LONG STORY ON SHORTLIST FINALISTS
Without further ado, here are the 10 artists competing for the award: Black Keys, Thickfreakness; Bright Eyes, Lifted; Cat Power, You Are Free; Cody Chesnutt, The Headphone Masterpiece ; Floetry, Floetic; Interpol, Turn On The Bright Lights; Damien Rice, O; Sigur Ros, ( ); The Streets, Original Pirate Material; Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell. The 10 aritsts were winnowed down by “Listmakers” such as Dave Matthews, Flea, Erykah Badu, Perry Farrell, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and directors Spike Jonze and Cameron Crowe.
The award will be handed out on Oct. 5 at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. Performing that night will be Interpol, Damien Rice, Bright Eyes, Cat Power and Black Keys. The show will be taped for MTV2, and a 60-minute special will air repeatedly throughout the month.
If you want to see it in person and you lack the juice for free tickets, they go on sale this Saturday through your Ticketmaster outlets.
Said Shortlist co-founder Tom Sarig: “We're thrilled to be able to provide this year's finalists with a big bold showcase for their creativity. But seriously, how the hell do you pronounce Sigur Ros, let alone their album title?”
Added co-founder Greg Spotts, “The addition of an MTV2 special is the realization of our dream to bring dynamic and unique artists to a broad audience of music lovers. Plus, they promised I’d get to meet John Norris’ hair.”
MTV2 GM David Cohn chimed in: “Our mission at MTV2 is to actively support exciting new artists, so a partnership with the prestigious Shortlist Music Prize is a natural. The MTV2 special will not only give our viewers an inside view of the artist 'Listmakers' deciding the winner, but will also feature exclusive live performances from these great artists. Though we promise not to pre-empt any episodes of Newlyweds for this.”
And that about covers it, though more info can be found here.