Urthboy, Jess Ribeiro Added To Amp Shortlist

Sydney rapper and entrepreneur Urthboy and Darwin singer/songwriter Jess Ribeiro & The Bone Collectors have joined Hermitude on the shortlist of nine for the $30,000 The Coopers Amp.

The Australian album cash prize has selected Urthboy's Smokey's Haunt and Riberiro's My Little River from a long-list of 71, whittled down from 300 records.

So far three records have been announced for the shortlist, with the remainder to be announced before the winner is revealed in March. The $30,000 cash prize is donated by PPCA.

As part of their selection, both will perform at the inaugural Amp Alive event at Federation Square. Along with Hermitude, the free event will take place Friday 1 February at 6pm.

There have been a number of changes to the prize this year, the organisers dropped the entry price and then asked industry and fans to submit albums for consideration. After 230 records were identified, three rounds of eligible albums were selected for the long-list. The first 26 records were announced October, the second round of 21 albums in November and the final 24 in December.

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