Photo: WENN.com

Last night in London (11 September, 2013) the nominees for the 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize were announced. The shortlist included records that were surefire nominations and the typical curveballs the awards have become known for.

After yesterday's nominations ceremony, the Gigwise team has chosen their personal favourites from the shortlist and revealed who we think should win the coveted award - and why.

James Blake - Overgrown
Once seen as a leading figure in the dubstep movement, the scene's move into the mainstream and subsequent collapse has worked wonders for James Blake, who found his feet (and how) on his magnificent second album. Ditching the experimental and hugely varied sounds of his debut album, Overgrown was a perfectly paced album of simply stunning electronic masterpieces. Every moment, every lyric and every production flourish seemed planned and perfected in intimate detail. Blake proved himself poised for the major leagues with Overgrown, and at the same time holding onto everything that made him sound so special in the first place. A beautiful album and a deserved Mercury Music Prize nomination. Michael Baggs

James Blake

Disclosure - Settle
Call it house, call it garage, call it pop, just don't call it EDM. Disclosure are the real deal. Hearing those first sexy, atmospheric demos such as 'Flow' for the first time was a revelation, and it seemed only a matter of time before everyone else caught on. And caught on they did, sending Guy and Howard Lawrence's debut, Settle, straight to No.1. The album itself is pretty much flawless, a continuous flow of spine-tingling tunes offset by the vocals of the most exciting UK artists out there. At the age of 18, I was stacking shelves in Asda, not co-creating a genre-pushing album. The Lawrence brothers deserve the Mercury prize for that reason and many more. Gaby Whitehill

Disclosure

Rudimental - Home
Right now it feels like music is plagued by the likes of Flo Rida releasing unbearable pop and dance tracks about nonsense. Amongst the rubbish, though is a shining light for electronic music, and that is Rudimental with their debut album Home. Experimenting with variety of sounds across the record, from soulful garage pieces to the fast-paced, drum ‘n’ bass anthems such as ‘Feel The Love’ and ‘Not Giving In’, the album also provides a platform for some of the UK’s finest up and coming vocalists. Home only provides the evidence of why Rudimental have been so successful the past year and why they’re becoming the kings of the dance and urban scene. Tamsyn Wilce

Rudimental

David Bowie - The Next Day
Regardless of hype, The Next Day is a brilliantly strange journey of wonderfully imaginative and excellently crafted songs from a rare talent. The rarest in fact. The playful defaced Heroes album cover says it all: the record is loaded with the sense of an artist looking back at a colourful life behind him, and instead of being weighed down or having to compete with his own legacy, carrying it with him to use all of his acquired artistry and experience to say something in a language that only Bowie can. The Mercury Prize tends to shy away from awarding the gong to legends and giants of such a monumental stature, but the very reason he's on the shortlist is because he sounds more relevant now than ever. Andrew Trendell

David Bowie (who unsurprisingly, did not attend the Mercury Music nominations)