It’s definitely becoming full blown awards season for the Australian music scene.
Following on from Flume and King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard winning big at the AIR Awards this week, and WAM handing out its Song Of The Year Awards ahead of its annual Festival Conference, more of Australia’s musical talent is to be recognised as part of The Age Music Victoria Awards 2013.
In a ceremony held at Docklands last night, 11 Genre Awards were handed out by The Age and Music Victoria, while today the full list of nominees have been announced for this November’s full awards ceremony ( re-branding of the long-running EG Awards).
The Drones lead the list of nominations, earning nods for Best Band, Best Live Act, and Best Album for their AMP-nominated sixth (and possibly best) studio album I See Seaweed, adding to what guitarist Dan Luscombe already called a “stupidly good year,” in a recent Tone Deaf interview.
Fellow AMP nominees, Melbourne indie twosome Big Scary, are also up for the Best Album award for their second full-length effort, Not Art, alongside Dick Diver’s surburban pop revelation Calendar Days, Adalita’s new solo effort All Day Venus, and Paul Kelly’s Spring And Fall (which conquered as Best Independent Blues and Roots Album at the AIR Awards).
Big Scary will also be performing live at The Age Music Victoria Awards, to be held on Wednesday 20th November at Melbourne’s Billboard, opening the event with a 30 minute set. The ceremony will also feature a live performance from the Renee Geyer – who is to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame alongside Mushroom mogul Michael Gudinski – and The EG Allstars Soul Revue with a rotating cast of stars, including Dan Sultan, Archie Roach, Daniel Merriweather, Kylie Auldist, Lance Ferguson, Saskwatch’s Nkechi Anele, Henry Wagons, and more.
Other nominations in The Age Music Victoria Awards 2013 include a clutch of acts with two nominations, namely Paul Kelly, Adalita, Dick Diver, Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes, Melbourne singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, and seven-piece garage pop psychedelics King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (who are $50,000 richer after the AIR Awards), as well as internationally-renowned future soul outfit Hiatus Kaiyote (for Best Emerging Artist), and Gotye (Best Male Artist).
The Drones-curated I’ll Be Your Mirror music festival, presented by All Tomorrow’s Parties this past February, is also up for a trophy in the Best Festival category, up against Golden Plains, Meredith, Sugar Mountain, and Boogie. Meanwhile Victorian venues The Old Bar, the Toff In Town, Corner Hotel, The Forum, and Caravan Club are up for Best Venue, while Ballarat’s Karova Longe, Geelong’s Barwon Club, and more are nominated for Best Regional Venue.
The winners of The Age Music Victoria Awards will be decided on by the public, with an average of 80,000 votes determining the outcome to recognise the best and brightest of Victoria’s music scene. Public voting in all categories for this year’s awards is now open.
Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan says the Victoria music body is thrilled to be partnering with The Age as part of the new rebrand of the annual Awards with a Victorian focus. “The only difference is that we are celebrating Victorian music now – of all genres,” Mr Donovan said. “It is still the people’s awards. Fans can vote for their favourite music of the year, buy a ticket to come to Billboard and rub shoulders with their heroes, see them perform and cheer for them as they take home a trophy.”
The genre winners of The Age Music Victoria Awards 2013 were revealed last night as part of celebrations, with awards going to Indigenous singer-songwriter Archie Roach for Best Folk-Roots Album, The Bamboos vocalist Kylie Auldist for Best Soul, Funk, RnB, and Gospel Album, forthcoming Soundwave 2014 band King Parrot for best Heavy Album, and more (full list of winners below).
The Age Music Victoria Awards 2013 Nominees
Best Album
All Day Venus – Adalita
Calendar Days – Dick Diver
I See Seaweed – The Drones
Not Art – Big Scary
Spring and Fall – Paul Kelly
Best Song
‘Nono/Yoyo’ – Standish/Carlyon
‘Head On/ Pill’ – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
‘History Eraser’ – Courtney Barnett
‘I’m In Love’ – Cash Savage And The Last Drinks
‘Riptide’ – Vance Joy
Best Band
Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes
Dick Diver
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Saskwatch
The Drones
Best Male Artist
Archie Roach
David Bridie
Gotye
Mikelangelo
Paul Kelly
Best Female Artist
Adalita
Courtney Barnett
Evelyn Morris (Pikelet)
Jen Cloher
Kylie Auldist
Best Emerging Artist
Andras Fox
Brighter Later
Damn Terran
Fraser A. Gorman
Hiatus Kaiyote
Best Live Band
Bombay Royale
Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes
Harmony
Money For Rope
The Drones
Best Festival
All Tomorrow’s Parties / I’ll Be Your Mirror
Boogie
Golden Plains
Meredith Music Festival
Sugar Mountain
Best Venue
The Caravan Club
The Corner Hotel
The Forum
The Old Bar
The Toff In Town
Best Regional Act
Gold Fields
Hunting Grounds
Quarry Mountain Dead Rats
Stonefield
Yacht Club DJs
Best Regional Venue
Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Meeniyan Town Hall, South Gippsland
Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
The Barwon Club, Geelong
The Bridge, Castlemaine
The Age Music Victoria Awards 2013 – Genre Winners
Best Blues Album – presented by Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society – Three Kings for ‘Three Kings’
Best Country Album – presented by Addicted To Noise – Dan Waters for ‘La Vita E’Bella’
Best Soul, Funk, R’n’B and Gospel Album – presented by PBS – Kylie Auldist for ‘Still Life’
Best Jazz Album – presented by Dixons Creek Estate – Allan Browne Trio for ‘Lost In The Stars’
Best Hip Hop Album – presented by Capi Sparkling – Fraksha for ‘My Way’
Best Electronic Act – presented by Select AV – Nick Thayer
Best Heavy Album – presented by Wifire Music – King Parrot for ‘Bite Your Head Off’
Best Indigenous Act – presented by Songlines – Crystal Mercy
Best Global or Reggae Act – presented by Australasian Worldwide Music Expo – Melbourne Ska Orchestra
Best Experimental/Avant-Garde Act – presented by GI & Sanicki Lawyers – Judith Hamann
Best Folk Roots Album – presented by White Sky – Archie Roach for ‘Into The Bloodstream’
The Age Music Victoria Awards 2013
Wednesday 20th November – Billboard The Venue, Melbourne VIC
8.00pm
Tickets are on sale now for $50+bf through Oztix: http://tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=38149, ph: 1300 762 545 and
Oztix retail outlets. ($5 from every ticket sold donated to Support Act Limited)
Voting for The Age Music Victoria Awards is open online at theage.com.au/agemusicvictoriaawards so have your say now!
Live performances from:
Big Scary
Renée Geyer
The EG Allstars Soul Revue with:
Dan Sultan
Archie Roach
Daniel Merriweather
Kylie Auldist
Lance Ferguson
Nkechi Anele (Saskwatch)
Henry Wagons
Remi Kolawole
Talei Wolfgramm
Linda Bull
Ella Thompson
MC Chris Gill and DJs Vince Peach, Pierre Baroni, Johnny Topper and Chris Johnston
