2024 SA Music Award Winners crowned
Solo artist aleksiah cleaned up at the SA Music Awards last night, while a legendary city pub took out Best Live Venue for a consecutive year.
Dreamy indie artist aleksiah has been on a steady rise nationally since she filled TripleJ’s unearthed spot at the Adelaide edition of Groovin’ the Moo in 2023.
Last night she was awarded Best New Artist, Best Solo Artist, Best Pop Artist & the prestigious Emily Burrows award.
The Emily Burrows Award is named for the local music-lover and music industry professional who tragically died in a freak Adelaide Hills storm in 2000.
The award, which includes a $5000 professional development grant, puts aleksiah in good company with former winners including DEM MOB, Molly Rocket and even Hilltop Hoods.
CityMag dared to compare Aleksiah to Fleetwood Mac when we first heard her June release, Who Are You When You’re Not Performing, which showed off her dreamy vocals atop soft, funky guitar riffs.
“This is the first time I have ever won anything, and it is extremely exciting to be recognised alongside so many incredible South Australian artists that I hold in extremely high regard,” aleksiah says.
“I had the best team working with me on my EP that came out in June, and none of this would be possible without the amazing support of the talented people behind me.”
As well as being CityMag’s go-to Friday knock-off spot, the Crown & Anchor picked up Best Live Music Venue at the awards for the second year in a row.
It follows the Cranker’s gong for best live music venue at the 2024 Australian Hotels Association SA Awards for Excellence last month.
It’s a welcomed recognition and send-off for the pub that was saved from development threat and is seeking a new home to wait out construction of a student accommodation tower before it returns to the East End.
Other major award winners include Swapmeet, who took out the major award categories Best Song for their single ‘Ceiling Fan’ and Best Release for their debut EP Oxalis.
Oxalis sounds like dreamy pop meets indie folk-rock, marking a meeting place between the band’s beginnings under a different name and growth into Swapmeet.
The EP’s name is a cheeky nod to the band’s roots, being the genus name of the plant Australians affectionately know as a soursob.
SwapmeetTeenage Joans also took home two awards at the state’s music industry night of nights, claiming Best Group and People’s Choice for Most Popular Punk Artist.
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Australia’s 2024 Eurovision reps, Electric Fields won Best Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Artist and DEM MOB, who swept last year’s awards, took out Best Regional Artist.
The awards, at the Dom Polski Centre, included performances from West Thebarton, My Cherie and Sons of Zoku.
Guy Sebastian performed a medley of hits and was inducted into the AMC SA Music Hall of Fame last night. Since winning the inaugural season of Australian Idol in 2003, Guy is the only male artist in ARIA history to achieve six number-one ARIA singles and three number-one albums. He’s performed for Oprah Winfrey, The Queen and the Pope and was honoured with an Order of Australian medal in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2019 for his contributions to arts and community.
The MusicSA Community Achievement Award went to the world’s first all-female learning-disabled pop group, Sisters of Invention for their work in the SA community and disability awareness space and the Neville Clark Award recognised two excellent sound engineering students, Matt Satsinowsky and Joshua Rocca.
MusicSA CEO Christine Schloithe says this year’s awards showcased “the incredible depth and diversity of talent within our state over the past year”.
“From emerging artists to established favourites, all nominees and winners represented the passion and resilience of South Australia’s independent music sector and it’s inspiring to see all the award winners receive the recognition they deserve,” she says.
Here’s the full list of SA Music Award winners for 2024:
Major Awards:
- Best Song: ‘Ceiling Fan’ by Swapmeet
- Best New Artist: aleksiah
- Best Regional Artist: DEM MOB
- Best Group: Teenage Joans
- Best Solo Artist: aleksiah
- Best Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Artist: Electric Fields
- Best Release: Oxalis by Swapmeet
Industry awards:
- Best Studio: Forest Range Studio
- Best Large Music Festival: Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival
- Best Small Music Festival: Space Jams
- Best Studio Engineer / Producer: Lucinda Machin
- Best Live Technician: Luke Hancock
- Best Manager: Rachel Whitford
- Best Live Music Venue: Crown & Anchor
- Best Regional Venue, Festival, or Music Event: South East Beer & BBQ Festival
- Best Cover Art: Aysh Field for Coldwave, No Conflict
- Best Music Video: Bryce Kraehenbuehl for LOLA, Game Over
- Best Music Photograph: Deb Kloeden for The Empty Threats
- Best Music Educator: Annie Siegmann
Special awards:
- International Collaboration Award: Dr. Oliver Fartach-Naini
- Community Achievement Award: Sisters of Invention
- Emily Burrows Award: aleksiah
- Neville Clark Award: Matt Stasinowsky, Joshua Rocca
People’s Choice Awards:
- Most Popular Blues & Roots Artist: The Honey Badgers
- Most Popular Country Artist: Brad Chicken & The Bootstraps
- Most Popular Electronic Artist: Jane Doe
- Most Popular Experimental or Art Music Artist: SONS OF ZÖKU
- Most Popular Folk Artist: Maisie B.
- Most Popular Heavy Artist: The Munch
- Most Popular Hip Hop Artist: J-MILLA
- Most Popular Jazz Artist: Adam Page
- Most Popular Pop Artist: aleksiah
- Most Popular Punk Artist: Teenage Joans
- Most Popular Rock Artist: West Thebarton
- Most Popular Soul, Funk, or R’n’B Artist: Ukulele Death Squad