon Gavin taking the place of Cowell, Cheryl et al. Maybe it was because the show wasn't shown on prime-time telly but on Sunday afternoons, or maybe it just wasn't very good, but I've yet to see any of the contestants â€' or even the winners â€' make any headway in the aftermath (Tommy Reilly, anyone?). 

The latest show of this kind is Must Be the Music, which Sky claims is, well, about the music. It strikes me, however, as being a bit like a cross between Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor, with Dizzee Rascal, Jamie Cullum and Sharleen Spiteri buzzing their approval or disapproval of the competing acts. With The X...

Read More

Photo by Autumn de Wilde

-- On August 24, Eels will release Tomorrow Morning, their second new album of 2010, via the group's own E Works label. They'll follow it with a big world tour.

-- Cats and Dogs, the 1993 album from scuzz-rock greats Royal Trux, will return to print on August 24, when Drag City reissues the record.

-- On August 24, Dean Wells' lo-fi bedroom-pop project the Capstan Shafts will release the new album Revelation Skirts via Rainbow Quartz. Pitchfork contributor Matt LeMay produces and plays drums.

-- As previously reported, the Libertines will reunite to play England's titanic Reading and Leeds Festivals, which go down August 27-29 in the towns that bear the festivals' names. The festival lineups also include Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Phoenix, Guns N' Roses, Queens of the Stone Age, Modest Mouse, the Walkmen, Crystal Castles, Band of Horses, Dizzee Rascal, Yeasayer, Girls, Weezer, Los Campesinos!, Klaxons, Caribou, the Big Pink, Surfer Blood, Warpaint, Local Natives, Kele, and about a million other bands.

After years in the shadow of Brooklyn bands, the British album is stronger than ever. Rosie Swash salutes a Mercury shortlist that reflects the boom in homegrown talent

Has there ever been a more maligned award than the Mercury music prize? The annual round of hand-wringing and what's-it-for criticism began even before yesterday's shortlist was announced â€' though, if anything, the dissenting voices have been a fair bit quieter since. Does this mean this year's 12 album nominees are an unusually safe bet? Dizzee Rascal, the xx, Paul Weller: you could argue that the judges have managed to nod in every musical direction this island has to offer. Or, less cynically, you could say the range is a positive sign that British music is on fighting form, after a period of several years in which the US album has dominated the awards scene, as well as critics' and readers' polls.

In fact, the field has seemed even narrower than that: for the last couple of years it's been largely Brooklyn exports who have swept the board. Last year brought wildly successful albums from Brooklyn-based Dirty Projectors, Brooklyn-based Grizzly Bear and Brooklyn/Baltimore-based Animal Collective. In 2008, the Guardian critics' end of year poll for best album was topped by New Yorkers TV on the Radio and their excellent political art-rock LP Dear Science (the influential US website Pitchfork agreed with us); meanwhile, the readers chose Wisconsin's cabin-dwelling troubadour Bon Iver and his album For Emma, Forever...

Read More