Hey all. I've decided to have another run at this blog business. Hopefully I will stick to it this time, and not just bail when I can't be bothered.

I have a few things to talk about coming up, including the state of the Brisbane music scene in 2011. It does seem for the first time we have alot of shows bringing in a large amount of people, which is exciting, and we've had some great new venues pop up... things are happening in this sleepy little city.

But, hey, I'm going to pick up rougly where I left off - ARIA's.

Drapht and Gotye lead the nominations, which is odd as neither is up for the big prize. Gotye will clean up ala Angus and Julia Stone/Presets/etc. Isn't it boring when one band sweeps everything. At least this year he can't win for Best Album, but he probably will next year (eligability dates and all that jazz).

Also; I really thought Seeker Lover Keeper would pick up alot of nominations. I was wrong. Seltmann and Throsby can't get no love, even with Sarah Blasko.

So, here are my picks, thoughts, and inane ramblings.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:

Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Cut Copy – Zonoscope (Modular Recordings)
Eskimo Joe – Ghosts of the Past (Warner Music Australia)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Rrakala (Skinnyfish Music/MGM Distribution)
Grinderman – 2 (Mute/EMI Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: The category isn't as cleancut as usual, and I can't really predict between Gurrumul and Cut Copy, and even then I wouldn't be so surprised if Grinderman or Boy and Bear won it, especially considering they got ALOT of nominations.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Grinderman. But really, so long as Eskimo Joe don't walk away with it, then aren't we all happy.

WTF: Eskimo Joe? Over Drapht, SLK, The Middle East, Art Vs Science, Little Red and many others? That's fucking weird.

SINGLE OF THE YEAR:

Birds Of Tokyo – Wild At Heart (EMI Music Australia)
Boy & Bear – Feeding Line (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Drapht- Rapunzel (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gotye Featuring Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know (Samples ‘n’ Seconds Records/Eleven: A Music Company)
Guy Sebastian Featuring Eve – Who’s That Girl (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
The Jezabels – Dark Storm (MGM Distribution)

WHO WILL WIN: Gotye. Clean sweep of his categories most likely.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Fuck you all, the Guy Sebastian song is the best of this lot.

WTF: Like EJ's nod for best album, the Birds Of Tokoyo nom feels weird here. Was it really that slow a year in music?

BEST MALE ARTIST:

Drapht – The Life Of Riley (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gareth Liddiard – Strange Tourist (Shock Entertainment)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Rrakala (Skinnyfish Music/MGM Distribution)
Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (Samples ‘n’ Seconds Records/Eleven: A Music Company)
Josh Pyke – No One Wants A Lover (Ivy League Records)

WHO WILL WIN: Gotye

WHO SHOULD WIN: Gareth Liddiard. Shame the album didn't get more industry love, but its pretty great that it got SOME love.

BEST FEMALE ARTIST:

Adalita – Adalita (Liberation Music)
Clare Bowditch – Are You Ready Yet? (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Kasey Chambers – Little Bird (Liberation Music)
Kimbra – Cameo Lover (Warner Music Australia)
Washington – Holy Moses (Mercury Australia/Universal Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: Again, this one feels close. Washington is a left over from last year, but I don't think we should count her out. Everyone feels like an even chance, but my gut says either Kimbra for the Gotye association, or Adalita.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Adalita.

BEST GROUP:

Birds Of Tokyo – Wild At Heart (EMI Music Australia)
Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Eskimo Joe – Ghosts Of The Past (Warner Music Australia)
Grinderman – 2 (Mute/EMI Music Australia)
The Living End – The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: Grinderman or Boy and Bear. Probably the later.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Grinderman or Boy and Bear. Probably the former.

WTF: Thats right, Living End released an album this year.

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST - ALBUM:

Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Drapht – The Life Of Riley (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gypsy & The Cat – Gilgamesh (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Oh Mercy – Great Barrier Grief (EMI Music Australia)
The Middle East – I Want That You Are Always Happy (Spunk/EMI Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: Boy and Bear. Beloved album, and despite the split with Drapht, I can see them walking away with this one in a heartbeat.

WHO SHOULD WIN: The Middle East. Fantastic album that many will find for years to come. Their lack of nominations is baffling.

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST - SINGLE:

Boy & Bear – Feeding Line (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Drapht – Rapunzel (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Havana Brown – We Run The Night (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
The Jezabels – Dark Storm (MGM Distribution)
Zoe Badwi – Freefallin’ (Neon Records/Warner Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: Drapht or Jezabels. This year seems to be alot harder to call a clear cut winner for than previous years (in categories that Gotye is not nominated), and I can't call it between these two.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Frankly, none of them.

BEST INDEPENDENT RELEASE:

Art Vs Science – The Experiment (Green/MGM Distribution)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Rrakala (Skinnyfish Music/MGM Distribution)
John Butler Trio – Live At Red Rocks (Jarrah Records/MGM Distribution)
Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses – Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses (Dark Horses Records/Inertia)
The Jezabels – Dark Storm (MGM Distribution)

WHO WILL WIN: Gurrumul, but again, Jezebels could pull the upset.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Gurrumul, if only because I am finally spelling (part of) his name right without checking.

WTF: Art Vs Science's only nomination.

BEST ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM:

Boy & Bear – Moonfire (Island Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Grinderman – 2 (Mute/EMI Music Australia)
Little Red – Midnight Remember (Liberation Music)
Seeker Lover Keeper – Seeker Lover Keeper (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
The Panics – Rain On The Humming Wire (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: Grinderman or Boy and Bear. Probably Nick Cave and co.

WHO SHOULD WIN: SEEKER LOVER KEEPER DAMMIT.

WTF: Only nomination for SLK, Little Red and The Panics. Yet Eskimo Joe got nominated for everything in the year 2011. Also WTF at the entire existence of this category. So its music for grown ups? Tell that the average Little Red crowd.

BEST ADULT CONTEMPORARY ALBUM:

Billy Thorpe – Billy Thorpe’s Tangier (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Colin Hay – Gathering Mercury (Compass Records/Planet/MGM Distribution)
Damien Leith – Roy (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
John Farnham – Jack (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Mark Seymour and the Undertow – Undertow (Liberation Music)

WHO WILL WIN: Ummmm, lets say, John Farnham (I forgot the album existed. Seems so did most voters)

WHO SHOULD WIN: I have no fucking clue.

WTF: Everything. The category. The nominees. Just... all of this is stupid.

BEST BLUES & ROOTS ALBUM:

Backsliders – Starvation Box (Fuse)
Blue King Brown – Worldwize Part 1 – North And South (Lion House Records/MGM Distribution)
John Butler Trio – Live At Red Rocks (Jarrah Records/MGM Distribution)
The Audreys – Sometimes The Stars (ABC Music)
The Waifs – Temptation (Jarrah Records/MGM Distribution)

WHO WILL WIN : The Waifs (another album I forgot the existence of.)

WHO SHOULD WIN: Blue King Brown I guess???


BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM:

Dirtgirlworld – Dig It (Kidindy)
Hi-5 – Turn The Music Up (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Holly Throsby – See! (ABC Music)
Play School – Let’s Play Together (ABC Music)
The Wiggles – Ukulele Baby! (ABC Music)

WHO WILL WIN: The Wiggles???

WHO SHOULD WIN: THE FUCKING THROS (mind my language kids). Awesome nomination for a little appreciated album.


BEST DANCE RELEASE:

Bag Raiders – Bag Raiders (Modular Recordings)
Cut Copy – Zonoscope (Modular Recordings)
Miami Horror – Illumination (EMI Music Australia)
Pnau – Soft Universe (etcetc Music/Ministry of Sound/Universal Music Australia)
The Potbelleez – From The Music (Vicious/Universal Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: Cut Copy. C'mon. This isn't hard.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Cut Copy.

WTF: No AVS? Voters music REALLY have not liked the album.

BEST HARD ROCK/HEAVY METAL ALBUM:

Coerce – Ethereal Surrogate Saviour (Green/MGM Distribution)
Cosmic Psychos – Glorius Barsteds (Missing Link/Fuse)
Dream On Dreamer – Heartbound (We Are Unified Pty Ltd)
Floatingme – Floatingme (Cross Section/Inertia)
Front End Loader – Ritardando (Weeping Anus Records/MGM Distribution)

WHO WILL WIN: Cosmic Psychos I guess.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Coerce. Another awesome nomination that few would have seen coming.

WTF: The problem with creating a category largely for Parkway Drive and Amity Affliction is when they don't release an album, you get this.

BEST POP RELEASE:

Architecture In Helsinki – Moment Bends (Modular Recordings)
Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) (Samples ‘n’ Seconds Records/Eleven: A Music Company)
Guy Sebastian – Who’s That Girl (feat. Eve) (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Gypsy & The Cat – Gilgamesh (Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Washington – Holy Moses (Mercury Australia/Universal Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: Gotye

WHO SHOULD WIN: Architecture in Helsinki. Their best may be behind them, but this album made a fun distraction this year.

BEST ROCK ALBUM:

Children Collide- Theory Of Everything (Universal Music Australia)
Eskimo Joe – Ghosts Of The Past (Warner Music Australia)
Jebediah – Kosciuszko (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
Papa Vs Pretty – United In Isolation (EMI Music Australia)
The Living End – The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

WHO WILL WIN: God help me, but Eskimo Joe

WHO SHOULD WIN: It's really nice to see some smaller acts like Papa VS Petty get recognized, and although it was a pretty bad album, at least Jebediah got a small look in. So I suppose what I'm saying is.... no-one. Can I just say Coerce again?

BEST URBAN ALBUM:

Drapht – The Life Of Riley (The Ayems/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)
Illy – The Chase (Obese Records)
Koolism – The Umu (Invada/Inertia)
Phrase – Babylon (Marlin Records/ Universal Music Australia)
Vents – Marked For Death (Golden Era Records)

WHO WILL WIN: Drapht

WHO SHOULD WIN: Drapht

Well, there we have it, If you made it this far you are a saint, and I love you dearly. The nominees are alot less clean cut this year, besides Gotye, and I think we can expect to see Grinderman, Gurrumul and Boy and Bear get a nice sales boost after the ceremony.

I'll be back in a few days when I might, god forbid, talk about festival lineups.