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TV on the Radio Tops Shortlist
11/16/2004 4:55 PM, E! Online
Charlie Amter
The Shortlist was shortened to just one Monday night, and TV on
the Radio emerged victorious.
The New York-based rock band
edged out competition from the likes of buzz band Franz Ferdinand and
U.K rapper Dizzee Rascal to win the fourth annual Shortlist Music Prize,
which honors up-and-coming critical favorites in the music world.
During a ceremony Monday night at Los Angeles' Avalon
Theater, several of the 10 finalists performed brief sets for an MTV2
telecast this weekend. TV on the Radio performed last, and fittingly
left the crowd wanting more of their jagged and engaging experimental
rock.
"I still can't believe we won," the band's
guitarist, Kyp Malone, told E! Online. The group was a surprise winner,
with many picking this year's winners of the U.K.'s Mercury Prize,
Scottish post-punkers Franz Ferdinand, to repeat at the Shortlist.
This year's other Shortlist finalists were: alt-country band
Wilco; U.K. rap phenom the Streets; French duo Air; Las Vegas rockers
the Killers; country legend Loretta Lynn; Wu-Tang alum Ghostface Killah;
and young neo-jazz vocalist Nelly McKay.
This year's
nominating committee, an eclectic mix of artists, journalists and
industry types that included Jack Black , Norah Jones , the Dixie Chicks
and New York Times music critic Neil Strauss, originally chose 73
albums that fit the Shortlist criteria--adventurous music that sold
fewer than 500,000 copies. That group was whittled down to 10 in
September.
TV on the Radio's March release, Desperate
Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, is in line to get a sales boost from the
resultant publicity generated by the award. Past winners who have used
the Shortlist Music Prize as a launchpad include Iceland's Sigur Ros,
Irish troubadour Damien Rice and hip-hop band N.E.R.D.
For
its win, TV on the Radio collected a $10,000 prize from Shortlist
sponsor XM radio. The band is currently on a mini-tour opening for the
Faint and is slated to play the House of Blues in Las Vegas Tuesday
night.
The 2004 Shortlist Awards will air Saturday on MTV2
at 9 p.m. ET.
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