No surprises last night with regards to the winners from the NZ music awards – Ladyhawke taking 6 awards, a fair representation of her achievements over the past couple of years.

The NZ music landscape is a funny kettle of fish, polarised by those who are holding onto some sort of unique musical identity (either based around Roots, Antipodean Folk, or sub par pop/hip-hop), and the open minded who are happy to see artists pushing a more international sound.

While some kiwis are happy to fire shots at artists like Ladyhawke for breaking the mould somewhat, the proof is in the pudding…while Smashproof may have held the NZ chart top spot for 11 weeks, doing a Hypem.com search on them will return exactly ZERO results, Ladyhawke, about 15 pages.

Go Pip Brown!

For the Record….2009 Winners were:

Best Album of the Year: Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke
Single of the Year: Ladyhawke – My Delirium
Best Group: Midnight Youth
People’s Choice Award: Smashproof
Best Male Solo Artist: Savage
Best Female Solo Artist: Ladyhawke
Breakthrough Artist of the Year: Ladyhawke
Best Music Video: Chris Graham – Brother (Smashproof)
Best Rock Album: Midnight Youth – The Brave Don’t Run
Best Urban/Hip-hop Album: Ladi 6 – Time Is Not Much
Best Aotearoa Roots Album: Fat Freddy’s Drop – Dr Boondigga and the Big BW
Best Dance/Electronica Album: Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke
Best Gospel/Christian Album: Mumsdollar – Ruins
Best Classical Album: David Bremner – Gung Ho
Highest Selling NZ Single: Smashproof – Brother
Highest Selling NZ Album: The Feelers – The Best: 1998-2008
Radio Airplay Record of the Year: Tiki Taane – Always on My Mind
International Achievement: Tied: Ladyhawke and Brooke Fraser
Legacy Award: Ray Columbus and the Invaders
Best Album Cover: Ruban Nielson, Screens (The Mint Chicks).
Best Engineer: Andrew Buckton, The Brave Don’t Run (Midnight Youth).
Best Producer: Fat Freddy’s Drop, Dr Boondigga and the Big BW (Fat Freddy’s Drop)