Arctics, Winehouse seek an Q 'aye'

We can never remember if the Q Awards are the first awards of 2008 which look back at the whole of 2007, or the final awards of 2007 which effectively celebrate 2006.

It's Q. It's going to be last year, isn't it?

Anyway, the shortlist is out, although not, confusingly, on the Q website, so, cobbling together the nominees from the BBC report, we get:

Best Act In The World Today:
The Killers
The Arctic Monkeys
Muse
The Foo Fighters
U2

U2? Can that be right? Maybe it's looking back to 2004 after all.

Best Album:
Arctic Monkeys- Favourite Worst Nightmare
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, The Angry Mob
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Manic Street Preachers - Send Aways The Tigers

We thought that our eyebrows could shoot up no further than they managed for the Kaiser Chiefs... but the Manics album? Really? One of the best five of the year?

Breakthrough artist:
Kate Nash
Mika
Jack Penate
Jamie T
Calvin Harris

Looking at this, you might cry a salt tear for the state of British music.

Best track:
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
Athlete - Hurricane
Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone...
Suburban Knights - Hard Fi
Kings of Cydonia - Muse

Presumably Muse have been allowed in to reassure you that, no, this really is 'best track' and not a new category for 'sleep-walked-through band-by-numbers self-parody of the year'. It took me about two minutes staring at the words "Athlete Hurricane" before I could remember if it was a track Athlete by Hurricane, or Hurricane by Athlete, and - absolutely genuinely - I realised I'd typed 'Snow Patrol - Athlete' into the list.