Voting For The Triffid’s 2023 QLD Album Of The Year Is Now Open!

After months of fevered anticipation, the time has finally come: the legends at The Triffid have announced the nominees for their annual Album Of The Year honours. Celebrating its ninth edition, six phenomenal Queensland artists are in the running for this year’s title.

Presented in collaboration with The Music, the prestigious tradition puts the deciding power in the hands of the Australian public: anyone can make themselves heard in the ranking, with public voting open from today (September 7) until 5pm on Friday October 27. To cast your vote, head to the portal here.

The winning artist will then be crowned at an exclusive celebration at The Triffid – this year slated for Tuesday November 2, free to attend for everyone in Meanjin/Brisbane – where they’ll have their album splayed across the coveted ‘Hero Wall’ (joining other local legends like The Go-Betweens, Regurgitator, Violent Soho and Powderfinger). They’ll also receive a marketing package from The Music valued at $2,500, plus a rehearsal day in The Triffid Live Room.

It’s not just artists in the running for a killer prize, though – every voter will have a chance to win one of two gold passes to Splendour In The Grass 2024, granting them access to the uber-exclusive Gold Bar (and the best seat in the house with side-of-stage viewing in the headliners’ amphitheatre).

Last year’s Album Of The Year, as declared at The Triffid, was Mass Sky Raid’s Calm In Chaos. Other artists to earn the title in years past have included Stepson, The Chats, Tia Gostelow, Cub Sport and Busby Marou.

First up in the ranks for this year’s nominees is fast-rising queer icon Hope D, who virtually drop-kicked fans into a kaleidoscope of explosive pop, buzzy alternative and cruisy indie-rock with her debut album, Clash Of The Substance. Arriving independently back in February (after a short delay), the 15-tracker saw Hope bare her soul with bewitching aplomb, blending ultra-catchy rhythms and wickedly tight production with stories about heartbreak, addiction, mental health and other such colourful topics.

It only makes sense that Full Moon Flower Band would earn a nod for their instantly loveable second album album, Diesel Forever – which arrived independently last August – after the band won The Music's 2023 Underground Hidden Gems competition back in May. If that wasn’t special enough, the cover stars’ frontwoman, Kate Herrington (aka Babyshakes Dillon), recently won this year’s $15,000 Grand McLennon Fellowship. According to Herrington, the album reflects “the mythology of rock’n’roll and its utopian sales pitch”, masterfully balancing light and dark.

Beddy Rays’ self-titled debut album speaks to the very spirit of The Triffid, celebrating – in the Redland Bay band’s own words – “mateship, good times, beers, and the importance of looking after yourself and checking in with your mates”. It was a hit upon its release last July, sliding into the Top Ten on the ARIA Charts and earning Beddy Rays nominations at the National Indigenous Music Awards (where it just narrowly missed out on Album Of The Year) and the ARIAs (where they got a nod for the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist award).

Coming up on 14 years after The Butterfly Effect dropped their critically adored third album (Final Conversation Of Kings) in 2008), fans had come to accept the possibility that their catalogue might forever remain a trilogy. But the alt-metal icons finally pulled through last September, sharing some of their sharpest and heaviest-hitting work in IV. A decade in the making, the ten-track effort marked a rebirth for one of the most influential bands in Australia’s heavy music scene.

Pointedly released on Good Friday this year (April 7), Cub Sport’s fifth album, Jesus At The Gay Bar, is their most ambitious and determined – a defiantly euphoric celebration of queerness and self-discovery after breaking free from the shackles of religious trauma. It clearly resonated with Australia, topping the ARIA Charts and earning Cub Sport their first win at the AIR Awards (taking home Best Independent Dance, Electronica Or Club Single with Always Got The Love).

Last but certainly not least, FELIVAND is up for Album Of The Year with her magical debut Ties, which she’s gone on record to affirm is the absolute most authentic distillation of her artistry: “I have never felt more aligned with or proud of anything I have written before,” she said upon the LP’s release. The 12-track effort – which earned Felivand the 2023 AIR Award for Best Independent Soul/R&B Album Or EP – takes listeners on one hell of an odyssey, following the artist’s own “journey of self-care, curiosity and introspection”.

Voting for The Triffid’s 2023 QLD Album Of The Year is now open! Head to our voting portal here to cast your vote.