After years in the shadow of Brooklyn bands, the British album is stronger than ever. Rosie Swash salutes a Mercury shortlist that reflects the boom in homegrown talent

Has there ever been a more maligned award than the Mercury music prize? The annual round of hand-wringing and what's-it-for criticism began even before yesterday's shortlist was announced â€' though, if anything, the dissenting voices have been a fair bit quieter since. Does this mean this year's 12 album nominees are an unusually safe bet? Dizzee Rascal, the xx, Paul Weller: you could argue that the judges have managed to nod in every musical direction this island has to offer. Or, less cynically, you could say the range is a positive sign that British music is on fighting form, after a period of several years in which the US album has dominated the awards scene, as well as critics' and readers' polls.

In fact, the field has seemed even narrower than that: for the last couple of years it's been largely Brooklyn exports who have swept the board. Last year brought wildly successful albums from Brooklyn-based Dirty Projectors, Brooklyn-based Grizzly Bear and Brooklyn/Baltimore-based Animal Collective. In 2008, the Guardian critics' end of year poll for best album was topped by New Yorkers TV on the Radio and their excellent political art-rock LP Dear Science (the influential US website Pitchfork agreed with us); meanwhile, the readers chose Wisconsin's cabin-dwelling troubadour Bon Iver and his album For Emma, Forever...

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Dizzee Rascal and The XX are just some of this year's Mercury nominees. Watch highlights from the ceremony.

Corinne Bailey Rae, Foals, and Mumford & Suns are also up for the prize, to be announced Sept. 7.

After last year's unfortunate events, the 2010 shortlist reflects an understandably cautious preference for the tried and tested

Gallery: All the Mercury nominees and their odds
Mercury prize 2010: Full lineup

Towards the end of 2009, long-term Mercury-watchers breathed a sigh of relief. After a few drearily uneventful years in which the committee doled out the gong to artists the public had either already clasped to their hearts or would go on to clasp to their hearts â€' Franz Ferdinand, Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys, Elbow â€' last year saw the Mercury prize happily return to its traditional role as the music industry's equivalent of the black spot.

Indeed, its ability to wield a negative effect over the career of the winner seemed to have grown even more potent with the passing of time. Speech Debelle had hardly finished her acceptance speech when everything started to go wrong. Her album, Speech Therapy, became the lowest-selling Mercury winner in the prize's history â€' two months after the awards ceremony, it had sold a meagre 10,000 copies. Debelle's ensuing tour played to sparse crowds, she ended up splitting from her record label and, in a final indignity, she was booed off at a computer game launch after trying to rap along to Take That's Pray. By comparison, the post-Mercury career of Talvin Singh has been one long...

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Past-winner Dizzee Rascal, Paul Weller and newcomers The XX are among the nominations for this year's Mercury Prize.

Don't know your xx from your Wild Beasts? Dizzee Rascal from Paul Weller? Check out our handy guide to this year's prize

Odds for this year's album contest announced

Singer-songwriter also reveals how Dizzee Rascal robbed his dressing room

Foals, Ellie Goulding, Dizzee Rascal also help round off Spanish event

Plus Mystery Jets, Bombay Bicycle Club and Ellie Goulding perform at London festival