The Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2009 Awards ceremony takes place tonight, with televised coverage on the UK's national station BBC 2 and also at the BBC Mercury Prize site from 10:00pm (EST).
The Mercury Prize was established in 1992 as an alternative to the more commercial Music Awards. A panel of industry experts, including journalists, musicians and independent-label executives, vote on what they believe to be the best British albums of the past year, regardless of sales or radio play.
Previous winners include Zildjian Artists: Pulp, Portishead, Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons, Elbow and Arctic Monkeys.
Nominations for the prestigious awards, which tends to see a huge boost in record sales as a result of a nomination, were announced in July 2009 and features a who's who of what's hot in the UK Music Scene right now, along with some unknowns, that the Awards have become known for.
Zildjian artists in band contenders include:
Florence and The Machine - Lungs - Chris Hayden
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum - Ian Matthews
Glasvegas - Glasvegas - Caroline McKay
Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy - Toby Couling
Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires - Jack Savidge
The Horrors - Primary Colours - Joe Spurgen
Led Bib - Sensible Shoes - Mark Holub
See if your favourite wins tonight at
www.bbc.co.uk/musicevents/mercuryprize/
For more information check out
www.MercuryPrize.com