The AIR Awards, presented by The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), will return to Adelaide once more in 2018. The awards celebrate the country’s best talent that’s self-released or released on an Australian independent label.
Adelaide’s own Motez has been nominated with his track The Future, a collab with Antony & Cleopatra, along with Pnau’s Go Bang, which was our #1 track for 2017! Other nominees in the dance and electronica genre include Touch Sensitive, Slumberjack, Benson, Crooked Colours and Confidence Man. Nominees in the hip hop genre are Bliss N Eso, Horrorshow, Winston Surfshirt, Allday and Birdz.
This year will mark the 12th AIR Awards, which will be held at Adelaide’s Queen’s Theatre on Thursday 26 July. AIR will also host its second two-day Indie-Con Australia Conference at The Hindley on July 26 & 27, surrounded by a hive of activity with the excitement of Umbrella: Winter City Sounds, the Winter Reds Weekend and the Colour of Impressionism.
Previous celebrated Aussie talent includes The Avalanches, The John Butler Trio, Silverchair, Wolfmother, Goyte, Flume and A.B. Original. The AIR Awards nominations for Best Independent Label have yet to be revealed, so stay tuned.
The full list of nominations are:
BEST INDEPENDENT ARTIST
Alex Lahey
Baker Boy
Jen Cloher
Stella Donnelly
The Jungle Giants
BEST INDEPENDENT ALBUM OR EP
RVG – A Quality of Mercy
Methyl Ethel – Everything is Forgotten
Alex Lahey – I Love You Like A Brother
Jen Cloher – Jen Cloher
The Jungle Giants – Quiet Ferocity
Alex the Astronaut – See You Soon
BEST INDEPENDENT SINGLE
RVG – A Quality of Mercy
Alex Lahey – Every Day’s the Weekend
The Jungle Giants – Feel the Way I Do
Baker Boy – Marryuna featuring Yirrmal
Methyl Ethel – Ubu
BREAKTHROUGH INDEPENDENT ARTIST OF THE YEAR – Presented by PPCA
Angie McMahon – Slow Mover
Baker Boy – Marryuna featuring Yirrmal
RVG – A Quality of Mercy
Stella Donnelly – Thrush Metal
The Jungle Giants – Quiet Ferocity
BEST INDEPENDENT DANCE, ELECTRONICA OR CLUB SINGLE
Touch Sensitive – Lay Down
Pnau – Go Bang
Banoffee – Ripe
Benson – Trying (Featuring Yeo)
Motez – The Future (Featuring Antony and Cleopatra)
Confidence Man – Bubblegum
BEST INDEPENDENT DANCE/ELECTRONICA ALBUM OR EP
Pnau – Changa
Crooked Colours – Vera
Thrupence – Ideas of Aesthetics
Slumberjack – Fracture
BEST INDEPENDENT HIP HOP ALBUM
Horrorshow – Bardo State
Bliss n Eso – Off the Grid
Allday – Speeding
Winston Surfshirt – Sponge Cake
Birdz – Train of Thought
BEST INDEPENDENT HARD ROCK, HEAVY OR PUNK ALBUM
RVG – A Quality of Mercy
Bad//Dreems – Gutful
Sleepmakeswaves – Made of Breath Only
Northlane – Mesmer
The Smith Street Band – More Scared of You Than You Are of Me
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Murder of the Universe
BEST INDEPENDENT CLASSICAL ALBUM
Grigoryan Brothers – Songs Without Words
Australian Chamber Orchestra/Richard Tognetti – Jonny Greenwood Water/Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Night Music
Slava Grigoryan – Bach: Cello Suites Volume II
Sydney Chamber Choir/Paul Stanhope – Paul Stanhope: Lux Aeterna
Kate Miller-Heidke/Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Benjamin Northey – Kate Miller-Heidke
Live with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
BEST INDEPENDENT JAZZ ALBUM
The Vampires – The Vampires Meet Lionel Loueke
James Morrison/BBC Concert Orchestra – The Great American Songbook
Jeremy Rose – Within and Without
My Name is Nobody – My Name is Nobody
Joseph Tawadros – Live at Abbey Road
BEST INDEPENDENT BLUES AND ROOTS ALBUM
The Teskey Brothers – Half Mile Harvest
The Waifs – Ironbark
Dan Sultan – Killer
All Our Exes Live In Texas – When We Fall
Caiti Baker – Zinc
BEST INDEPENDENT COUNTRY ALBUM
Halfway – Live at the Triffid
Fanny Lumsden – Real Class Act
Caitlyn Shadbolt – Songs On My Sleeve
Lee Kernaghan – The 25th Anniversary Album
