In the interests of thorough reporting, Music Feeds is delivering this important announcement from the back room of Youeni Provides cafe in Paddington. Sipping my smooth yet strong soy cappuccino, with the soft crash of Jack White’s guitar and harmonica drifting through from the front bar, I can indeed verify this cafe has rightly earned its place among FBi radio’s Sydney Music Arts and Culture Awards.
Sydney’s veins are rushing with innovative creativity, and the SMAC Awards are devoted to recognising the culture-makers who are responsible for it.
Youeni Provides is one of the nominees for Best Eats, but the awards stretch as far as Best Album, Best Visual Artist, Best Arts Event, Best On Screen, with many more categories in between.
This year sees the inclusion of the Remix The City category, for a person or collective who has imagined and brought to life an entirely different vision for creative city life.
Here are this year’s nominees, and our two cents’ worth of the winners.
Next Big Thing
Jonti
Oliver Tank
Catcall
Lanie Lane (MF’s pick, for unique talent that tops the hype)
Matt Corby
Royal Headache
WIM
Best Visual Artist
Dara Gill (MF’s pick, coz this guy’s on a roll. 2011 has brought him several solo shows at prominent artist-run galleries like Chippo’s MOP, and a Jumpstart mentorship)
Bridie Connell
Dan Boyd
Daniel O’Toole (aka Ears)
Justin Shoulder
Tim Moore
Best Arts Event
Underbelly Arts
Imperial Panda Festival
Gallery A.S.
Outpost (MF’s pick, for taking the legitimisation of street art to the next level, and for its spectacularly well suited location.)
Late Night Library, Surry Hills
Secret Wars
Best Collective
Ampersand Magazine (MF’s pick, for making the printed word respected once more in the digital age of pixels and blogs. No mean feat.)
Dirty Shirlow’s
Applespiel
Big Village
Makeshift
Dorkbot
Best Eats
Youeni Provides (MF’s pick, for the aforementioned reasons.)
Orto Trading
The Dip
Feather and Bone
Bar H Surry Hills
Izakaya Fujiyama
FourAteFive
Best Live Music Act
Kirin J. Callinan
Step-Panther
The Snowdroppers
The Laurels
Jinja Safari
The Jezabels (MF’s pick, for their ubiquity, and their consistent, confident debut album.)
Thundamentals
Best Major Festival
Harvest (MF’s pick, for it’s impossibly sublime line-up of Portishead, The National, The Flaming Lips, TV On The Radio…)
Peats Ridge
Vivid Live
Musica Tumbalong
Graphic
Best Music Event
Wormwood
Goodgod Long Birthday Nights
Void
Radiant Live (MF’s pick, not just because of FBi Radio nepotism, but due to this show’s exposure of excellent fringe Sydney live music.)
Hoops
Rabbit Hole
Mad Racket
Best On Screen
Sam Bennets for ‘Act Your Age’ (Blue Juice)
Brendan Cowell for ‘Run’ (Charge Group) (MF’s pick, for Cowell’s unbeatable combo of mainstream recognition and independent credibility.)
Emma Tomelty for ‘Speak of the Devil’ (Hermitude)
Luci Schroder for ‘Sophisticated Lover’ (Donny Benét)
SPOD for ‘Pixyphony’ (KYU)
Byron Quandry for ‘Feel a Thing’ (Emma Davis)
Sixty40 for ‘Out In The Streets’ (Africa Hitech)
Best on Stage
Holly Austin – Boxing Day
Belinda Bromilow – This Year’s Ashes
Nick Coyle – Me Pregnant!
Claudia O’Doherty – What is Soil Erosion?
Gareth Davies and Sharlie Garber – Masterclass
Tim Stiz – Lloyd Beckman, Beekeeper
Post (Zoe Coombs Marr, Mish Grigor, Nat Rose and Eden Falk) – Who’s the best? (MF’s pick, because the momentum is behind Coombs Marr since she snared the Philip Parsons Young Playwright’s Award last month.)
Best Song
Alps – Sail Away
Flume – Sleepless feat. Anthony and Cleopatra
Ghoul – Lodum (Rising)
Hermitude – Speak of the Devil
Jack Ladder – Cold Feet
Jonathon Boulet – You’re An Animal
Matt Corby – Brother (MF’s pick. From Australian Idol kick back to FBi Radio golden boy. Who would’ve thought? ‘Brother’ has the anthemic melody, insistent percussion and indie sound to become this summer’s song.)
Melodie Nelson – My Johnny
Lime Cordiale – Say It
Nantes – Fly
Palms – The Summer Is Done With Us
The Rescue Ships – On The Air
Record of the Year
Africa Hi-Tech – 93 Million Miles
Belles Will Ring – Crystal Theatre
Collarbones – Iconography
Seekae – +Dome (MF’s pick. It’s been Seekae’s year, really. As anyone who’s seen them create their sequinned, stuttering electronica live will know, these guys are sonic magicians.)
Lanie Lane – To The Horses
Megastick Fanfare – Grit Aglow
Royal Headache – Royal Headache
Remix the City
Alaska Projects
The Gate Presents No Fixed Address
Jurassic Lounge
Art and About
The Paper Mill (MF’s pick, for bringing colour and vibrance to a grey CBD lane, and in doing so, capturing this city’s collective imagination. The Paper Mill closes it’s doors this month, and a SMAC will be the perfect farewell to this artist-run gallery.)
SMAC OF THE YEAR
SMAC of The Year is industry voted and the winner will be revealed on the night.
