Speech Debelle

Why Mercury win for Speech Debelle marks return to award's roots

Unlike other big-budget nominees, 2009's £20,000 may actually mean something

17 Sep 2009

The sales of Elbow's fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid, quadrupled after their Mercury Award in 2008. It's a safe bet that the winner of this year's accolade, Speech Debelle, will match at least that part of the Manchester's band's huge success: the…

Hitlist: Music

17 Sep 2009

Speech Debelle, Music Like A Vitamin, NME Radar Tour, Pixies

Speech Debelle wins Mercury Prize

Celebrity Gossip

8 Sep 2009

Speech Debelle was the winner of the Barclaycard Mercury Prize on Tuesday night (08.09.09). The little-known British rapper surprisingly beat off stiff competition from the 11 other nominees, including Florence and the Machine, Kasabian, La Roux and…

2009 Mercury Music Prize shortlist on show

Regardless of who triumphs, contenders' nomination is gain enough

24 Jul 2009

This past year has seen Elbow prove to all just what a Mercury win can do to a band's career. Though toiling for near 15 years in relative indie obscurity, seemingly destined to never play the arenas their songs merited, their 2008 victory for fourth…

2009 Mercury Prize shortlist announced

Kasabian, The Horrors, Bat For Lashes and others. Plus Spotify playlist

21 Jul 2009

The shortlist for this year's Mercury Prize - the annual £20,000 award for the best album by British and Irish artists - was revealed this morning. The twelve albums nominated were announced by Lauren Laverne at The Hospital club in London's Convent…

Speech Debelle: Speech Therapy

28 May 2009

Sister label Ninja Tunes has recently diversified out beyond the stoner electronica it’s been famed for with quality acts like Yppah and Fink, and now hip hop heavyweights Big Dada are proving they’re no slouches either. First came the post-Basement…

Singles and Downloads

14 May 2009

Take four kids from Northern Ireland and force feed them AC/DC from birth and you’d create The Answer, a scarily authentic gonzo rock outfit who create a fun fluster of riffage and shrieking on ‘ Tonight’ (Albert Productions) ●●● Brainless fun…