Sticky Carpet

Aa the curtain closes on 2019 the judges of the prestigious Australian Music prize have whittled down a staggering 450 albums to the 107 nominated for this year's $30,000 cash prize.

Now in its15th year, the AMP represents an enormously diverse group of genres, from the flat-out punk rock mayhem of Amyl and the Sniffers' self-titled debut, to Andrea Kellers' stunning jazz album Transients Volume 1 and Archie Roach's superb latest album, Tell Me Why, which he created with pianist and composer Paul Grabowsky.

Amyl and the Sniffers.

"For this 15th prize we expanded the judging panel and created three separate stages of judging, with the first stage now complete, said AMP director Scott Murphy. "The second stage judges are busy familiarising themselves with all 107 nominated albums and their job is to eliminate 98 of them so that in January we can announce a shortlist of nine."

To see the full list of nominated albums, go to australianmusicprize.com

VALE TRISTAN VARGA-MILLER

Former graphic artist with The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Tristan Varga-Miller, died on Friday, December 13, after a short illness. He was 52. A father of two, Varga-Miller was a much loved friend to many and delighted in playing guitar and making music, ever since his father, Ross, first introduced him to the music of Jeff Beck four decades ago.

His colleague at The Age and long-time friend Jeff Glorfeld paid tribute this week to Varga-Miller, who played guitar with the Charleston Party in the late `80s, Son of Sam in the early `90s, as well as Tentacle, Marshalltown, Pontiac Slim and the F— F—s among others.

"When Tristan was up on stage with a guitar in his hands, no one in the room was having as much fun as he was, which is saying a lot when the band was a crazy crew like the F— F—s," Jeff told Sticky. "He'd also put together some of the mightiest bands to ever ravage St Kilda and as a band leader … that's when the serious side of Tristan the musician took charge." Cheers, many cheers to you, Tristan.

album of the week
Dean Martin
The Dean Martin Christmas Album
(Reprise)
★★★★
Christmas songs don't get much of a go when Sticky's celebrating the festive season, except maybe the Ramones' Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) off Braindrain, which has some excellent tracks, including Zero Zero UFO and Ignorance is Bliss, but Deano could sing bits out of the phone book and it would get an audience around the Sticky stereo. This cheery bunch of songs comes with his characteristic swagger and is well worth a spin, if only to hear him say 'Come on Prancer and Dancer, go on, get out of here' at the end of Jingle Bells.

selecta
Our Pathetic Age – DJ Shadow
North 6th Street – Nada Surf
Must've Been High – Supersuckers

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