AUSTRALIAN music’s night of nights is upon us again.
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The 27th annual ARIA Awards will screen on GO! tonight from 7.30pm.
Sydney producer Flume is the raging favourite to snap up a swag of trophies while ex-Idol alums Guy Sebastian and Jess Mauboy are excellent chances to finally salute in the Best Male and Best Female categories respectively.
Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys will perform along with hip-hop stars Bliss N Eso, rockers Tame Impala, pop virtuoso Vance Joy and dance music guns The Potbelleez and The Stafford Brothers.
Border Mail music writer JAMIE HORNE casts his eye over the nominees and comes up with his picks for the awards.
Breakthrough Artist Release
Big Scary — Not Art
Flume — Flume
RüFüS — Atlas
The Rubens — The Rubens
Vance Joy — God Loves You When You’re Dancing
THE WINNER: Flume. Meet Harley Streten, 22, from Sydney. The Sydney producer is set for a big night off the back of his down-tempo smash Holdin’ On and self-titled album. First of a few, I’d wager.
COULD STEAL IT: Vance Joy.
Best Independent Release
Big Scary — Not Art
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Push The Sky Away
San Cisco — San Cisco
Sheppard — Let Me Down Easy
The Drones — I See Seaweed
THE WINNER: Big Scary. Always a tough category and this year’s field is no exception. The Melbourne duo of Tom Iansek and Joanna Syme named their second album Not Art — don’t believe it for a second.
COULD STEAL IT: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Best Adult
Contemporary Album
Bob Evans — Familiar Stranger
Clare Bowditch — The Winter I Chose Happiness
Josh Pyke — The Beginning And The End Of Everything
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Push The Sky Away
Sarah Blasko — I Awake
THE WINNER: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Well look at this, the Adult Contemporary category has been de-nanna’d for 2013. Can’t go past the former Wangaratta High student and his veteran band, despite the fact Cave probably won’t particularly enjoy the win.
COULD STEAL IT: Sarah Blasko.
Best Pop Release
Empire Of The Sun —
Ice On The Dune
Guy Sebastian — Armageddon
San Cisco — San Cisco
The Preatures — Is This How You Feel?
Vance Joy — God Loves You When You’re Dancing
THE WINNER: Empire Of The Sun. I wanna say Guy Sebastian and I think he’ll still fare nicely on the night. Empire Of The Sun has ARIA runs on the board and their Ice On The Dune record was poptastic.
COULD STEAL IT: The Preatures.
Best Rock Album
Birds Of Tokyo — March Fires
Boy & Bear — Harlequin Dream
Tame Impala — Lonerism
The Drones — I See Seaweed
The Rubens — The Rubens
THE WINNER: Tame Impala. Their debut album, Innerspeaker, was a raging favourite in 2010 only to be pipped by fellow West Aussies Birds Of Tokyo. Tables will be turned.
COULD STEAL IT: Boy & Bear.
Best Urban Album
Bliss n Eso — Circus In The Sky
Horrorshow — King Amongst Many
Illy — Bring it Back
Seth Sentry — This Was Tomorrow
Urthboy — Smokey’s Haunt
THE WINNER: Illy. The most hotly contested Urban award in the Hilltop Hoods-Bliss N Eso era. BNE are old hats at this, their album superb, but something tells me the ever-popular Illy will sneak home for the win. And then write a rap about it.
COULD STEAL IT: Seth Sentry.
Best Country Album
Jasmine Rae — If I Want To
Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson — Wreck and Ruin
Lee Kernaghan — Beautiful Noise
Sara Storer — Lovegrass
Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey — The Great Country Songbook
THE WINNER: Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey. A dynamic duo, and we’re not talking Kasey and Shane. TC-D and Harvs’ collaborative CD was timeless and terrific: Johnny Cash, Slim Dusty, Willie Nelson and more! Their’s to share.
COULD STEAL IT: Lee Kernaghan.
Best Dance Release
Flume — Flume
Jagwar Ma — Howlin
The Potbelleez — Saved In A Bottle
The Presets — Pacifica
RüFüS — Atlas
THE WINNER: Flume. Flume, the album, spawned four top-10 ARIA Indie singles with Holdin’ On cha-chinging twice-platinum. Some great artists in this category but no-one holds a candle to Flume.
COULD STEAL IT: The Potbelleez.
Best Male Artist
Flume — Flume
Guy Sebastian — Armageddon
Keith Urban — Little Bit Of Everything
Matt Corby — Resolution
Paul Kelly — Spring and Fall
THE WINNER: Guy Sebastian. The Idol curse to be broken! In fairness, it’s been more than a decade since Guy Sebastian won Australian Idol — it’s gone, he’s still here. Armageddon is his best record to date scoring a US smash with Battle Scars along the way.
COULD STEAL IT: Matt Corby
Best Female Artist
Abbe May — Kiss My Apocalypse
Emma Louise — vs Head vs Heart
Jessica Mauboy — To The End Of The Earth
Missy Higgins — Set Me On Fire
Sarah Blasko — I Awake
THE WINNER: Jessica Mauboy. Another artist constantly ignored by ARIA. The kid is a super talent on stage and on screen. Easy to like and not too many will begrudge her this one.
COULD STEAL IT: Abbe May.
Best Group
Boy & Bear — Harlequin Dream
Birds Of Tokyo — March Fires
Empire Of The Sun — Ice On The Dune
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Push The Sky Away
Tame Impala — Lonerism
THE WINNER: Boy & Bear. The Sydney favourites delivered a terrific album in Harlequin Dream, a record not willing to rest on the laurels of its award-winning predecessor, Moonfire. Released at the end of August for a late, winning charge.
COULD STEAL IT: Birds Of Tokyo.
Album of the Year
Birds Of Tokyo — March Fires
Flume — Flume
Guy Sebastian — Armageddon
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Push The Sky Away
Tame Impala — Lonerism
THE WINNER: Flume. If you haven’t checked out Flume’s brilliant blend of stylish hip-hop, futuristic dancefloor grooves and straight-up soul, do yourself a favour. It’s the Album of the Year, why wouldn’t you?
COULD STEAL IT: Guy Sebastian.
ARIA Song of the Year
(Publicly voted)
Bombs Away (feat. The Twins) — Party Bass
Flume — Holdin On
Samantha Jade — What You’ve Done To Me
Birds Of Tokyo — Lanterns
Timomatic — Parachute
Vance Joy — Riptide
Justice Crew — Best Night
Stafford Brothers (feat Lil Wayne & Christina Milian) — Hello
Guy Sebastian — Get Along
Matt Corby — Resolution
THE WINNER: Guy Sebastian. I overlooked Matt Corby in this category in favour of Reece Mastin last year. Whoops. I do it with a touch more confidence this year. Sebastian’s Get Along could well be the best song he’s ever written. I think he thinks so, hopefully the voting public agrees.
COULD STEAL IT: Matt Corby.