ARIA nominations are in

Gather round, gather round…it’s time to pick apart the honour roll for the 2008 ARIA Awards; a list that may leave as many FLers scratching their heads as singing praises.

Homebake’s leading lady Gabriella Cilmi has muscled into the competition with a whopping six nominations, including Best Female Artist and Single Of The Year for Sweet About Me. Significantly less radio-play has come the way of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, but he’s also up for a hefty four gongs on the back of debut album Gurrumul.

Then there’s Aussie ex-pat and Good Vibrations headliner Sam Sparro, whose newfound pop star status has earned him five nominations. Also doing well in the nominations stakes are rave overlords The Presets and, err, The Veronicas, who have picked up four nominations each. Some debut nominees we’d like to say “onya” to include Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The Panics, Midnight Juggernauts and British India.

Here are a few of the major categories for your perusal. The 2008 ARIA Awards go down Sunday 19 October at Acer Arena, Sydney.

Best Rock Album
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours (Aarght/Shock Entertainment)
Faker – Be The Twilight (Capitol/EMI)
Gyroscope – Breed Obsession (Mushroom Records/Warner Music Australia)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Virgin/EMI)
The Living End – White Noise (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

Album of the Year
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Gurrumul (Skinnyfish Music/MGM)
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson – Rattlin’ Bones (Liberation Music)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Virgin/EMI)
The Living End – White Noise (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
The Presets – Apocalypso (Modular/Universal Music Australia)

Best Male Artist
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Gurrumul (Skinnyfish Music/MGM)
Nick Cave – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Virgin/EMI)
Paul Kelly – To Her Door (Live) (Capitol/EMI)
Pete Murray – Summer At Eureka (Columbia/Sony BMG)
Sam Sparro – Sam Sparro (Universal Music Australia)

Best Female Artist
Clare Bowditch – The Moon Looked On (Capitol/EMI)
Gabriella Cilmi – Lessons To Be Learned (Mushroom Records/Warner Music Australia)
Holly Throsby – A Loud Call (Spunk/Virgin)
Kylie Minogue – X (Mushroom Records/Warner Music Australia)
Missy Higgins – Peachy (Eleven/Virgin/EMI)