j award 2006 - mid year thoughts

anyone who has followed my reandom mutterings for a while would know that last year i took a particular interest in the J Award - that is, the australian album of the year according to triple j. check out my archive for december for some more thoughts on the whole thing.

anyways, im rather impressed in most part with the nominations for this year.
they are
living end
augie march
hilltop hoods
goyte
the grates

thoughts?

i would put the hard road (hilltop hoods) as the front runner at the moment. it does seem that there are alot of releases in the 2nd helf of the year, but that may just be my imagination. so who knows what will happen

augie march. decent album yes. nowhere near as good as sunset studies though. so in that light its not worthy of the award, but definately worth a mention in the top 12 - 15 or however many they list

living end??? i dunno so much about this one. to be honest i havent give n the album a huge listen. i imagine that it would be very hard for them to release an album that didnt get nominated. they are a great band (but no powderfinger).

the grates. ummmmm. i like some of their stuff, i love science is golden, and i go to church with john's (the guitarist's) grandmother. i also think that patience is a bit of a crazy dancer (well hey, so am i)

goyte! stay tuned for more entries on this genius! A very clever album. I've only just got it, so i cant say more than that at this point in time. but... "your hearts a mess" should be song of the year!

the hoods - its just brilliantly pieced together. look, to be honest, there are some songs on there that dont totally float my boat, but the value in them isnt lost on me.


so???
all in all i think the list is good at this point in time. not too sure if they've missed anything that should be there. future nominations? maybe something for kate? probably youth group... and the dark horse??? true calling from melbourne - everything i've heard about them makes it sound like their album is going to be a standout.