Mercury Prize nominees react to shortlist announcement

Rudimental's (pictured) Home is nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize

The nominees for the 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize have been announced.

The artists up for the award, which names the best British and Irish album of the year, include Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Rudimental and Disclosure.

Laura Mvula, Jake Bugg, James Blake and rock legend David Bowie are also up for the award.

Villagers, Laura Marling and London based producer Jon Hopkins complete the list.

The finalists were chosen from more than 220 albums, submitted to the panel by their record labels.

Alt-J's An Awesome Wave won the award last year.

Foals drummer Jack Bevan told Newsbeat that being nominated is something you can never take for granted.

The Oxford band's third album Holy Fire is the second release that has been nominated for the prize after 2010's Total Life For Ever.

Jack added: "The Mercury Awards is probably one of the only awards that really means something if you're from England and we're really proud to be part of it again.

"It's so hard to really distance yourself when you've spent so long making it. It's incredible to actually get this kind of reception off it. It makes you feel validated, it makes you feel like what your doing is working."

Bookmakers William Hill have named Bowie as the favourite alongside the Arctic Monkeys album AM. They won the prize in 2006 for their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Disclosure are nominated for their debut album Settle

An act who will be hoping to follow in the Sheffield band's footsteps are Rudimental. Their debut record Home, which went to number one when it was released in April, is also up for the prize.

They said they've come a long way in the past 18 months.

"Only a year and a half ago we were sort of working nine to five jobs in schools as behaviour mentors and music technicians so to be here, being nominated for a Mercury is incredible," they said.

"We put a lot of effort into it (the album) and we wanted to show people that we weren't just a singles act."

James Blake's second album Overgrown is also nominated.

He said: "It feels really really nice just to be recognised on my home turf. I have a really international fan base and sometimes in the UK that isn't conducive to not having a great response here... But I have a really nice time here (in the UK) I'm very grateful."

During the nomination ceremony BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne, who unveiled the shortlist, said: "It's been a great year. It's always a challenging task to decide a shortlist of just 12 releases and that has been made all the more difficult by the sheer volume and quality of music that's been released."

The winner of the £20,000 prize will be announced on 30 October in London.

The full 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize shortlist is as follows:

Arctic Monkeys - AM

David Bowie - The Next Day

Disclosure - Settle

Foals - Holy Fire

Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg

James Blake - Overgrown

Jon Hopkins - Immunity

Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle (pictured)

Laura Mvula - Sing to the Moon

Rudimental - Home

Savages - Silence Yourself

Villagers - Awayland

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