Drones, Abbe May, Nick Cave Make $30K Prize Longlist

The first list albums longlisted for the $30,000 The Coopers Amp have been announced, with records by The Drones, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Abbe May in the running one of the country's richest music awards.

With judges currently listening through submitted albums, the following six are the first to make the list:

The Drones I See Seaweed
Bob Evans Familiar Stranger
Abbe May Kiss My Apocalypse
Big Scary Not Art
Dialectrix The Cold Light Of Day
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Push The Sky Away

Last year 71 albums were longlisted out of 322 submissions, with Hermitude's HyperParadise taking out the final award. Artists and their representatives are still encouraged to send their albums in for consideration for the 2013 prize, which will be announced March 2014.

Any Australian album (minimum of 50 percent of the artists producing the music must be from Australia) with nine or more tracks or over 33.3 minutes of music and released for a minimum of 20 consecutive days during 2013 is eligible. CD copies should be sent to The 9th Coopers Amp, D-Star Digital, Level 2, 233-235 Bulwara Road, Ultimo, NSW, 2007. Album details – including tracklisitng – should be sent to info@thecoopersamp.com.au.

Previous Winners

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
2012: Hermitude - HyperParadise