STACK NZ Mar #71

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Who will win the 2016Taite Music Prize? award COUNTDOWN BEGINS

On the JB Stereo

Killswitch Engage Incarnate

Loretta Lynn Full Circle

Jeff Buckley You & I

Ray LaMontagne Ourboros

Jack Garratt Phase

Various Artists WOMAD 2016

Heron Oblivion Heron Oblivion

MUSIC

Mavis Staples Livin' On A High Note

Various Artists The Sound Of Studio One In The 1970s

SJD, meanwhile, is in the running for his poppiest outing in years, the excellent Saint John Divine . New Zealand's thriving folk/country scene is represented by Marlon Williams’ self-titled debut and Nadia Reid’s first full length LP Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs , both of which have received rave reviews overseas. However, will it be third time lucky for

T he Taite Music Prize is the first major It may not have the razzle dazzle of the Tuis, but the fact that the winner is judged purely on an album’s artistic merit make the award that little bit extra special. And because it is ultimately a subjective decision, the winners are almost music awards events of the year and has grown to be one of our most prestigious.

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Wellington outfit The Phoenix Foundation, who this year have picked up their third nomination, this time for Give Up Your Dreams ? Elsewhere, Kody Neilson – who also had a hand in brother Ruban’s UMO album – is in the running for Personal Computer from his new solo project

impossible to pick: for example, last year sonic noise titans Jakob took out the top priz; the year before, the Taite went to Lorde. So we won’t even try and guess who

will win the prize this year; the only things we will say that it is nice to see that the eight finalists come from a broad spread of genres and all albums are well worth checking out. The line-up does include two previous winners in SJD – 2013 for Elastic Wasteland – and Unknown Mortal Orchestra (in 2012 for Ruban Neilson's self- titled debut). This year UMO is in the running for Multi-Love , which won best alternative album at last year’s Tuis and was ranked #27 on a top 50 albums of 2015 chart, compiled from the annual ‘best of’ lists from the world’s biggest music magazines.

Silicon, while the other two contenders are electro popster Princess Chelsea for The Great Cybernetic Depression and Anthonie Tonnon for Successor . The winners will be announced on April 20 at an invitation-only event in Auckland’s central city, along with this year’s recipient of Independent Music NZ Classic Record award. But they are all winners in our book.

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