The Taite Music Prize: unveiling the finalists

The Taite Music Prize: unveiling the finalists

Independent Music NZ is very pleased to announce that the finalists for the Taite Music Prize 2015 have now been confirmed.

Named after the late Dylan Taite, one of the country's most highly respected music journalists, this will be the sixth year for the award. The Taite Music Prize's purpose is to recognise outstanding creativity for an entire collection of music contained on one album. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000, to be spent as they wish. The cash prize is kindly supplied by the Founding Partner Recorded Music NZ.
The winner will also receive free recording time at Red Bull Studio Auckland and a year’s supply of Red Bull product.

This year’s ten finalists, from a lengthy list of 65 nominations submitted by record labels both independent and major from across the country, are:

@peace – ‘@peace and the Plutonian Noise Symphony’ (Young, Gifted and Broke)
Aldous Harding - ‘Aldous Harding’ (Lyttleton Records/Flying Out)
Delaney Davidson – ‘Swim Down Low’ (Outside Inside)
Electric Wire Hustle – ‘Love Can Prevail’ (EWH Ltd. / Okayplayer Records)
Grayson Gilmour – ‘Infinite Life!’ (Flying Nun Records)
Jakob - ‘Sines’ (Shoot The Freak)
Kimbra – ‘The Golden Echo’ (Warner Brother Records)
Tiny Ruins – ‘Brightly Painted One’ (Arch Hill Recordings/Spunk Records)
Mulholland – ‘Stop & Start Again’ (Mulholland)
Tami Neilson – ‘Dynamite’ (Neilson Records)

The ten albums in contention for the 2015 prize includes a wellspring of fresh and experienced talent with Aldous Harding and Kimbra nominated for their respective debut albums. Tami Neilson delivers her third album ‘Dynamite’ (Neilson Records), and is a first time finalist. Joining them as a 3rd time finalist (all in consecutive years) is @Peace for the album ‘@peace and the Plutonian Noise Symphony’ (Young, Gifted and Broke). Songwriter Tom Scott of @Peace, has also previously been shortlisted as part of the group Homebrew.
Also returning as a finalist artist, for the second time, is Tiny Ruins with the album ‘Brightly Painted One’ (Arch Hill / Spunk). Jakob have been on the NZ musical landscape since 1998 and the album ‘Sines’ (Shoot The Freak) is their fourth album - this is first time the Napier-based group have been a finalist in the Taite Music Prize. Grayson Gilmour is also a first time finalist, for his fourth album proper ‘Infinite Life!’ (Flying Nun Records) – his oeuvre contains multiple film soundtrack compositions, remixes and compiled material.
Rounding out the first-time finalists for 2015 is Mulholland with ‘Stop and Start Again’ (Mulholland), which is Jol Mulholland’s sophomore solo effort, Electric Wire Hustle with their sophomore album ‘Love Can Prevail’ (EWH Ltd. / Okayplayer Records) and Delaney Davidson with his fifth solo album ‘Swim Down Low’ (Outside Inside). Delaney’s career has included at least four other collaborative albums, and he is also the producer for Tami Neilson’s ‘Dynamite’ (Neilson Records) debut album.
Christy Whelan, chairperson of IMNZ says, "We are proud to celebrate artistic freedom of expression through the recognition of New Zealand's great albums. This year's finalists (and impressive list of nominees)
for the Taite Music Prize show that creativity and diversity amongst the recording sector in New Zealand is thriving, and with everyone seeking the coveted award it is sure to be a great night."

Damian Vaughan, CEO of Recorded Music NZ – Founding Partner of the Taite Music Prize said, “There were some fantastic New Zealand albums released in 2014, and this year’s Taite Music Prize finalists
are a true reflection of the best local recordings.”

The overall award winner will be announced on Wednesday the 15th of April at an invitation-only event at Galatos Live in Auckland’s central city. The ceremony will include live performances and the presentation of this year’s Independent Music NZ Classic Record award, acknowledging a defining NZ record from our yesteryear. Last year’s recipient was the ‘AK.79’ compilation album (Ripper Records, RPR1, December 1979).

The voting panel to determine the finalists was made up of a broad section of music media and industry specialists alongside all current members of Independent Music New Zealand (IMNZ).
There will be a second round of judging by a selected music panel to decide the overall winner. The judges will make their decision based entirely on the artistic merit of the album(s).
Sales, genres, artist recognition or popularity are not contributing factors in their decision-making process.

The selected finalist music panel for 2015 is made up of the following persons:

Finalist Judging Panel for Taite Music Prize 2015
Nick Atkinson (Board member NZ Music Commission / artist manager)
Pennie Black (Programme Director, 95bFM)
Greg Churchill (NZ DJ godfather)
Sarah Crowe (Assistant Music Manager, NZ On Air)
Marty Duda (13th Floor / Radio NZ)
Lucy Macrae (Promotions & Publicity Manager, The Label)
Peter McLennan (writer / musician / IMNZ board member)
Henry Oliver (Freelance writer / North & South music columnist)
Julie Warmington (Freelance music publicist)
Natalie Wilson (Music Supervisor, The Other Side Music)
11th Man – John Taite (BBC America)

The Taite Music Prize
Presented by:
Independent Music New Zealand
Founding Partner:
Recorded Music NZ
Official Partners:
NZ On Air / the Taite Family
Supporting Partners:
NZ Music Commission / The Australasian Performing Right Association / Native Tongue Music Publishing / NZMusic4U - Pure Capital Thinking
Media Arts Lawyers / Red Bull Studio Auckland / MOA Beer / Spy Valley Wines / McCarthy Design
Media Partners:
iHeartRadio / Juice TV / Kiwi FM

Previous winners are:
2010: Lawrence Arabia ‘Chant Darling’ (Honorary Bedouin Records)
2011: Ladi6 ‘The Liberation Of’ (What? Music)
2012: Unknown Mortal Orchestra ‘Unknown Mortal Orchestra’ (Seeing Records)
2013: SJD ‘Elastic Wasteland’ (Round Trip Mars)
2014: Lorde ‘Pure Heroine’ (Universal Music NZ)

ENDS

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