The New Pantheon Music Prize--the replacement for the prized-but-now-defunct Shortlist Prize--named its nominees this week, tabbing an eclectic list of acts for the top prize among independent artists.

The 10-band nominee list reads like a who's who of the indie darlings of 2005.

The biggest name among them is Fiona Apple, whose oft-delayed Extraordinary Machine sold more than 300,000 copies in the US by the end of 2005. Also included is Death Cab for Cutie, the pop-rock band whose Plans was nominated for a Grammy for best alternative album.

The list also includes Animal Collective's Feels, Antony and the Johnsons' I am a Bird Now, Arcade Fire's Funeral, Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, The Decemberists' Picaresque, Kings of Leon's Aha Shake Heartbreak, MIA's Arular, and Sufjan Stevens' Illinois.

The New Pantheon prize steps into the void left by the Shortlist Prize, which died due to the infighting between its creators Tom Sarig and Greg Spotts. Sarig put together the New Pantheon with an almost identical cast and structure as its predecessor.

Its star-studded list of nominators includes Beck, John Legend, Ric Ocasek of the Cars, Elton John, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots, Elijah Wood, Margaret Cho, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, Suzanne Vega, Dave Matthews, Keith Urban, and Adam Brody and Josh Schwartz from The O.C., the SoCal soap opera known for featuring the music of emerging indie bands in its show.

TV On The Radio's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes landed the 2004 Shortlist Prize.

Each panelist initially nominated up to seven albums, and that list was whittled to 10 by the panel.

The winner of the Pantheon will be announced at a concert in Los Angeles on February 6, with many of the finalists set to perform at the event.

Check out the Pantheon's Web site to see who nominated what.