Electronic music producer Nicholas Murphy, better known as Chet Faker, has picked up nine Aria award nominations, including album of the year, breakthrough artist and best independent release.
Murphy’s debut album, Built on Glass, was released in April 2014 to critical acclaim, and immediately took the No 1 spot in the Aria charts.
The Melbourne artist’s swag of nominations can also be seen as a nod to the rise of indie record label Future Classic and the trend towards electronic dance music in Australia.
At the 2013 Aria awards, Murphy’s friend and label mate, fellow electronic music producer Flume (aka Harley Streten) won four out of eight nominations, including best male artist.
Streten is also up for an award with Murphy for their joint single Drop the Game, which is nominated in the best dance release category.
Before the main nomination announcement at the Art Gallery of NSW, the Built on Glass album was also awarded three artisan awards (producer of the year, engineer of the year and best cover art). The last album to win all three awards was Silverchair’s Diorama in 2002.
After months of gruelling international touring, Murphy said he was happy to be home for the win. “It’s a great time for Australian music,” he said, acknowledging the changing taste of the public, which has seen instrumental artists such as Flume flourish.
“It makes me proud. I’ve travelled the world and all these different countries and pop acts that are just money pumped into it. So to see artists that put care into their craft actually getting nominated is nice.”
The second-most nominated act is the Brisbane band Sheppard, whose No 1 single Geronimo went four times platinum (selling more then 280,000 copies). Their nominated categories include best group, album of the year and best independent release.
Artists on independent record labels have featured heavily in the 2014 nominees list. Joining Murphy and Sheppard as indie label artists in the running for multiple awards is Sia (six nominations), Dan Sultan (five nominations) and Violent Soho (four nominations).
Four out of five artists up for the coveted album of the year award are on independent labels. The category is also notable for having two Indigenous musician nominees: Sultan and pop artist Jessica Mauboy.
Mauboy commended the 2014 nominee list for its broad array of different sounds and genres. “It’s a very diverse year. We should be doing more of that,” she said.
Several Australian artists this year found success on overseas charts. Previous Aria award winner Sia Furler released her sixth studio album 1,000 Forms of Fear this year, which went to No 1 in the US and Australian charts. Furler’s nominated categories include album of the year and best female artist.
Other nominated acts to reach No 1 on the US charts include boy band 5 Seconds of Summer (four nominations) and rap artist Iggy Azalea (four nominations).
Also boasting three nominations apiece are Andy Bull, Hilltop Hoods, Mauboy, John Butler Trio, Justice Crew and Rüfüs.
The winners of the 2014 Aria awards will be announced on 26 November during a televised event at the Star in Sydney.
