The prestigious Australian Music Prize has released its longlist for 2018 today, celebrating what it says is ‘music’s peak creative format’, the album.
The AMP longlist transcends genre, popularity and politics, with 21 judges including artists, journalists, retailers, programmers and more selecting the best Australian albums of the year based solely on artistic merit.
From chart-toppers like Amy Shark and Troye Sivan through to discoveries like Shepparton Airplane, Padma Newsome and Freya Josephine Hollick the AMP is not just a celebration of a year of Aussie creativity, but is a great starting place for those looking to scratch beyond the surface of hit singles.
“This year the quantity of Australian albums has really increased, but along with that, so has the quality,” said AMP judge and Hoodoo Gurus frontman Dave Faulkner. “The judges have been blown away by the number of albums that we’ve discovered for ourselves as part of this process. The reality that the Australian Music Prize can be a recognition of the winner, but also a platform for music-lovers everywhere to discover new records without the shackles of genre and format is so exciting.”
With past winners including The Drones, A.B. Original, Courtney Barnett, Sampa the Great, Lisa Mitchell and The Jezabels, the Australian Music Prize awards the year’s best album $30,000 courtesy of its principal partner PPCA and is respected along with global contemporaries including the UK’s Mercury Prize and Canada’s Polaris Prize.
PPCA Chief Executive Dan Rosen said, “PPCA is thrilled to continue as the principal partner of The Australian Music Prize. 2018 has been an exceptional year for Australian music and we look forward to seeing which albums make the shortlist and to present the winner with the $30,000 prize money.”
Now in its fourteenth year, the award has been there throughout the transformation of the music industry, with its recognition of the album format more important than ever.
“In an age of streaming, we’re seeing a renaissance of the album as artists redefine what it can be,” said AMP judge and radio presenter Caitlin Nienaber. “The LP record taught us that an album was two 20-minute sides, then the CD told us an album was 70 minutes. Today fans may have been liberated in a world of pick-and-choose tracks, but artists can also create with a blank canvas when working on bringing an album into the world.”
Abbe May – Fruit
Alice Ivy – I’m Dreamin
Alice Skye – Friends With Feelings
Amy Shark – Love Monster
Barney McAll feat. Monash Art Ensemble – Zephyrix
Camp Cope – How To Socialise & Make Friends
Cash Savage and the Last Drinks – Good Citizens
Catherine Britt & The Cold Cold Hearts – Catherine Britt & The Cold Cold Hearts
Confidence Man – Confident Music for Confident People
Cosmo’s Midnight – What Comes Next
Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel
Dark Fair – Off Into My Head
Dead Can Dance – Dionysus
Deaf Wish – Lithium Zion
DZ Deathrays – Bloody Lovely
East Brunswick All Girls Choir – Teddywaddy
Emily Wurramara – Milyakburra
Emma Louise – Lilac Everything: A Project By Emma Louise
Evelyn Ida Morris – Evelyn Ida Morris
Evelyn Ida Morris – Acute Misfortune
Flowertruck – Mostly Sunny
Fraser A Gorman – Easy Dazy
Freya Josephine Hollick – Feral Fusion
Gabriella Cohen – Pink Is The Colour Of Unconditional Love
The Goon Sax – We’re Not Talking
Grand Salvo – Sea Glass
Gregor – Silver Drop
Gurrumul – Djarimirri
High Tension – Purge
Hockey Dad – Blend Inn
Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders – Blue Poles
Jack River – Sugar Mountain
Jethro Pickett – France
Jonathan Zwartz – Animarum (Expanded Edition)
Joseph Tawadros The Bluebird, The Mystic & The Fool
Joyride – Sunrise Chaser
Kasey Chambers & The Fireside Disciples – Campfire
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Gumboot Soup
Lachlan Bryan And The Wildes – Some Girls (Quite) Like Country Music
Laura Jean – Devotion
Loose Tooth – Keep Up
Lowtide – Southern Mind
LUCIANBLOMKAMP – Sick Of What I Don’t Understand (Pts 1 – 3)
Luke Howard – Open Heart Story
The Lulu Raes – LULU
Matt Corby – Rainbow Valley
Mia Dyson – If I Said Only So Far I Take It Back
Middle Kids – Lost Friends
Mojo Juju – Native Tongue
The Moles – Code Word
Morning Harvey – With The Pinstripes
The Necks – Body
Ned Collette – Old Chestnut
New War – COIN
The Ocean Party – The Oddfellows Hall
Odette – To A Stranger
Oh Pep! – I Wasn’t Only Thinking About You…
Padma Newsome – The Vanity of Trees
Perry Keyes – Jim Salmon’s Lament
Peter Bibby – Grand Champion
The Presets – Hi Viz
Primitive Motion – House in the Wave
Psycroptic – As The Kingdom Drowns
The Putbacks – The Putbacks
Rabbit Island – Deep in the Big
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
Ryan Downey – Running
Sam Anning – Across A Field As Vast As One
Sarah Blasko – Depth Of Field
Sarah Mary Chadwick – Sugar Still Melts In The Rain
Setec – Atrial Flutters (or Raise Yr Hand If Yr Afraid)
Shepparton Airplane – Almurta
Southeast Desert Metal – Break The Silence
Space Invadas – Wild World
Steve Barry Quartet – Blueprints & Vignettes
Straight Arrows – On Top
SURFING – ‘Incubo’ Incubo
Tangents – New Bodies
Tape/Off – Broadcast Park
Tia Gostelow – Thick Skin
Tom Noonan – Pas de Deux
Tori Forsyth – Dawn Of The Dark
Totally Mild – Her
Tropical Fuck Storm – A Laughing Death in Meatspace
Troye Sivan – Bloom
William Crighton – Empire