Mercury Prize nominees include Radiohead, Bowie, Anohni

An all-female punk band, one of the most influential alt-rock outfits, the parting gift from an icon, two grime MCs, a transgender torch singer and a psychedelic jazz trio.

These were some of the nominees for Britain’s 25^th annual Mercury Prize worth £25,000 ($A43,050).

The full list of nominees is:

Anohni – Hopelessness: the one time Mercury Prize winner (as Antony and the Johnsons) made a politically-charged album filled with dance anthems. It lived up to its name, touching on post-9/11 America’s drone warfare, violent masculinity and mass surveillance.

Bat For Lashes – The Bride: singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Natasha Khan created a theatrical concept album about the emotional turmoil of a woman – first her anxiety before her wedding, and then the anguish after her fiancé was killed on the way to the chapel to marry her. Three of her four albums have been Mercury Prize nominations.

David Bowie – Blackstar: a gracious farewell to the world from an ailing icon knowing his time had come. A reflection of life, death, fame and legacy was bundled up with a masterstroke line from the track Lazarus, “Look up here, I’m in heaven.”

Jamie Woon – Making Time: the electronic singer, songwriter and producer took a break after an accident in 2012. More than just his comeback, Making Time not only refocussed on the classic texture of his voice but again proved his prowess as a producer in the way repeated listens brought out deft moments of musicality within the R&B swing.

Kano – Made In The Manor: the inspiring grime MC who featured in the TV series Top Boy, turned his fifth album into a journey through his life that was painfully self-confessional at times. The title alludes to the house he grew up in, in East London’s Manor Road. The album, which went Top 10, featured collaborations with grime acts Wiley and JME, as well as Blur’s Damon Albarn, and spotlighted grime’s growing ties with hip-hop.

Laura Mvula – The Dreaming Room: the one time Birmingham receptionist used her classically trained voice and background in gospel choirs and jazz bands – not to mention her love for Nina Simone – to great effect on her second album. A wide range of collaborators included Nile Rodgers, members of the London Symphony Orchestra and rapper Wretch 32. But it conveyed her charisma and “blackness” that made it stand out.

Michael Kiwanuka – Love And Hate: born in London’s Muswell Hill to Ugandan parents, Kiwanuka’s soulful croon placed him as a current generation Curtis Mayfield. On Love And Hate, his second album, he runs the gamut of black soul music as part of a search for his own identity, First single Black Man In A White World seemingly setting up the political mood for the rest of the long player.

Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool: this is their fifth nomination. But the band that seemingly set up ‘90s British alt-rock have yet to win a Mercury Prize. A Moon Shaped Pool came after a five-year silence. The break was worth it: their ninth album was a return to the strength of their early songwriting. It worked extra well because of the way Thom Yorke’s vocal delivery emphasised the dark undertones of the lyrics.

Savages – Adore Life: the clenched fist on the cover promised the guitar knock-out of most of the record. But singer Jenny Beth, whose live performances have won the London all-female post-punk band global attention, took a step further as a lyricist. The implications of title track of their second album (they formed in 2011) which went “Maybe I will die, maybe tomorrow, so I need to say I adore life” stirred many dinner time debates in inner city terrace houses.

Skepta – Konnichiwa: Skepta co-founded the collective Boy Better Know ten years ago, and remains British grime’s poster boy. He used Konnichiwa, his fourth album, to give the genre a further step musically. The result was a #2 peak and hit status for tracks as Man, That’s Not Me and Shutdown. Like Kano, he displayed stronger ties with North American hip hop, particularly with close ties with Drake and Kanye West, and a collaboration on this record with Pharrell Williams.

The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It: this came on the heels of the chart success of their debut from 2012. It gave the band from Manchester a huge teenage following, which they catered for (but not necessarily the critics) with solid catchy songs inspired by the 1980s golden pop era. Running for over 75 minutes, it ran a line between angular art-rock, R&B funk and power pop, with lyrics that were both smartarse and romantic. It obviously struck a chord with their audience, going to #1 in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The Comet Is Coming – Channel The Spirits: the psychedelic spiritual jazz-funk inspired trio from London was precisely what initiatives as the Mercury Prize were set up for. They are still a niche act, but Channel The Spirits was ground-breaking in how it forged ties with Afro-pop, cosmic poetry and electro-robotiks, and mostly reached the retro-futuristic promise of the track Neon Baby from their self-titled EP. “A soundtrack to planet Earth’s doom” was how one reviewer described it.

The list has been hailed for not only highlighting musically innovative and vital records (“marked by their musical ambitions, unexpected instrumentation and breathtaking arrangements”, according to a statement from the judges) but those which freeze-framed modern Britain’s political bent. “We don’t listen to no politician”, declared Skepta.

It noticeably is a selection of records that have been commercially successful as well. All but one of nominees made the British charts, four of them went to #1. Radiohead’s actually topped the pops on two occasions. Bowie’s remains the fastest seller of the year. 1975’s is currently the fifth biggest selling release of 2016.

Notable omissions on the shortlist were previous multi-winner PJ Harvey’s The Hope Six Demolition Project, Adele’s 25 and Coldplay’s A Head Full Of Dreams.

A shake up of the judging panel this year saw input from the likes of Jarvis Cocker, producer Naughty Boy, singer Jessie Ware, Ellie Roswell of Wolf Alice, Jamie Cullum and Radio 1’s Annie Mac.

This year the Mercury Prize invited the public to participate in the selection process. They can vote for one album to head straight into a pool of six finalists at www.mercuryprize.com.

The ceremony is held in London on September 15, at the flashy Eventim Apollo, after Hyundai stepped in as a headline sponsor. It will be broadcast live on radio and TV, BBC Four and 6 Music, with additional content at bbc.co.uk/music and via the BBC Music app.