The prestigious and highly-coveted Australian Music Prize today unveils its full list of nominated albums, with 107 releases making the cut for the prize’s 15th anniversary year.
With an overhauled judging process in 2019, forty of the country’s most admired tastemakers, retailers, media and artists have participated in creating what is an amazing list of Australian albums and will spend the holiday period listening and re-listening to the albums to create a shortlist of nine which will be revealed in January ahead of the winner’s announcement next March.
These albums, culled from over 450 released across the year, represent the finest in Australian music, creating a diverse collection of genres from every corner of Australia, from buzz acts like Thelma Plum, POND, Amyl & the Sniffers, Dope Lemon and Alex Lahey, Australian legends Jimmy Barnes, Archie Roach, Robert Forster, The Beasts and Russell Morris and underground discoveries like Daggy Man, Sarah Mary Chadwick, Hexdebt, Squaring Circles and Vulture Street Tape Gang.
‘For this 15th prize we expanded the judging panel and created three separate stages of judging, with the 1st stage now complete,” said Australian Music Prize director Scott Murphy. “Around 40 judges listened to a record number of 454 eligible Australian album releases and have delivered a list of 107 albums – the best of 2019. We thank the panel of stage 1 judges for their time and effort. The 2nd stage judges started listening to Nominated albums from August and are busy right now familiarising themselves with all 107 Nominated albums – their job is to eliminate 98 of them so that in January we can announce a Shortlist of 9 – good luck!”Featuring a judging panel of music media, retailers and artists from across Australia, The Australian Music Prize nominates the best albums of the year. Judging on artistic merit alone and with no reference to commercial success, those albums then make up the list of official nominations. After intensively listening to those 9 shortlisted albums, the judges meet in March to discuss and select a winner of the coveted $30,000 cash prize.
Inspired by the UKs converted Mercury Prize, the Australian Music Prize is one of the world’s most respected music awards. With previous winners including Gurrumul, Sampa the Great, Courtney Barnett, Hermitude, The Jezabels, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and The Drones, the award continues to thrive with the support of the industry it serves. The 15th AMP is also increasing its consultation and inclusion across the industry to showcase the album format, shine a light on amazing records which may not have had the support they deserved and to celebrate great Australian albums.
NOMINEES – 2019
Ainslie Wills – All You Have Is All You Need [NEW]
Air Land Sea – Air Land Sea [NEW]
Alex Lahey – The Best of Luck Club
Ali Barter – Hello, I’m Doing My Best [NEW]
Amyl & the Sniffers – Amyl & the Sniffers
Alex Cameron – Miami Memory [NEW]
Allday – Starry Night Over The Phone [NEW]
Andrea Keller – Transients Volume 1
Angie McMahon – Salt [NEW]
Archie Roach – Tell Me Why [NEW]
Art of Fighting – Luna Low
Ausmuteants – Present The World In Handcuffs [NEW]
Bad//Dreems – Doomsday Ballet [NEW]
Batts – The Grand Tour
Belle Chen – Departure [NEW]
Bench Press – Not the Past, Can’t Be the Future
Black Lung – The Great Manipulator
Brightness – Brightness [NEW]
Carla Dal Forno – Look Up Sharp [NEW]
Ceres – We Are A Team [NEW]
Charlie Collins – Snowpine
Chelsea Wilson – Chasing Gold [NEW]
Collarbones – Futurity [NEW]
Cool Sounds – More To Enjoy [NEW]
Corin – Manifest [NEW]
Cub Sport – Cub Sport
Daggy Man – I’m Going To Love As Long As I Live
Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier – The Words Of Men [NEW]
Dispossessed – Warpath Never Ended
Dope Lemon – Smooth Big Cat
Dying Adolescence – Please Be Kind [NEW]
Dyson Stringer Cloher – Dyson Stringer Cloher [NEW]
DZ Deathrays – Positive Rising: Part 1 [NEW]
Elizabeth – The Wonderful World of Nature [NEW]
Emma Russack – Winter Blues
Exek – Some Beautiful Species Left [NEW]
Ferla – It’s Personal
Gena Rose Bruce – Can’t Make You Love Me [NEW]
Godtet – II [NEW]
Gold Fields – Dalawa
Grace Cummings – Refuge Cove [NEW]
Hatchie – Keepsake
Hermitude – Pollyanarchy [NEW]
Hexdebt – Rule Of Four
Holy Holy – My Own Pool Of Light [NEW]
HTRK – Venus In Leo [NEW]
Huntly – Low Grade Buzz
I Know Leopard – Love Is A Landmine
J. McFarlane’s Reality Guest – TA DA [NEW]
Jade Imagine – Basic Love [NEW]
Jess Ribeiro – Love Hate
Jimmy Barnes – My Criminal Record
Jo Schornikow – Secret Weapon
Julia Jacklin – Crushing
June Jones – Diana [NEW]
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Fishing for Fishies
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats’ Nest [NEW]
Kirin J Callinan – Return To The Centre [NEW]
Laurence Pike – Holy Spring [NEW]
Lachlan Denton & Studio Magic – A Brother [NEW]
Low Life – Downer EDN [NEW]
Lucky Oceans – Purple Sky [NEW]
Lucy Roleff – Left Open In A Room [NEW]
Lupa J – Swallow Me Whole [NEW]
Mansionair – Shadowboxer
Married Man – Hard Bargain [NEW]
Martin Frawley – Undone At 31
Methyl Ethel – Triage
Montaigne – Complex [NEW]
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Ghosteen [NEW]
No Mono – Islands (Part 2) [NEW]
Olympia – Flamingo
On Diamond – On Diamond [NEW]
Oren Ambarchi – Simian Angel [NEW]
Parsnip – When the Tree Bears Fruit [NEW]
Paul Mac – Mesmerism [NEW]
Phil Slater – The Dark Pattern [NEW]
Polish Club – Iguana
Pond – Tasmania
Possible Humans – Everybody Split [NEW]
Rainbow Chan – Pillar [NEW]
Robert Forster – Inferno
Russell Morris – Black & Blue Heart
Ry X – Unfurl
Sampa The Great – The Return [NEW]
Sarah Mary Chadwick – Queen Who Stole The Sky
Skydeck – Eureka Moment [NEW]
Sleep D – Rebel Force [NEW]
Sports Bra – Talk It Out [NEW]
Squaring Circles – Motion
Stella Donnelly – Beware of the Dogs
Stonefield – Bent
Sui Zhen – Losing, Linda [NEW]
Sunbeam Sound Machine – Goodness Gracious
The Beasts – Still Here
The Money War – Home
The Snakes – The Snakes [NEW]
Thelma Plum – Better In Blak
These New South Whales – I Just Do What God Tells Me To Do [NEW]
Tropical Fuck Storm – Braindrops [NEW]
Two People – First Body
U-Bahn – U-Bahn [NEW]
Underground Lovers – A Left Turn [NEW]
Vulture St. Tape Gang – More Mature Themes For Childish People
Waax – Big Grief [NEW]
We Lost The Sea – Triumph & Disaster [NEW]
Wilson Tanner – II [NEW]