Apple, Arcade Fire among finalists for new award

01/12/2006 1:41 PM, Reuters
Jonathan Cohen

Singer/songwriter Fiona Apple and Montreal rock band Arcade Fire are among the finalists for the inaugural New Pantheon Awards, which continue the mission of the defunct Shortlist Prize in recognizing noteworthy albums that have sold fewer than 500,000 copies in the United States.

The winner will be announced February 6 during a ceremony at a Los Angeles venue to be announced.

Apple's "Extraordinary Machine" and the Arcade Fire's "Funeral" will vie for the award with Animal Collective's "Feels," Antony and the Johnsons' "I Am a Bird Now," Bloc Party's "Silent Alarm," Death Cab For Cutie's "Plans," the Decemberists' "Picaresque," Kings Of Leon's "Aha Shake Heartbreak," M.I.A.'s "Arular," and Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois."

Last fall, Antony and the Johnsons' "I Am a Bird Now" took the Mercury Music Prize, the U.K. award on which both the Shortlist and the New Pantheon are modeled.

The albums were selected by a panel including Elton John, Elijah Wood, Beck, Margaret Cho, John Legend, Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard, Keith Urban, Ric Ocasek, Shirley Manson, Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, Suzanne Vega, Dave Matthews and Keith Urban.

The final Shortlist Prize, handed out in November 2004, was won by TV On The Radio's "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes."

Reuters/Billboard