This morning, the official shortlist for the 11th Australian Music Prize was unveiled, as well as more details about the March event set to take place in Sydney. The list, decided upon by a panel of 16 independent industry judges, reflects a wide and diverse collection of submissions from Australian artists for this year’s award and for only the second time in the AMP’s 11 year history, the usual list of nine albums has been extended to ten.
Says Chairperson David Faulkner of the change to this year’s list, “As Chairman of the judging panel, I am proud to say that all the AMP judges felt that this was one of the strongest year’s we’ve had in Australian music. Artists like Tame Impala and Courtney Barnett have won recognition around the world for their hard work, but there were countless other excellent albums released across a whole range of genres last year. As a result, the AMP’s judges decided to increase the Shortlist to ten albums this year instead of the usual nine.”
The Shortlist, aside from the inclusion of Courtney Barnett and Tame Impala’s releases, features 2015 releases from the likes of Gold Class, Jess Ribeiro, Methyl Ethel and My Disco. The winner of the 11th AMP will be announced at the annual March event in Sydney, ‘Amped Up In Conversation’, and will walk away with the $30,000 cash prize courtesy of PPCA.
This year’s event will also feature Henry Rollins delivering a special guest speech, an upcoming appearance the US musician, writer and radio host is keen for.
“In my opinion, there are so many great bands making great albums in Australia, you would be spoiled for choice to pick out a single best album, but it will be interesting to see what happens. A large part of my listening comes from Australia. This has been the case for many years and of course being such a fan, I’m quite honoured and excited to be a part of the Australian Music Prize.”
Congratulations to the shortlisted artists (listed below) – stay tuned for more news coming from the AMP, with the winner being announced on March 9th!
THE 11th AUSTRALIAN MUSIC PRIZE SHORTLISTED ALBUMS
Courtney Barnett | Sometimes I Sit And Listen, And Sometimes I Just Sit
Dan Kelly | Leisure Panic
Dick Diver | Melbourne, Florida
Gold Class | It’s You
Jess Ribeiro | Kill It Yourself
Methyl Ethel | Oh Inhuman Spectacle
My Disco | Severe
Royal Headache | High
Sarah Blasko | Eternal Return
Tame Impala | Currents
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