Byline: Cahal Milmo

From the Clash to James Brown, the Mojo awards made a point of recognising the elder statesmen of popular music when they were launched last year.

Not this year. The organisers of 2004's back-slapping music extravaganza in Whitehall yesterday unveiled their attempt to make the event more cutting edge by adding to the nominees a gender-bending cabaret artist and a singer who once lived in a chicken coop.

Although the Mojo honours list will remain dominated by awards for music's longer-serving souls, from David Bowie to Kate Bush, the category of best new act has been added for a more contemporary feel.

But anyone expecting a shortlist of new talent to catalogue current hot properties of mainstream pop, such as Franz Ferdinand or the Libertines, will be disappointed. The shortlist for the new category includes some established names such as the piano-playing balladeer Rufus Wainwright and Britain's new soul rockers, the Magic Numbers. But...