Awards season is upon us, with the AIR Awards Ceremony being held in Melbourne tonight. But before we toast the cream of the Australian Indie scene we’ve been handed the nominations for 2011’s Aria Awards.
Gotye, Drapht, and Boy & Bear have come up trumps with seven nominations each, after they each had a bumper year of record sales and huge attendances at their shows around the country.
This year also marks the return of ‘Highest Selling Single and ‘Highest Selling Album’ after their absence last year. The ‘Breakthrough Artist’ award has also been split into two awards, ‘Breakthough Artist – Single’ and ‘Breakthrough Artist – Album’ after they were merged last year.
Prior to this announcement the Aria Awards organisers have been noticeably quiet this year after the disastrous ceremony last year was panned by artists and critics alike. It had the lowest broadcast audience in many years, dipping to just over 600,000 from highs of almost double that in previous years.
This year the awards are being moved again and will be held at Sydney Olympic Park’s Allphones Arena on Sunday 27 November from 4.30pm featuring performances by Gotye, Drapht and Boy & Bear. The rest of the lineup has not been announced.
Check out below for the full list of nominees.
Album Of The Year
Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Cut Copy – Zonoscope (Modular Recordings)
Eskimo Joe – Ghosts of the Past (Warner Music Australia)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Rrakala (Skinnyfish Music/MGM Distribution)
Grinderman – 2 (Mute/EMI Music Australia)
Single Of The Year
Birds Of Tokyo – Wild At Heart (EMI Music Australia)
Boy & Bear – Feeding Line (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Drapht- Rapunzel (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gotye Featuring Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know (Samples ‘n’ Seconds Records/Eleven: A Music Company)
Guy Sebastian Featuring Eve – Who’s That Girl (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
The Jezabels – Dark Storm (MGM Distribution)
Best Male Artist
Drapht – The Life Of Riley (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gareth Liddiard – Strange Tourist (Shock Entertainment)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Rrakala (Skinnyfish Music/MGM Distribution)
Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (Samples ‘n’ Seconds Records/Eleven: A Music Company)
Josh Pyke – No One Wants A Lover (Ivy League Records)
Best Female Artist
Adalita – Adalita (Liberation Music)
Clare Bowditch – Are You Ready Yet? (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Kasey Chambers – Little Bird (Liberation Music)
Kimbra – Cameo Lover (Warner Music Australia)
Washington – Holy Moses (Mercury Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Best Group
Birds Of Tokyo – Wild At Heart (EMI Music Australia)
Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Eskimo Joe – Ghosts Of The Past (Warner Music Australia)
Grinderman – 2 (Mute/EMI Music Australia)
The Living End – The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
Breakthrough Artist – Album
Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Drapht – The Life Of Riley (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gypsy & The Cat – Gilgamesh (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Oh Mercy – Great Barrier Grief (EMI Music Australia)
The Middle East – I Want That You Are Always Happy (Spunk/EMI Music Australia)
Breakthrough Artist – Single
Boy & Bear – Feeding Line (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Drapht – Rapunzel (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Havana Brown – We Run The Night (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
The Jezabels – Dark Storm (MGM Distribution)
Zoe Badwi – Freefallin’ (Neon Records/Warner Music Australia)
Best Independent Release
Art Vs Science – The Experiment (Green/MGM Distribution)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Rrakala (Skinnyfish Music/MGM Distribution)
John Butler Trio – Live At Red Rocks (Jarrah Records/MGM Distribution)
Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses – Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses (Dark Horses Records/Inertia)
The Jezabels – Dark Storm (MGM Distribution)
Best Adult Alternative Album
Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Grinderman – 2 (Mute/EMI Music Australia)
Little Red – Midnight Remember (Liberation Music)
Seeker Lover Keeper – Seeker Lover Keeper (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
The Panics – Rain On The Humming Wire (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
Best Adult Contemporary Album
Billy Thorpe – Billy Thorpe’s Tangier (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Colin Hay – Gathering Mercury (Compass Records/Planet/MGM Distribution)
Damien Leith – Roy (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
John Farnham – Jack (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Mark Seymour and the Undertow – Undertow (Liberation Music)
Best Blues & Roots Album
Backsliders – Starvation Box (Fuse)
Blue King Brown – Worldwize Part 1 – North And South (Lion House Records/MGM Distribution)
John Butler Trio – Live At Red Rocks (Jarrah Records/MGM Distribution)
The Audreys – Sometimes The Stars (ABC Music)
The Waifs – Temptation (Jarrah Records/MGM Distribution)
Best Children’s Album
Dirtgirlworld – Dig It (Kidindy)
Hi-5 – Turn The Music Up (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Holly Throsby – See! (ABC Music)
Play School – Let’s Play Together (ABC Music)
The Wiggles – Ukulele Baby! (ABC Music)
Best Comedy Release
Adam Hills – Inflatable (Universal Pictures)
Buddy Goode – The One And Only Buddy Goode (ABC Music)
Hamish & Andy – Celebrating 50 Glorious Years (Roadshow Music)
Josh Thomas – Josh Thomas ‘Surprise’: Warehouse Comedy Festival (Madman Entertainment/Warehouse Comedy Festival)
Tim Minchin – Tim Minchin & The Heritage Orchestra (Navel/Inertia)
Best Country Album
Jasmine Rae – Listen Here (ABC Music)
Kasey Chambers – Little Bird (Liberation Music)
Keith Urban – Get Closer (EMI Music Australia)
Shane Nicholson – Bad Machines (Liberation Music)
Troy Cassar-Daley – Live (Liberation Music)
Best Dance Release
Bag Raiders – Bag Raiders (Modular Recordings)
Cut Copy – Zonoscope (Modular Recordings)
Miami Horror – Illumination (EMI Music Australia)
Pnau – Soft Universe (etcetc Music/Ministry of Sound/Universal Music Australia)
The Potbelleez – From The Music (Vicious/Universal Music Australia)
Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album
Coerce – Ethereal Surrogate Saviour (Green/MGM Distribution)
Cosmic Psychos – Glorius Barsteds (Missing Link/Fuse)
Dream On Dreamer – Heartbound (We Are Unified Pty Ltd)
Floatingme – Floatingme (Cross Section/Inertia)
Front End Loader – Ritardando (Weeping Anus Records/MGM Distribution)
Best Pop Release
Architecture In Helsinki – Moment Bends (Modular Recordings)
Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) (Samples ‘n’ Seconds Records/Eleven: A Music Company)
Guy Sebastian – Who’s That Girl (feat. Eve) (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gypsy & The Cat – Gilgamesh (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Washington – Holy Moses (Mercury Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Best Rock Album
Children Collide- Theory Of Everything (Universal Music Australia)
Eskimo Joe – Ghosts Of The Past (Warner Music Australia)
Jebediah – Kosciuszko (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
Papa Vs Pretty – United In Isolation (EMI Music Australia)
The Living End – The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
Best Urban Album
Drapht – The Life Of Riley (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Illy – The Chase (Obese Records)
Koolism – The Umu (Invada/Inertia)
Phrase – Babylon (Marlin Records/ Universal Music Australia)
Vents – Marked For Death (Golden Era Records)
Highest Selling Album
Altiyan Childs – Altiyan Childs (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Angus & Julia Stone – Down The Way (EMI Music Australia)
Birds Of Tokyo – Birds of Tokyo (EMI Music Australia)
Keith Urban – Get Closer (EMI Music Australia)
Various – He Will Have His Way – The Songs of Tim & Neil Finn (EMI Music Australia)
Highest Selling Single
Birds Of Tokyo – Plans (EMI Music Australia)
Gotye Featuring Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know (Samples ‘n’ Seconds Records/Eleven: A Music Company)
Guy Sebastian Featuring Eve – Who’s that Girl (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Havana Brown – We Run The Night (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Jessica Mauboy Featuring Ludacris – Saturday Night (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
The public are able to vote in three categories this year; Most Popular Australian Artist, Most Popular International Artist and Best Australian Live Act (for which there are no nominees, the public can vote for anyone they like).
Most Popular Australian Artist
Altiyan Childs (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Angus & Julia Stone (EMI Music Australia)
Birds of Tokyo (EMI Music Australia)
Drapht (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Guy Sebastian (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Jessica Mauboy (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
John Farnham (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Justice Crew (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Keith Urban (EMI Music Australia)
Stan Walker (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Most Popular International Artist
Adele (XL/Inertia)
Chris Brown (Jive/Sony Music Australia)
Jennifer Lopez (Universal Music Australia)
Jessie J (Universal Music Australia)
Ke$ha (RCA Records/Sony Music)
Lady Gaga (Universal Music Australia)
LMFAO (Universal Music Australia)
P!nk (La Face/Sony Music Australia)
Pitbull (J Records/Sony Music Australia)
Rihanna (Universal Music Australia)
