Newcomer dominates nominees for NZ Music Awards

Jon Toogood of Shihad, Georgia Nott of Broods and Marlon Williams.

Newcomer Marlon Williams has topped the list for the New Zealand Music Awards with five nominations for his debut self-titled solo album.

The finalists for the 2015 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards have been announced at a ceremony at Auckland's Pullman Hotel, with the 24-year-old Lyttelton alt-country crooner in the running for Best Album, Best Single, Breakthrough Artist, Best Male Solo, and Best Alternative Album.

Close behind are previous Tui winners Unknown Mortal Orchestra (who recently won the Apra Silver Scroll Award) and Six60 with four nominations each, while Shihad are up for Best Album, Best Group, and Best Rock Album.

Broods have a similar list with nominations for Best Album, Best Group, and Best Pop Album.

Lorde is nominated for Best Single for her Hunger Games soundtrack song Yellow Flicker Beat, while Anika Moa, Brooke Fraser, and Gin Wigmore are up for Best Female Solo artist, but are conspicuously absent from all other categories.

The Exponents were announced as this year's NZ Herald Legacy Award winners, and the three Technical Award winners were also announced with Sean Donnelly taking the Best Producer award for his self-produced album Saint John Divine; Lee Prebble and Oliver Harmer awarded Best Engineers for their work on Mel Parsons' Drylands; and Kelvin Soh winning the Best Album Cover category for his work on Broods' Evergreen.

It was also an opportunity to see new host Taika Waititi in action, with the film and television star bringing his irreverent dry humour to proceedings.

The awards will be given out on November 19 at a ceremony at Vector Arena, and the event will also mark the 50th anniversary of the awards, making it a big night of celebration for the local music industry.

There will be live performances from Marlon Williams, Broods, Gin Wigmore, Savage, Janine and The Mixtape, and Devilskin, plus a special tribute to The Exponents from Dave Dobbyn and Tami Neilson, and $25 tickets for the general public are now available through Ticketmaster.

The full NZ Music Award nominees list:

Album of the Year
Broods Evergreen
Marlon Williams Marlon Williams
Shihad FVEY
Six60 Six60
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Multi Love

Single of the Year
Avalanche City Inside Out
Lorde Yellow Flicker Beat
Marlon Williams Dark Child
Six60 White Lines
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Multi Love

Best Group
Broods Evergreen
Shihad FVEY
Six60 Six60

Best Male Solo Artist
Marlon Williams Marlon Williams
Stan Walker Truth & Soul
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Multi Love

Best Female Solo Artist
Anika Moa Queen At The Table
Brooke Fraser Brutal Romantic
Gin Wigmore Blood to Bone

Breakthrough Artist of the Year
Devilskin We Rise
Ginny Blackmore Love Me Anyway
Marlon Williams Marlon Williams

Best Rock Album
Cairo Knife Fight The Colossus
Devilskin We Rise
Shihad FVEY

Best Pop Album
Benny Tipene Bricks
Broods Evergreen
Six60 Six60

Best Alternative Album
Marlon Williams Marlon Williams
She's So Rad Tango
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Multi Love

Best Urban/ Hip Hop album
Diaz Grimm Osiris
Janine and the Mixtape XX
The Doqument Blank Canvas - Wall & Piece

Best Roots Album
Latinaotearoa Latinaotearoa in Latinoamerica
Moana and the Tribe Rima
Trinity Roots Citizen

Best Electronica Album
Electric Wire Hussle Love Can Prevail
Shapeshifter vs The Upbeats SSXUB
Sola Rosa Magnetics

Best Music Video
Reuben Bonner Her Heart Breaks Like A Wave (Dictaphone Blues)
Shae Sterling Aotearoa (Stan Walker ft. Ria Hall, Troy Kingi & Maisey Rika)
Shahir Daud Cymatics (Nigel Stanford)

Best Maori Album
Moana and the Tribe Rima
Ranea Tihei Mauri Ora
Whaia and The Mahician WHAIA

Best Worship Album
Edge Kingsland Edge Kingsland: Seven Days
Life Worship Through The Fire
We, The Revival We, The Revival

Best Classical Album
Jack Body Through The Fire
Jack Body Songs Of Death and Desire
Michael Houstoun Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas

Best Album Cover
Alt Group FVEY (Shihad)
Barny Bewick The Colossus (Cairo Knife Fight)
Kelvin Soh Evergreen (Broods)

Best Producer
Clint Murphy We Rise (Devilskin)
Joel Little Evergreen (Broods)
Sean Donnelly Saint John Divine (SJD)

Best Engineer
Clint Murphy We Rise (Devilskin)
Evan Short FVEY (Shihad)
Lee Prebble Drylands (Mel Parsons)

NZ Herald Legacy Award
The Exponents

- nzherald.co.nz