GIT Award 2013 shortlist Announced
Next month sees the arrival of the second GIT Award. We take a look at the runners and riders…
How time flies when you’re busy as hell, eh? Almost a year on since Loved Ones walked away with the inaugural GIT Award, this week saw the shortlist for 2013’s iteration announced. The award, spawned from Peter Guy’s city music blog Getintothis and dubbed – for better or worse – ’the scouse Mercury Prize’, enjoyed a strong launch year and certainly set the stall out for those coming in its wake.
The award’s founder, who also serves as chair on the judging panel (which includes Quietus editor John Doran, Seven Street’s David Lloyd and BBC 6 Music’s Tom Ravenscroft, among others), Guy said: “This year’s shortlist represents a city at the height of its musical powers few could hope to match … Liverpool music is at a creative zenith.”
As with last year, the shortlist is made up of 12 bands and artists (whittled down from more than 380 entries) drawn from different backgrounds and genres right across the full spectrum of the city’s music lineage:
Baltic Fleet
Barberos
By The Sea
Nadine Carina
Clinic
Conan
Dan Croll
John Heckle
Jetta
Tyler Mensah
Stealing Sheep
Wave Machines
What we particularly like about this list is that sense of discovery it offers. Some, like Clinic and the returning Stealing Sheep, we know very well, while others, such as Jetta and Tyler Mensah, much less so, thus exposing our ears to artists we may never have otherwise come across. If anything, on the whole, the 12 acts above represent a stronger bunch of contenders than 2012 did; certainly, there is a sense that the GIT has conquered a steep learning curve, finding a level of maturity impressively early.
This is perhaps best exemplified by the inclusion of veterans Clinic, who last year released seventh album, Free Reign. Wirral four-piece By The Sea have been warming the hearts and cockles of audiences for a somewhat shorter length of time, yet their eponymous debut (produced by Bill Ryder-Jones) brought them to national attention.
A surprising (yet welcome) name on the list is Stealing Sheep (pictured); surprising only because the trio of Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley and Lucy Mercer missed out last year. Latest album Into The Diamond Sun, should put them in with as good a chance as anybody.
Of the road less well traveled (at least by us), Jetta brings with her a momentum gathered by debut single Start A Riot, and Tyler Mensah (who cites Frank Ocean, Michael Jackson and Usher as influences) at the tender age of 15, has youthful exuberance on his side; while the Swiss born, Liverpool based Nadine Carina produces a bewitching take on nu-folk,which she says, is created “in my bedroom with a loop station, a MIDI keyboard, a Monotron Synth, noise of pens, wrenches, a folding ruler and my cat”.
If it’s a tip you’re after, we wouldn’t look too far from either Baltic Fleet or Dan Croll (we wouldn’t put money on it though, our tip last year was Outfit). Setting aside the question of a potential winner, we’d argue that the real strength of the GIT Award lies in its variety. For once, it’s not about the winning, it’s about who’s taking part and the act of refreshing tastes that it offers.
In short, it’s a great showcase for the city and some of the very best of its musical output.
The 2013 GIT Award winner is revealed on Friday April 19 at Leaf on Bold Street
