Briggs, Thelma Plum, Dan Sultan Lead Nominations for 2015 National Indigenous Music Awards

Nominations for Australia's 2015 National Indigenous Music Awards have been announced. 

Leading the pack is acclaimed Yorta Yorta hip-hop artist Briggs who is nominated in five categories, including Artist of the Year, Best Song and Best Music Video (for "Bad Apples"), Best Album and Best Cover Art (for Sheplife). Briggs took home the award for Best New Talent at last year's NIMAs.

Following closely behind are singer Thelma Plum and "country soul rock 'n roll" artist Dan Sultan, who are each nominated for three awards.

Plum, who's latest EP, Monsters, was one of our favourite releases of last year, is nominated for Artist of the Year, and has two songs up for Song of the Year: "How Much Does Your Love Cost?" and the soaring anthem "Young in Love".

Sultan is also up for Artist of the Year, and his single "Dirty Ground" is nominated for Song of the Year and Best Music Video.

We're also pleased to see the NIMAs continue their Indigenous community focus by honouring several local musical initiatives produced by Desert Pea Media and Indigenous Hip Hop Projects in collaboration with local partners and Indigenous youth.

The National Indigenous Music Awards, which celebrate excellence in contemporary Indigenous music from across Australia, will be held in Darwin on July 25, 2015.

Here is the Full List of Nominees for the 2015 National Indigenous Music Awards:

Artist of the Year

• Jessica Mauboy
• Thelma Plum
• Dan Sultan
• Briggs

Song of the Year

• "How Much Does Your Love Cost?" – Thelma Plum
• "Young In Love" – Thelma Plum
• "Bad Apples" – Briggs
• "Dirty Ground" – Dan Sultan
• "Black Woman" – Emma Donovan

Album of the Year

• Sheplife – Briggs
• Dawn – Emma Donovan and Putbacks
• Uncle – Frank Yamma
• The Genesis Project – East Journey featuring Yothu Yindi National

New Talent of the Year

• Philly
• Lucky Luke
• Tjintu Desert Band

Cover Art of the Year

• Song of Arnhem Land – East Journey ft Yothu Yindi
• Cause N Affect – Radical Son
• Uncle – Frank Yamma
• Sheplife – Briggs

Film Clip of the Year (aka Best Music Video)

• "Bad Apples" – Briggs
• "Song of Arnhem Land (Salas/Moore Mix)" – East Journey
• "Human Behaviour" – Radical Son
• "Dirty Ground" – Dan Sultan
• "Parlingarri" – B2M (Bathurst to Melville)

Community Clip of the Year [now National]

• Breathe In, Breathe Out  - Produced By: Indigenous Hip Hop Projects was proud to partner with Katherine West Health Board and Bulla Camp
• Got a lot Going On - Yarn Safe Produced By: Indigenous Hip Hop Projects and Indigenous creative agency Gilimbaa
• Uncle Alfred’s Mens Group - Spear of Destiny Produced By: Desert Pea Media
• Cairns Murri Crew - Built To Last Produced By: Desert Pea Media
• Tagai Buway - Two Worlds Produced By: Desert Pea Media
• Call On Me - Produced by: Indigenous Hip Hop Projects was proud to partner with Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service and St. Mary's College

WATCH OUR PLAYLIST OF 2015 NIMA NOMINEES

For more information visit: National Indigenous Music Awards

Decolonize Your Playlist: Stream the New Mixtape from Sovereign Trax

Sovereign Trax is back with their June playlist of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

Our cross-continental collab continues with the crew from Sovereign Trax, bringing you the dopest sounds of "nue & old trax...from contemporary and experimental" artists from the lands of occupied 'Australia'.

Last month, SovTrax launched the second issue of their new zine, Sovereign Apocalypse, blending artful contributions into future imaginings of Indigenous sovereignty. Their latest issue, appropriately rocking on an Indigenous Futurism vibe, is themed around "Galactic Imaginings"—and features an interstellar mix of interviews, art, poetry, fashion photography, lyrics, recipes, and more. Equal parts Indigenous intervention and aesthetic subversion, SOVAPOC is bringing new forms to decolonizing self-representations and Aboriginal reimaginings of our collective present and future freedom.

Shout out to co-creators Hannah Donnelly and Gabi Briggs for pushing the #IndigenousMusic and media movement forward. Check this recent review via The Lifted Brow:

The zine was launched last month in Melbourne with an all-star line-up of live performances by Seeka, Birdz, GekkZ, Tahu Dubs and Marze, as the SOVAPOC collective continues to update your essential listening list with the best of contemporary and experimental music by black artists. Blackfulla musicians, artists and writers en masse whether in performance, playlists or publications can evoke a great sense of solidarity and excited strength among blackfullas, but also offer something thrilling and new to a general public. This is what this eye-catching, tactile zine is doing in Melbourne, I think, and perhaps its applicability is because it feels as if it has come from Wiradjuri country, country pre-colonisation (only 230 years ago, I’ll keep saying it, it’s such a short time), and country now urbanised, slick and gritty and flashy – the mix of both these truths finding popularity in the hand-selling and online selling of this publication.

On the musical tip, the latest selections of Sovereign Trax celebrate indigeneity and resistance in multiple forms, featuring new songs from the likes of R.3.B, JPoint, Robbie Miller, and Lady Lash. The talent runs deep and the sounds are an effortless mix of hip-hop, electronica, R&B, reggae, and bluesy-acoustic...all representing Indigenous pride and power.

Enjoy.

STREAM: SOVEREIGN TRAX - JUNE MIX 

Sovereign Trax: June Playlist - Track List

1. E.T.P - Habit’s Die Hard
2. Nathan Morrison x Robbie Miller - Oceans
3. Golden Features x Thelma Plum - No One
4. Coedie Ochre Warrah - GRIIIND
5. Marze x Seeka - Lady Lady
6. Lady Lash - World Gone Silly ft. Pyne
7. Philly - Dreamchaser
8. JPoint - Get Wrecked
9. Zaacharia Fielding - She is the Light
10. Scott Campbell - Tipsy
11. Bow and Arrow - Midnight
12. Paul Gorrie - Pay the Rent
13. Karate Surfing - Shadows
14. Eastern Reggae - Grog’s No Good
15. Marlene Cummins - Pemulwuy

Artists Join Forces Against the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in "Australia"

Indigenous artists are fighting back against colonialism genocide and the forced closure of remote communities by the Australian government.

Leave it to the artists to #SoundtrackTheStruggle: eight First Nations artists from occupied "Australia" have joined forces to contest colonial occupation of their homelands and resist the Australian government's attempt to force the closure of Indigenous communities.

Over a rugged hip-hop rhythm, Provocalz, Lady Lash, Djarmbi Supreme, Task, GekkZ, Mad Madam, Mr. Krow, and Felon spit fire—calling out colonial forces, racist ideologies,  histories, and speaking urgent truth to power.

Solidarity in resistance to our brothers and sisters in the southern hemisphere.

Listen to "STAND PROUD" and download it below:

DOWNLOAD: "STAND PROUD"

Listen to a New Sovereign Trax Mixtape of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music

Our cross-hemisphere comrade Hannah Donnelly of Sovereign Trax just dropped a dope new mixtape for Australian art and culture magazine The Lifted Brow.

Sovereign Trax continues to compile the best in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music and in addition to the monthly mixes we've featured in the past few months on RPM, she's put together an exclusive new mix for The Lifted Brow.

Featuring a slick blend of hypnotic beats and hip-hop from the likes of Ancestress, Inonymous, Elijah the Profit, Deekay, Provocalz, Djarmbi Supreme, and The Medics, SovTrax's latest mixtape keeps the fires of Indigenous resistance and revolt from throughout occupied "Australia" burning bright.

Read more about the mix over at The Lifted Brow and get down with the get down. Full tracklist below.

STREAM: Sovereign Trax Mixtape for The Lifted Brow

Sovereign Trax – A Mix for The Lifted Brow by The Lifted Brow on Mixcloud

SOV TRAX - LIFTED BROW MIXTAPE TRACKLIST

1. Paul Gorrie – Pay the Rent 2. Ancestress x Yilinhi – Speak the Truth 3. Inonymous – Sometimes ft. Leelow 4. Elijah the Profit – The Fallen Kingdom ft. BSK 5. Birdz – All We Know 6. Iron Link – Kin and Kings 7. Seeka – Late Ambience ft. Gekkz x Mad Madam x Marze 8. MC Bunz – War of the Words 9. Lady Lash – Blind Love 10. Dubbzone – Extraordinary But I’m Black 11. Deekay – Time for Sum Akshun 12. Provocalz – Cop Shot 13. Dizzy Doolan – Strictly Women’s Biz 14. Gekkz – What Does It Take 15. Coedie Ochre Warrah – High^Notes 16. Djarmbi Supreme – Go to Hell 17. The Medics – Wake Up

STREAM: Mau Power - "Island Home"

Torres Strait Islander hip-hop artist, Mau Power, reworks an Australian classic into an uplifting homage to his Indigenous homeland.

Mau Power is a force to be reckoned with. As a community leader, a hip-hop workshop facilitator with Desert Pea Media and UNICEF, and an ambassador for Indigenous hip-hop coming from the Torres Straits, he speaks to the synergies between Indigenous and hip-hop cultures with ease and confidence. Power's new album, The Show Will Go On, chronicles his autobiographical journey through experiences of incarceration, transformation and personal growth into fatherhood.

The lead single from his album, "Island Home", reworks the Warumpi Band hit from 1988 and samples Christine Anu's pop classic into an impassioned hip-hop tribute to his roots, homeland, people and relations. "Coming from the Islands", Power says, "I want to share our beautiful culture and proud history with the world. Yes I am Australian, but the Torres Straits are my heart, my soul, my love and the inspiration for much of my music."

The closing lyrics of "Island Home" distill the essence of Mau Power's music into a call for action and regeneration: "Unite the music / heart and mind reconnect / ancestors take me on that quest".

STREAM: Mau Power - "Island Home"

And keep an eye out for Mau Power's forthcoming single and video, "Freedom" featuring the legendary Aboriginal Australian artist Archie Roach.