It's been a good year for Aussie music
This year has seen some absolutely groundbreaking Aussie releases and with end-of-year lists flooding the country, the longlist for the Australian Music Prize has been unveiled, giving another glimpse at how healthy the county’s music scene is.
Judges sifted through 364 records to narrow it down to 61 – five more than made the cut last year – with Aussie music icons Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Archie Roach named alongside buzzing newcomers Camp Cope and DD Dumbo, all in the running for the $30,000 prize money.
Last year’s honours went to Courtney Barnett‘s Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, while Remi claimed the prize the year prior and reappears this year with his acclaimed Divas & Demons LP.
Other former AMP recipients in the longlist include Big Scary, returning after a 2013 win, and inaugural AMP winners The Drones.
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The judges included Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus), Al Grigg (Palms) and Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon), Mikey Cahill, The Music's Melbourne editor Bryget Chrisfield, Sosefina Fuamoli, Kate Hennessy, Caitlin Nienaber, Sarah Smith and Bernard Zuel, Chris Berkley, Mike Glynn, Shannon Logan and Nate Nott.
“The Australian Music Prize has never been so sprawling,” said Jamieson.
“It has been rewarding but also somewhat exhausting…hope you love our longlist as much as we do.”
A shortlist will be announced on January 18 before the winner is crowded in March.
AB Original - Reclaim Australia
Archie Roach - Let Love Rule
The Avalanches - Wildflower
Big Scary - Animal
Big White - Teenage Dreams
Camp Cope - Camp Cope
Cash Savage & the Last Drinks - One Of Us
Chook Race - Around The House
Curse Ov Dialect - Twisted Strangers
DD Dumbo - Utopia Defeated
Deborah Conway/Willy Zygier - Everybody's Begging
The Delta Riggs - Active Galactic
Dope Lemon - Honey Bones
Dorsal Fins - Digital Zodiac
The Drones - Feelin’ Kinda Free
Ducks! - Ding Ding Ding
Ela Stiles - Molten Metal
Emma Russack - In A New State
Flume - Skin
friendships - Nullarbor 1988 - 1989
Gabriella Cohen - Full Closure And No Detail
Gawurra - Ratja Yaliyal
Gentleforce - Refuge From The Great Sadness
Halfway - The Golden Halfway Record
Jagwar Ma - Every Now & Then
Jarrow - 2003 Dream
The Jezabels - Synthia
Julia Jacklin - Don't Let The Kids Win
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity
Koi Child - Koi Child
Liz Stringer - All Of The Bridges
Marcus Whale - Inland Sea
Mark Pritchard - Under The Sun
Melody Pool - Deep Dark Savage Heart
Mike Noga - King
The Moles - Tonight’s Music
Mt. Mountain - Cosmos Terros
The Nation Blue - Black
NGAIIRE - Blastoma
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
NO ZU - Afterlife
Olympia - Self Talk
Pale Earth - Always
The Peep Tempel - Joy
Pikelet - Tronc
Rainbow Chan - Spacings
REMI - Divas & Demons
Richard Cuthbert - Peach Plum
Safe Hands - Tie Your Soul To Mine
Sara Storer - Silos
Sarah Mary Chadwick - Roses Always Die
Solo Andata - In The Lens
Sophie Hutchings - Wide Asleep
Stu Hunter - The Migration
Summer Flake - Hello Friends
Teeth & Tongue - ‘Give Up On Your Health
Troy Cassar-Daley - 'Things I Carry Around
Twelve Foot Ninja - Outlier
Urthboy - The Past Beats Inside Me Like A Second Heartbeat
Violent Soho - WACO
Yeo - Ganbaru