Independent Music NZ (IMNZ) have announced the ten 2023 Taite Music Prize finalists – plus finalists and winners in other awards’ sections.

• Aldous Harding – ‘Warm Chris’ 
• Avantdale Bowling Club – ‘Trees’
• Erny Belle – ‘Venus Is Home’
• Fazerdaze – ‘Break!’ 
• Hans Pucket – ‘No Drama’
• Marlon Williams – ‘My Boy’
• Princess Chelsea – ‘Everything Is Going To Be Alright’
• Tami Neilson – ‘Kingmaker’ 
• Te Kaahu – ‘Te Kaahu O Rangi’
• The Beths – ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ 

The three albums nominated for the 2023 Best Independent Debut Award are: 

• Erny Belle – ‘Venus Is Home’ 
• Te Kaahu – ‘Te Kaahu O Rangi’ 
• Wiri Donna – ‘Being Alone’ 

The two awards will be presented at the 14th annual Taite Music Prize ceremony on April 18, along with the NZ On Air Outstanding Music Journalism Award, IMNZ Classic Record and the Independent Spirit Award. 

Finalists for the NZ On Air Outstanding Music Journalism awards are:

• Gareth Shute – AudioCulture
• Jess Fu & Amanda Jane Robinson – Amplified
• Chris Cudby – Undertheradar 
• Namnita Kumar & Nadia Freeman – Eastern Sound Stories Podcast produced by Eastern Sound Collective in conjunction with Radio Active.

The IMNZ Classic Record aims to acknowledge NZ’s rich history of making timeless albums that continue to inspire us and define who we are. This year’s judging panel has recognised the album ‘micronism – inside a quiet mind’ (Kog Transmissions, 1998). The recording artist micronism, aka Denver McCarthy, was a mysterious electronic music act who emerged as part of the electronic scene in Auckland that gathered around the collective Kog Transmissions label in the ’90s. ‘inside a quiet mind’ was made over two years on outboard equipment and without computer assistance. Touches of acid, breakbeat, and glitchy ambient abound, but the album never sticks to any one genre. Originally released on CD by Kog the album was re-issued by Loop Recordings 20 years later on vinyl and digital platforms.