Nine albums feature in the shortlist for the 18th Australian Music Prize, a prize of $30k sponsored by Soundmerch in partnership with the Universal subsidiaries, EMI, Virgin and Island Records. The prize aims to celebrate and financially reward the maker of the finest Australian album of 2022. The winner will be announced at an event in Sydney on 1st March.
Previous AMP winners include The Drones, whose Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By won the inaugural prize in 2005; Sampa the Great, who won in 2019 and 2017 and is nominated again this year; The Avalanches, whose guest-stuffed We Will Always Love You won in 2020; and Genesis Owusu, whose debut album Smiling With No Teeth won last year’s prize.
Body Type – ‘Buoyancy’
This year’s shortlisted albums were decided on by a judging panel made up of artists, journalists, broadcasters and various other music industry figures. The panel reviewed 490 Australian albums released in 2022 before deciding on what AMP founder Scott B. Murphy called an “incredibly diverse” list that “truly captures another year of the world’s best music.”
The 18th Soundmerch Australian Music Prize Shortlist
1300 – Foreign Language
Body Type – Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising
Camp Cope – Running With The Hurricane
Julia Jacklin – Pre Pleasure
King Stingray – King Stingray
Laura Jean – Amateurs
Party Dozen – The Real Work
Sampa The Great – As Above, So Below
Tasman Keith – A Colour Undone
Further Reading
All the Winners at the 2023 Toyota Golden Guitar Awards
Baker Boy Cleans Up At The 2022 ARIA Awards: Full Winners List
Baker Boy, Julia Jacklin and Mo’Ju Win Big at 2022 Music Victoria Awards