Amp Names First Albums Invited To $30,000 Prize

The Coopers Amp (Australian Music Prize) has announced the first 26 Australian albums released in the last year which have been invited as Official Entrants for the $30,000 prize.

In its eighth year, The Amp has changed its nomination format. Dropping the entry price, they asked industry and fans to submit albums for consideration. With 230 identified, the judges – made up of industry, media and musicians – have listened to 130. From those sessions, 26 have been invited to enter. After judges have listened to all the albums, they will determine a shortlist of nine finalists who will be in the running to win the $30,000 cash prize, donated by the PPCA.

The 26 invites so far have gone to:

Alpine A Is For Alpine
Bearhug Bill, Dance, Shiner
Bushwalking First Time
Catcall The Warmest Place
Charge Group Charge Group
Children Collide Monument
Deep Sea Arcade Outlands
Dirty Three Toward The Sun
DZ Deathrays Bloodstreams
Emma Russack Sounds Of Our City
Forty Thousand Sisters Goodbye Broken Sled
Grand Salvo Slay Me In My Sleep
Hermitude HyperParadise
Hilltop Hoods Drinking From The Sun
House Vs Hurricane Crooked Teeth
Jess Ribeiro & The Bone Collectors My Little River
Liz Stringer Warm In The Darkness
Made In Japan Sights & Sounds
Missy Higgins The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Ollo Ape Delay
Pond Beard, Wives, Denim
The Bamboos Medicine Man
The Hello Morning The Hello Morning
The Maple Trail Cable Mount Warning
Tim Hart Milling The Wind
Xavier Rudd Spirit Bird

Of the list Jess Ribeiro said, “What a wonderful surprise to be acknowledged by the people of [The] AMP, thank you, I was just about  to quit making music forever.”

A statement from Alpine read, “Making this album was a non-stop party. Lots of whiskey, cigarettes, dancing, emotions and emoticons. Our beer of choice was Coopers.”

This year's judges include the returning Chris Berkley, Deborah Conway, Dave Faulkner, Tim Freedman, Mike Glynn, Chris Johnston, Shannon Logan, Christopher Powell and Bernard Zuel as well as first timer Sam Lockwood, from last year's winners The Jezabels.

Patrons of the Prize include Marianna Annas, Sebastian Chase, Michael Chugg, Bill Cullen, Colin Daniels, Patrick Donovan, Jessica Ducrou, Anne Haebich, Craig Hawker,Sally Howland, Ian James, Tim Janes, Philip Mortlock, John O'Donnell, Michael Parisi, Damian Trotter as well as new patrons singer Renee Geyer and artist manager Catherine Haridy.

Past winners include:

2005: The Drones - Wait Long By The River And The Bodies of You Enemies Will Float By
2006: Augie March - Moo, You Bloody Choir
2007: The Mess Hall - Devils Elbow
2008: Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours
2009: Lisa Mitchell - Wonder
2010: Cloud Control - Bliss Release
2011: The Jezabels - Prisoner