Melbourne's Big Scary have taken out the 9th Australian Music Prize (AMP) for their album Not Art! As winners, they've taken out the coveted $30,000 prize, courtesy of the principal partner PPCA. The album, which has been a favourite of ours here at the AU, represented the great musical range of both Tom Iansek and Jo Syme - a well deserved winner of the prestigious prize!
Says Syme of the win, "We're huge fans of the AMP - any award that has bands like The Mess Hall and Eddy Current Suppression Ring in its short history of winners has gotta be doing something right. That's why it's a huge honour to be awarded this year's prize. We'd like to acknowledge and praise all the other artists - Short-listed, Long-listed and beyond. There's been a bunch of Australian albums made in the last year that we're in awe of. Thanks so much to Coopers and to the judges for putting in the long (but surely enjoyable?) hours of listening and organising. This prize shines a spotlight on albums that might not have a place in other award categories."
The AMP this year welcomed Spotify as a new industry sponser alongside PPCA and featured the inaugural Highly Regarded 25 Artists list, which showcased some awesome albums by Australian artists, regardless of genre.
the AU congratulated Big Scary on their win, as well as the other nominees involved - The AMP truly does highlight the great wave of Australian artists pushing boundaries and we're happy to be a part of supporting it!
