The Age Music Victoria Awards once again wrapped a night of victory and celebration last 22 November—gathering crowds of musicians, music fans, and music industry professionals alike in yet another fantastic awarding ceremony at Melbourne’s 170 Russell, as part of Melbourne Music Week.
Melbourne soul tastemaker and RRR host Chris Gill and PBS presenter Lyndelle Wilkinson hosted the 2017 Awards, acknowledging the best acts, releases, venues and festivals throughout the State. The awards night saw some familiar faces gracing the prize-winners’ stage on multiple occasions as well as some first-timers, in what was an absolute standout celebration of the past 12 months of great local music.
Congratulating the top picks of a diverse selection of categories with a massive 73,000 + tallied votes, this year’s publicly-voted awards commended back-to-back winners The Tote and The Corner Hotel for Best Venues under and over 500 respectively, as well as Meredith Music Festival for another Best Festival win. Rising favourites The Teskey Brothers took out this year’s Best Emerging Act, while unstoppable 7-piece psych outfit King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard once again notched the Best Band and Best Live Act awards, but handed over their claim for Best Album to deadly hip hop duo A.B. Original for their AMP winning release 'Reclaim Australia'.
The industry-voted genre awards panel presented some first-time winners in 2017 including never before nominated act Divide and Dissolve with their massive debut LP Basic for Best Heavy Album which topped a tough list of nominated acts including Clowns, Batpiss, Mammoth Mammoth and Dødknell. Two-time nominated folk outfit The Mae Trio took out their first win for Best Folk or Roots Album with Take Care, Take Cover and Lamine Sonko and The African Intelligence won Best Global or Reggae Album for the Senegalese sounds of their 2016 release Afro Empire.
"In our 12th year, it's perhaps more satisfying than ever to see our genre award winners also making a name for themselves nationally and overseas. The huge array of talent nominated this year speaks volumes about the health of our local music industry." - Editor of The Age EG, Martin Boulton
Part of the program highlights was the induction of the late, great renowned producer, sound engineer, and three-time ARIA award-winner Tony Cohen into The Age Music Victoria Hall Of Fame. The ceremony also acknowledged an Outstanding Achievement Award for the work of local music photographer Zo Damage with her '365 Day Live Music Photography Project' and book 'The Damage Report' whereby she photographed a band or more daily for an entire year, wrapping it up with a sold-out exhibition and book launch at Arts Centre Melbourne.
Following the awards verdicts as per tradition, the festivities continued into the night with the official Awards After Party featuring breathtaking live performances from minimalist disco act Harvey Sutherland and Bermuda, powerhouse trio Cable Ties and post-punk four-piece Gold Class. Party starters the EG Allstars Band also backed some special guest performances from Josh Teskey (The Teskey Brothers), Archie Roach, Gretta Ray, Ella Thompson (GL), Michelle Nicolle, Birdz, Mojo Juju and Jim Lawrie performing some of the best songs of the year.
Music Industry charity Support Act received $5 from every ticket sold, and The Awards studio partner Bakehouse Studios has once again kindly gifted all nominees with a fantasticrehearsal/pre-production package.
Music Victoria would like to thank their partners, sponsors, volunteers, performers, and the general public for being a part of a truly amazing 2017 Awards.
Below is the complete list of winners:
THE AGE MUSIC VICTORIA AWARDS 2017 – GENRE AWARD WINNERS
BEST BLUES ALBUM
Fiona Boyes – Professin’ The Blues
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Raised By Eagles – I Must Be Somewhere
BEST SOUL, FUNK, RNB, AND GOSPEL ALBUM
The Teskey Brothers – Half Mile Harvest
BEST JAZZ ALBUM
Brenton Foster – The Nature of Light
BEST HIP HOP ALBUM
A.B. Original – Reclaim Australia
BEST ELECTRONIC ACT
Client Liaison
BEST HEAVY ALBUM
Divide and Dissolve – Basic
BEST ABORIGINAL ACT
A.B. Original
BEST GLOBAL OR REGGAE ALBUM
Lamine Sonko and The African Intelligence – Afro Empire
BEST FOLK / ROOTS ALBUM
The Mae Trio – Take Care, Take Cover
BEST EXPERIMENTAL / AVANT-GARDE ACT
Winter Sound School / Bridget Chappell
THE AGE MUSIC VICTORIA AWARDS 2017 - PUBLICLY VOTED WINNERS
BEST FESTIVAL
Meredith Music Festival
BEST REGIONAL VENUE (UNDER 50 GIGS PER YEAR)
Theatre Royal (Castlemaine)
BEST REGIONAL VENUE (OVER 50 GIGS PER YEAR)
Workers Club (Geelong)
BEST VENUE (UNDER 500 CAPACITY)
The Tote
BEST VENUE (OVER 500 CAPACITY)
The Corner Hotel
BEST REGIONAL ACT
Cosmic Psychos
BEST LIVE BAND
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
BEST EMERGING ACT
The Teskey Brothers
BEST MALE ARTIST
Paul Kelly
BEST FEMALE ARTIST
Jen Cloher
BEST SONG
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Rattlesnake
BEST BAND
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
BEST ALBUM
A.B. Original – Reclaim Australia
HALL OF FAME
Tony Cohen – Aria-Award Winning Producer & Engineer
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Zo Damage – 365 Day Live Music Photography Project
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