91Èȱ¬

This week in the thick of the Swn festival the organisers, Huw Stephens and John Rostron, will be announcing the latest arm of Swn, The .

The 12 albums nominated for the Welsh Music Prize

This prize for the album of the year is an exciting addition to the festival, and we'll hear the results after they are announced at a ceremony this Friday at the Kuku Club in Cardiff.

Today, I'm heading off to meet with the rest of the panel of judges involved in choosing the winning album. The judges are a mixed but experienced bunch, from Ashli Todd, co-owner of Spillers Records; Dai Davies, governor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; David Exley, booking agent at Coda Music Agency; Jude Rogers, a journalist writing for The Guardian and many other publications; Mike Williams, deputy editor of NME; Neil Pengelly, head booker for Reading and Leeds festivals; Stephen Bass, co-founder of Moshi Moshi Records; Tom Baker, founder of Eat Your Own Ears and Yvonne Matsell, co-founder of NXNE Music Festival in Canada.

The best thing about the list of judges above is that they'll be listening to the albums with fresh ears and very little personal bias, and a world of experience in the music industry. I'm expecting quite a lively discussion later.

From my perspective, although very familiar with the artists, and sometimes over-familiar with some of the songs, I found myself over the weekend listening afresh to the whole line up: a selection which was collated from suggestions from music industry insiders, label owners, and the general public here in Wales:

• Al Lewis - In The Wake (ALM)
• Colorama - Box (See Monkey Do Monkey Records)
• Funeral For A Friend - Welcome 91Èȱ¬ Armageddon (Distiller Records)
• Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo (Ovni/Turnstile Music)
• Lleuwen - Tan (Gwymon)
• Manic Street Preachers - Postcards from a Young Man (Sony)
• Stagga - The Warm Air Room (Rag and Bone Records)
• Sweet Baboo - I'm a Dancer/Songs About Sleepin' (Shape Records)
• The Blackout - Hope (Cooking Vinyl)
• The Gentle Good - Tethered for the Storm (Gwymon)
• The Joy Formidable - Big Roar (Atlantic Records)
• Y Niwl - Y Niwl (Aderyn Papur)

I was driving from Cardiff up to visit family in mid Wales, and the long journey through an autumnal Welsh mountainous landscape was the perfect backdrop to immerse myself in the albums as a complete set. I remember reading about John Peel's annual drive down to the Sonar festival, where he'd work through a bin bag of demos. Too often I'm listening to music in a rushed manner for work, or it is on in the background as I potter around the house - in the car, there's no escape!

Without revealing the result (as I don't know it yet) I can just tell you that it was an absolute thrill to listen to each album. Each one was totally different in style, content, approach, and musical genre. From the intense dubstep sounds of Stagga to the fullness and composure of The Joy Formidable's Big Roar, Gruff Rhys's hooky melodies, to Lleuwen's incredible harmonies.

The list was a real cross range of the sounds of Wales and I'm sure there will be those 'Marmite' moments for the judges, but at least the clichés of the 'Welsh sound' - whatever that may be - cannot be true of this list. There's folk, rock, indie, surf, and dubstep, so quite a range in only 12 albums.

As I head to the discussions, I've been asked to take with me my top three albums, and pick one in particular to champion. I've been asking myself in what way can I judge, choose and pick from such a range of musical styles, experience and talent. It's a responsibility to choose an album which will be hailed as the best album in Wales this year, but I guess the only thing I can do is choose based on personal taste, levelled with years of listening to music, but generally as a music fan, asking myself which album was the most pleasure to listen to. A simple basis for choice then in the end, but I'm sure it'll be just a springboard for the discussions ahead.

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other 91Èȱ¬ blog, you will need to sign in to your 91Èȱ¬ iD account. If you don't have a 91Èȱ¬ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of 91Èȱ¬ sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? , or get some .