107 releases make up 15th Australian Music Prize longlist
A diverse range of artists from all corners of the country make up the 107 releases on a final list of nominated albums for the 2019 Australian Music Prize.
Emerging acts Thelma Plum, Amyl & The Sniffers and Alex Lahey are nominated alongside POND and Dope Lemon, and legends of Aussie music Jimmy Barnes, Archie Roach and Robert Forster.
The nominated releases were culled from an initial 450 albums, with an overhauled judging process taking place this year, including forty of the country’s most admired tastemakers, retailers, media and artists.
Daggy Man, Sarah Mary Chadwick, Hexdebt, Squaring Circles and Vulture Street Tape Gang are also nominated.
“For this 15th prize we expanded the judging panel and created three separate stages of judging, with the 1st stage now complete,” said Australian Music Prize director Scott Murphy.
“Around 40 judges listened to a record number of 454 eligible Australian album releases and have delivered a list of 107 albums – the best of 2019. We thank the panel of stage 1 judges for their time and effort.
“The 2nd stage judges started listening to Nominated albums from August and are busy right now familiarising themselves with all 107 Nominated albums – their job is to eliminate 98 of them so that in January we can announce a Shortlist of 9 – good luck!”
The next phase of the competition, which will eventually see the winner awarded a $30,000 cash prize, takes place in March when a shortlist of nine releases will be announced.
Previous winners include Gurrumul, Sampa the Great, Courtney Barnett, Hermitude, The Jezabels, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and The Drones.