Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Yann Tiersen - ALL 5 days ago
  • DiScover: IYEARA 5 days ago
  • Two’s Company: Asta Bria & John Metcalfe @ The Playground Theatre 5 days ago
  • Methyl Ethel - Triage 6 days ago
  • “Music as a personal outlet really isn’t all that interesting”: DiS Meets Lewsberg 7 days ago
  • Panda Bear - Buoys 7 days ago
  • Mercury Rev - Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited 8 days ago
  • TBC: Sign Of The (Stage) Times 8 days ago
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community
93368

news

And Drowned in Sound's Neptune Album Prize 2013 Winner is... HOOKWORMS
sean by Sean Adams October 31st, 2013

DiS' alternative-Mercury winner revealed.

Last night, DiS celebrated thirteen years of existence, with a few drinks at the Strongrooms studio bar in London. In an evening that featured a Belgian Pale Ale brewed epecially for DiS by our friends at Signature Brew named Verdronken ("drowned" in Flemish), fantastic sets from Ghosting Season and Sam Airey, Carl Barat on the CDJs blasting some Motown and Lou Reed records and the A-Z Club DJs spun some Destiny's Child, Idlewild and something beginning with S that I can't think of due to having 'a few drinks' last night. Fun was had. If you came, thank you for coming.

At the start of the night, DiS' editor (that's you! - 3rd Person Ed) revealed the winner of our annual Neptune Album Prize, which was setup a few years ago as a sort of alternative to the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize. The DiS list featured a mixture of music legends and underground heroes, as well as acts who've slipped out debut albums after several million YouTube plays (Daughter really are massive, aren't they?). Our judges had a lot of fun listening to all thirteen of the albums, and it sounds like many of you (who collectively sat in the 7th judge's chair) did too. Creating a list of fantastic albums and highlighting some lesser-known records is the whole point of this award, but people like to have a winner when the word 'prize' is thrown around...

The voting was very close, but Pearl Mystic the fantastic debut album by Hookworms' came out top of our judges' poll. They just pipped These New Puritans' Field of Reeds - who topped our public vote by some margin. The judges were quite split, with Mat Osman from Suede falling utterly in love with Raffertie (Mat said: "really enjoyed doing this, my number one was something I'd never even heard of, let alone heard, before.") and two judges went for Haxan Cloak as their number one pick ("I love the way he combines menacing electronic noises with really earthy, classical atmospherics." - Si Truss).

Regular readers of DiS will know that there's a lot of love around these parts for Pearl Mystic, so perhaps it isn't a huge surprise that it was the victor. Earlier this year Dom Gourlay awarded the record 10/10 in his review and spoke of the perfection of this record that somehow marries post-hardcore heft with massive psychedelia and glorious shoegaze sprawls of guitars.

"Pearl Mystic just happens to be one of those records that embodies perfection. Throughout its nine individual pieces - three of which could be described as interlude passages, although such a dismissive approach would be doing them and their vital presence on the record a hair-splitting disservice - there's no room for improvement."

Don't just take Dom's word for it, you can read praise for Hookworms' mighty fine debut over on The Quietus, MusicOMH, BBC and more. Or you could just listen to it yourself, if you haven't already done so. Here's a taste of the record, which is out now on Gringo in the UK and via Domino worldwide:

Related Reads:

  • Thread: James Blake won this year's Mercury Prize
  • CHVRCHES wins the Popjustice 20 quid prize
  • Interview: DiS meets Hookworms
  • DiS Neptune shortlist revealed and judging process explained


LATEST


  • Yann Tiersen

    ALL


  • DiScover: IYEARA


  • Two’s Company: Asta Bria & John Metcalfe @ The Playground Theatre


  • Methyl Ethel

    Triage


  • “Music as a personal outlet really isn’t all that interesting”: DiS Meets Lewsberg


  • Panda Bear

    Buoys

Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


Left-arrow

DiS-favourites Efterklang premiere not one but two new videos!

Mobback
89738

DiS Site Map

Columns, Takeovers, Albums of the Year and More...

Mobforward
93518
Right-arrow


LATEST

    review


    Yann Tiersen - ALL

  • 106053
  • Interview


    DiScover: IYEARA

  • 106046

    Live Review


    Two’s Company: Asta Bria & John Metcalfe @ ...

  • 106052
  • review


    Methyl Ethel - Triage

  • 106051

    Interview


    “Music as a personal outlet really isn’t all th...

  • 106049
  • review


    Panda Bear - Buoys

  • 106048

    review


    Mercury Rev - Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete ...

  • 106047
  • Column


    TBC: Sign Of The (Stage) Times

  • 106045
MORE


    feature


    Arab Strap's London bow: a fan's recount

  • 16257
  • Playlist


    89 Cover Songs - A Playlist

  • 101433

    feature


    Carnivals of the Grotesque: Nick Cave on Dig, L...

  • 33717
  • DiSection


    DiSection: Idlewild Hope Is Important track-by-...

  • 82554

    Interview


    Interview: DiS talks reunions with Ride's Mark ...

  • 98387
  • review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044

    Column


    Drowned In Sound's 40 Favourite Songs of 2014

  • 98608
  • review


    The Enemy - Music For The People

  • 93727
MORE
Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2019 DROWNED IN SOUND