The shortlist is out for the GIT Award 2012, the new annual gong being presented by Liverpool-based music blog Getintothis and celebrating new music talent on Merseyside. The overall winner will be declared on 27 Apr.

Coming up, the shortlist, as selected by a panel of national and local journalists and music types from 380 entries, but first a quote from Getintothis writer and GIT Award founder Peter Guy, who tells CMU: “The first GIT Award shortlist highlights the wealth of new musical talent within Merseyside. The artists are ambitious and inventive, emotional and passionate, funny and profound. They evoke a sense of time and place, providing a wonderful snapshot of Merseyside’s varied sonic landscape proving why Liverpool is still the centre of the music universe”.

And the shortlist goes as follows: Bang On, Ex-Easter Island Head, Forest Swords, Loved Ones, Miss Stylie, Mugstar, Outfit, Ninetails, Bill Ryder-Jones, Stealing Sheep, The Tea Street Band and Esco Williams.

An band called Underline The Sky have filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority against previously reported new bands competition Live And Unsigned, claiming that they were one of the winners of the competition in 2010 but are yet to receive all the prizes that adverts for the contest promised would come with victory.

The band say that they were promised two festival sets as part of their prize, including an all-expenses paid trip to perform at a festival in India, plus an amplifier worth £1500, but have so far received nothing. By taking their complaint to the ASA, the band presumably reckon they were misled by the competition’s advertising materials in breach of the Authority’s code of conduct, though the powers of the advertising industry regulator are somewhat limited in a case like this.

Organisers of the five year old new bands competition, which this year is being filmed for a Sky TV programme, say that all the acts who took part in their 2010 edition were notified about the withdrawal of the amp prize before competing, and that the two festival sets promised fell through because the events themselves were cancelled. Live And Unsigned’s Chris Grayston added that alternative prizes of greater value had been offered, but either declined or ignored.

Responding to Underline The Sky’s ASA complaint, the BBC found some other bands also disgruntled with what they had received after winning elements of past Live And Unsigned competitions, though more past participants and winners seemed pleased with their experiences and winnings when questioned by the Beeb’s reporter, including another artist whose prize had had to change post victory.

Among the critics were 2009 indie genre winners The Loaded Dice who said that the promise of a 20 grand investment was tied to a management contract the band didn’t feel they could sign, while The Trinity Band from Derby, overall winners of the contest in 2011, were also disappointed, saying a trip to play a festival in Canada was “a shambles”, and other UK dates organised by Live And Unsigned promoter Future Music fell though.

They told the BBC: “How are we out of pocket when we have just supposedly won a £50,000 investment? After winning the so called ‘largest unsigned competition in the country’ we believed there would be a machine or system in place, interviews set up, or a team working on this for us. There wasn’t”. But Future Music countered that it had, in fact, invested in the 2011 winners, but that they lacked the “organisation and drive to be a very successful band”.

Whether the ASA will rule that past advertising by Live And Unsigned actually breached its code remains to be seen, though – as with any hyped unsigned bands competition – the issue here might be more about managing expectations than delivering on a list of prizes. One of those who spoke positively about Future Music’s competition to the Beeb stressed that participating was a good experience providing wannabe bands were realistic about what can be achieved in the battle of the bands arena.

Thom Rylance from Manchester band The Lottery Winners: “If I’m asked, which I often am, if I would recommend a band to enter Live And Unsigned I’d say: ‘Of course you should, but don’t expect to just become famous overnight, even if you win it, because it just doesn’t work that way’”.

I thought we had this all sorted out last year when the NME announced that King Tut’s in Glasgow was the UK’s best small venue. Apparently not. Apparently we’re going to have to do it all over again this year. And this time someone called JD Roots is helping out. Oh, it says here JD Roots is actually a music campaign put together by Jack Daniel’s. Still, more hands make work easier, or whatever it is they say.

NME editor Krissi Murison told CMU: “Obviously selling out huge venues is a sign of a massively successful band – and rightly so! But most successful artists wouldn’t have got where they are today without playing smaller venues at the start of their careers. They play an extremely important role in nurturing talent, which NME is very proud to support. It’s in all of the UK music industry’s interest for small venues to prosper”.

And for all the flippancy of that there first paragraph, we do actually agree. The shortlist of regional venues from which the overall winner will be chosen will be put together by a panel of experts, including artists, promoters and agents.

Englebert Humperdinck’s Eurovision entry has been unveiled. As previously reported, the singer was chosen to represent the UK partly due to his continued popularity in some key Eastern European countries which can swing the vote. Entitled ‘Love Will Set You Free’, the song has been written and produced by Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek, who between then have worked with the likes of Mary J Blige, Adele, Lana Del Rey and James Blunt.

Humperdinck will perform the song live at the Eurovision Song Contest on 26 May. When he was announced as the UK entrant earlier this month, he said: “It’s an absolute honour to be representing my country for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. When the BBC approached me, it just felt right for me to be a part of an institution like Eurovision. I’m excited and raring to go and want the nation to get behind me!”

Watch the video for the song here:

Organisers of the Mercury Prize have announced that this year’s event will shift in the calendar, so that the rant-inducing shortlist will be announced in September, with the overall prize presented in November. Previously the shortlist was announced in July and the gong handed over in September.

Confirming the change, award spokesman Dan Ford said: “By announcing the Barclaycard Mercury Prize ‘Albums Of The Year’ after the summer, we will be able to generate more interest in the shortlisted artists than ever before, building momentum in the run up to the awards show and beyond”.

The move means that the eligibility period for the next edition of the prize will run from last July to this coming September. Labels will be able to put their releases forward for consideration between 6 Jun and 12 Jul, and should register at mercuryprize.com for information of how all that will work.

So not one but two Mercury-Prize-style awards  were handed out this week, which is good news for fans of Mercury-Prize-style awards. And for fans of things that come in twos, I guess.

First up, there was the Australian Music Prize, which was presented to rockers The Jezabels for their album ‘Prisoner’. Apparently it was very, very, very close, which I am sure will reassure all the losers who don’t take home 30 thousand Aussie dollars back to mother. Actually, The Jezabels are currently gigging in Europe so weren’t in attendance to pick up the prize themselves, meaning the money has probably gone straight to their mothers, and will be spent long before the band head back home.

They don’t need the prize money, anyway. They’re doing fine as it is thank you very much. Indeed some have criticised this year’s AMP shortlist for being too “safe” in terms of acts chosen, something the winners noted in their pre-supplied acceptance speech, which said: “[We like that] AMP celebrates excellence and quality in Australian albums, regardless of their popularity or success, but also recognises that those things are not mutually exclusive”.

Second, the Choice Music Prize has been presented in Ireland, and the surprise there was that it was handed to a previous winner, meaning electro-rock types Jape have won the honour twice in its eight year history. In his acceptance speech band founder Richie Egan, according to the Irish Times, said: “This year I didn’t think we’d win because the line-up is so great. I actually thought that Lisa Hannigan was definitely going to win. To be honest all of the fucking bands on the list are so good, I’m just actually in shock that we won”.

Well done one and all. Well, mainly Jape and The Jezabels. And mother.

So the noms are out for Music Week’s annual music industry awards bash, covering labels, publishing, retail, radio, venues and management. Taking place this year at The Brewery on 26 Apr, a panel of 300 odd industry types will now vote for overall winners from these shortlists, though some categories will be picked by members of specific trade bodies or specialist groups. In addition to this lot, three awards for music publishers based on market share will also be dished out, as will the good old Strat, which is for lifetime achievement type gubbins. And the nominees are…

High Street Retail Brand: ASDA, Fopp, HMV, Sainsbury’s, Tesco

Independent Retailer: Rough Trade East, London; Resident Records, Brighton; Banquet Records, Kingston Upon Thames; Rise Records, Bristol; Sound It Out, Stockton On Tees

Online Retail Brand: Amazon, eMusic, HMV, iTunes, Play.com

Non-Retail Digital Musical Service: Deezer, The Orchard, Spotify, VEVO, We7

Radio Station: 6music, Absolute Radio, Capital FM, Kerrang! Radio, Radio 1, Radio 2, Wave 105.2

Radio Show: The Chris Evans Breakfast Show (Radio 2); MistaJam (1xtra); The Ronnie Wood Show (Absolute); Steve Lamacq (6music); In Demand: Uncut with Jim Gellatly (Bauer Scotland); Rickie, Melvin And Charlie In The Morning (Kiss); The Roger Day Evening Show (BBC Radio South East)

TV Show: Later… with Jools Holland (BBC Two), The Jo Whiley Music Show (Sky Arts), The X-Factor (ITV), Glastonbury Coverage (BBC Two, Three, Four), Professor Green Unseen (Channel 4),
David Guetta’s VIP Party (Box TV)

A&R Award: Asylum Records, Universal/Island Records, Universal/Mercury Records, Ministry Of Sound Recordings, Beggars/XL Recordings

Catalogue Marketing Campaign: Nirvana – Nevermind (Universal), The Smiths Complete (Warner/Rhino), Steps – The Ultimate Collection (Sony/RCA), Suede Re-Issues (Demon), Why Pink Floyd? (EMI), The Who Quadrophenia (Universal)

Artist Marketing Campaign: Adele (Beggars/XL), Jessie J (Universal/Island), Olly Murs (Sony/Epic), Frank Turner (Xtra Mile Recordings), Coldplay (EMI/Parlophone), Lana Del Rey (Universal/Polydor)

PR Campaign: Adele (Purple PR), One Direction (Hackford Jones), Ed Sheeran (Warner/Atlantic), Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (Murray Chalmers), Military Wives (Universal/Decca), Emeli Sandé (EMI/Virgin)

Promotions Team: Universal/Island, Warner Bros, Cop Media, EMI/Virgin, Universal/Decca, Sony/Columbia, Warner/Atlantic

Distribution Team: Arvato, Proper Distribution, Gem Logistics, Absolute, EMI

Sales Team: PIAS, Sony Music, Warner Music, Proper Music, Universal Music, EMI

Manager Of The Year: Stuart Camp (Rocket Music Management), Jonathan Dickins (September Management), Dave Holmes (3D Artist Management), Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee (Modest Management), Jho Oakley (Jho Management)

Music & Brand Partnership: Converse Gigs @ 100 Club (Cornerstone Agency), Lucozade & Various Artists (Billington Cartmell Agency), On Track With Seat 2011 (Universal Music UK), Bands In Transit (Ford/Love Live), The Station Sessions Live From St. Pancras International (HS1/Emerge Media)

Live Music Venue: The Leadmill, Sheffield; HMV Forum, London; The O2, London; Shepherd’s Bush Empire; The Lexington, London; Birmingham Symphony Hall

Independent Record Company: Fatcat, Domino, Thrill Jockey, Beggars/XL, Bella Union

Record Company: Warner/Atlantic, Universal/Island, Ministry Of Sound Universal/Mercury, Beggars/XL

The Association Of Independent Music has announced that its Independent Music Awards will return this October, following the ceremony’s inaugural event last year. Its return will also see the awards move from Floridita in Soho to the much bigger Brewery venue in East London.

AIM Chairman and CEO Alison Wenham told CMU: “The first AIM Awards was a fantastic event for the artists and companies whose hard work was finally recognised by their peers. We hope that as the awards show grows in size and stature, the wider industry will take note of the unique contribution the indie sector makes to the quality and diversity of the British music industry”.

Steve Lamacq, who will again co-host the event with Huw Stephens, added: “I’m delighted to be co-hosting the awards again after its inception last year. It really was a bit special being in a room with so many influential independent label bosses, including people like Martin Mills and Geoff Travis who put out so many of the records I bought as a teenager. What last year proved is that the AIM Awards does a variety of things. It raises the profile of the indie sector – but it’s also very valuable in bringing indie label heads together for a night to swap advice and discuss the future. And on top of that it’s terrific to mark some of the achievements of the musicians and labels who’ve excelled in their field”.

The AIM Independent Music Awards will take place at The Brewery on 29 Oct. Find out more at www.musicindie.com/awards

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith has revealed that the band’s former guitarist John Frusciante will not be in attendance when the outfit are inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame next month.

Smith explained that all surviving former members of the band had been invited to attend and confirmed that original drummer and former Pearl Jam member Jack Irons, as well as another former guitarist, Cliff Martinez (now best known for composing the score for 2011 movie ‘Drive’), will both be with the current line-up at the ceremony.

But Frusciante, guitarist with the band through both of their most successful periods, will not be there. Smith told Billboard: “He didn’t feel comfortable coming, which we totally respect. We asked him. He said: ‘I’m just not really comfortable with that, but good luck and thanks for inviting me’. It was all good. He’s the kind of guy, I think, that once he’s finished with something he’s just on to the next phase of his life. The Chili Peppers are not really on his radar right now”.

The BBC announced yesterday that Englebert Humperdinck will represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The move, if you were wondering, as I imagine you were, is apparently a tactical one. Humperdinck seemingly remains very popular in a number of key voting nations. Although it’s possible they said that about Blue last year as well.

Born Arnold Dorsey, Humperdinck got his unusual moniker in 1965 when his manager, Gordon Mills, decided that his original stage name, Gerry Dorsey, wasn’t exciting enough. Mills co-opted the name of a nineteenth century German opera composer and Humperdinck never looked back. Between 1967 and 1969 he release five top ten albums, and has hit the top ten several times since with greatest hits compilations – the last in 2004 with ‘Greatest Love Songs’, which went to number four. He’s best known for his 1967 version of ‘Release Me’, which went to number one in the UK and top ten in various countries around the world, including the US.

His Eurovision entry is being written by Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek, who between then have worked with the likes of Mary J Blige, Adele, Lana Del Rey and James Blunt.

Katie Taylor, BBC Head of Entertainment And Events said of the decision to make Humperdinck this year’s Eurovision entrant: “Not since the 1970s have we had such an established international musical legend represent the nation. We couldn’t be more delighted. Engelbert’s experience leaves us in no doubt that he will be able to deliver a standout performance in front of 120 million viewers worldwide”.

Humperdinck added: “It’s an absolute honour to be representing my country for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. When the BBC approached me, it just felt right for me to be a part of an institution like Eurovision. I’m excited and raring to go and want the nation to get behind me!”

The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan on 26 May. While we wait to hear Englebert Humperdinck’s entry, let’s relive one of his finest moments:

So, suspense filled the Brixton Academy yesterday evening, as the great and the good the the indie pop world sat down wondering “just who can have won this year’s NME Awards”? Well, apart from those attendees who had already seen the full winners list that had been accidentally published by The Independent two hours earlier. Oh well, even if they had seen that report, by the time the NME’s annual back slapping bash was underway most of the people there were probably too pissed to remember something they’d read two hours previous.

For those who did attend but can’t remember a thing about the evening, let me remind you that Kasabian and the Foo Fighters were declared the best bands in Britain and the world respectively, while The Vaccines are the best new band, The Horrors made the best album, and Florence Welch the best song, if NME readers are to be believed, and why wouldn’t you trust NME readers?

Justin Bieber beat David Cameron to the Villain Of The Year crown, probably for his role in excluding the poor from higher education, screwing up the NHS and letting those evil bankers do whatever the fuck they like. And you thought Bieber’s biggest crime was his cover of ‘Santa Clause Is Coming To Town’. The teen star also picked up Worst Album, while One Direction were named Worst Group, in the traditional “NME readers pick the most successful mainstream pop acts of the moment and diss them” moment.

So that’s nice. Here’s your full list of NME winners.

Best British Band: Kasabian
Best International Band: Foo Fighters
Best New Band: The Vaccines
Best Solo Artist: Florence And The Machine
Best Live Band: Arctic Monkeys
Philip Hall Radar Award: Azealia Banks

Hero Of The Year: Matt Bellamy
Hottest Male: Jared Leto, 30 Seconds To Mars
Hottest Female: Hayley Williams, Paramore

Best Album: Horrors, Skying
Best Track: Florence And The Machine – Shake It Out
Best Video: Hurts – Sunday
Dancefloor Anthem: Katy B – Broken Record
Best Re-issue: The Smiths – Complete Re-issues

Best Festival: Glastonbury
Best Small Festival: Rockness

Best Album Artwork: Friendly Fires – Pala
Best Band Blog or Twitter: Lady Gaga, @ladygaga
Best TV Show: Fresh Meat
Best Film: Submarine
Best Music Film: Foo Fighters, Back and Forth
Best Book: Noel Fielding, The Scribblings Of A Madcap Shambleton
Most Dedicated Fans: Muse
Greatest Music Moment: Stone Roses re-unite

Villain Of The Year: Justin Bieber
Worst Album: Justin Bieber – Under The Mistletoe
Worst Band: One Direction

Godlike Genius: Noel Gallagher

Pan-European indie labels trade body IMPALA has announced the winner of its European Independent Album Of The Year award, or the EIAOTY as the kids are calling it, and that winner is Adele. Which is a bit boring really. Not that Adele’s ’21′ isn’t a good album, but given she’s already won every other award going, it would have been nice if someone else had got this one.

IMPALA’s Executive Chair Helen Smith doesn’t agree though, telling CMU: “The ability of this exceptional album to touch so many people all over the world, is such an achievement for a European artist and makes ’21′” the well-deserved winner for this year’s award, whilst the complete list of 23 nominees demonstrate once again the diversity and vitality of the independent sector all over Europe”.

Adele added: “Yeah! All the fucking awards are mine! You got an award? I’ll have it. I don’t give a fuck”. Then she threw her middle finger in the air and stormed off. Well, she did in my head, anyway.

Meanwhile, in a bid to big up some independently released music from people not called Adele, here’s the full shortlist…

Adele – 21 (XL Recordings)
Ane Brun – It All Starts With One (Balloon Ranger Recordings)
Arrayan Path – Ira Imperium (Pitch Black Records)
Claude Hugo – Claude Hugo (Five-OMusic / Fakto Records)
Hladno Pivo – Svijet Glamura (Menart)
Iceage – New Brigade (Tambourhinoceros)
Justyna Majkowska – Zakochana Od Jutra (Anaconda)
Kaizers Orchestra – Violeta Violeta Vol 1 (Petroleum Records)
Kitty Daisy & Lewis – Smoking In Heaven (Sunday Best)
Little Dragon – Ritual Union (Peacefrog)
M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming (Naïve)
Maia Vidal – God Is My Bike (Crammed Discs)
Modeselektor – Monkeytown (Monkeytown)
Nick & Simon – Symphonica In Rosso (Volendam Music)
Ocho Macho – Online A Vilag (CLS Music)
Pegasus – Human Technology (Muve Recordings)
Raphael Gualazzi – Reality And Fantasy (Sugar Music)
Rubik – Solar (Fullsteam)
Selah Sue – Selah Sue (Because Music)
SBTRKT – SBTRKT (Young Turks)
Sigur Ros – Inni (Krunk)
The Glockenwise – Building Waves (Lovers & Lollypops)
Vetusta Morla – Mapas (Pequeno Salto Mortal)

Grime-pop sort Labrinth is inviting the more musically proactive of his fans to compete to join him in a one-off collaboration. Run as part of headphone manufacturer Sennheiser’s Masters Of Sound programme, the contest requires aspiring singers, songwriters, musicians, DJs or producers to submit an original composition; whether that be a beat, sample, or vocal line.

Entries will then be put to a public vote on Facebook and Twitter, with Labrinth’s personal favourite finalist securing studio time with the ‘Earthquake’ hitmaker to develop their idea, plus the opportunity to see the finished version performed live at a playback show at London’s HMV Oxford Street in May.

Says Labrinth, no doubt whilst modelling a shiny new pair of Sennheiser headphones: “A couple of years ago I was fighting to get my sound out there, so now I want to give people the chance to show the world what they can do. Opportunities like this can get you heard and change your life”.

Over eighteens have until 8 Apr to send in their pieces, and can do so at www.facebook.com/sennheiseruk

Nominations are now being accepted for the Online Music Awards, which will be presented for the second year this October. Unsigned and independently released artists are eligible, and there are categories for best urban, rock, pop, dance and international act, and best music video. Anyone can nominate, with the OMA team then picking shortlists for each category in early summer, before throwing it out to a public vote online.

Meanwhile, organisers of the awards have announced War Child as their official charity. OMA Founder Chris Mitchell told CMU: “We are thrilled to announce War Child as our charity partner. War Child is an extremely good cause that helps children whose lives have been turned upside down by war, I’m extremely proud to be in a position to help them spread their positive message and hope we can help them raise some much-needed money”.

More info and nominate at www.onlinemusicawards.org

Well, thank God for ITV and its passion for good time keeping at non-sport related events, ensuring there was at least a tiny little bit of scandal to spice up the 2012 BRIT Awards. The UK record industry’s annual back slapping fest has become a rather slick affair in recent years, especially since its move east to The O2, which makes for a good live show if you’re there, but pretty lacklustre television. Perhaps I’m showing my age, but for me, unless a bum is wiggled, a political leader drenched, or a pissed up DJ offends a rock icon, well, British music hasn’t been truly celebrated. And dragging Blur on stage for the finale surely only reminded older viewers of those heady days of BRIT Awards chaos in the 1990s.

But, just as it looked like the newspapers were going to have to lead with “everyone we thought would win won”, or possibly “George Michael sufficiently not dead to present an award”, ITV handed The Sun and The Mirror their front pages as it insisted host James Corden cut off the undeniable star of the evening, double award winner and Britain’s biggest selling singer of the moment, Adele, as she tried to deliver her second acceptance speech. It seems that if ITV viewers don’t get their scheduled news fix at 10pm they are liable to riot (word has it that’s what happened last August), and while Damon Albarn’s inane rambling earlier in the evening had probably pushed everything behind schedule in the first place, that was no reason to cut the Blur end-of-show set, “so get that bloody Adkins woman off the stage would you, Corden?”

Adkins, presumably inspired by MIA, gave the cameras the finger (a “fuck off” to the show’s producers, she later clarified), providing the perfect photo for what was now everyone’s lead BRITS story. So much so, the PR machine was in action by midnight, with ITV telling reporters “the BRITs is a live event. Unfortunately the programme was over running and we had to move on. We would like to apologise to Adele for the interruption”.

A BRITs spokesman added: “We regret this happened and we send our deepest apologies to Adele that her big moment was cut short this evening due to the live show over-running. We don’t want this to undermine her incredible achievement in winning our night’s biggest award. It tops off what’s been an incredible year for her”.

So there you go, “ITV and BRIT bosses conspire with Mastercard to embarrass Britain’s favourite singing sensation”. Thank God for that, prior to Cut-Short-Speech-Gate I had literally nothing to say about this year’s BRITs. And look, now I’ve managed 448 words without even saying, here’s a full list of this year’s winners…

British Male Solo Artist: Ed Sheeran
British Female Solo Artist: Adele
British Breakthrough Act: Ed Sheeran
British Group: Coldplay
Critics’ Choice: Emeli Sandé
British Producer: Ethan Johns

British Single: One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
British Album: Adele – 21

International Male Solo Artist: Bruno Mars
International Female: Rihanna
International Group: Foo Fighters
International Breakthrough Act: Lana Del Rey

Outstanding Contribution To Music: Blur

Watch the video below to see Adele explain why she raised her middle finger after her acceptance speech was cut off:

And here they are everybody, the winners of this year’s MPG Awards, the annual bash staged by the Music Producers’ Guild, which includes the presentation of the first BRIT of the year, for best producer, which went to Ethan Johns. Full winners list as follows:

Producer Of The Year: Ethan Johns

Recording Engineer Of The Year: Geoff Foster
Mix Engineer Of The Year: Tom Elmhirst
Mastering Engineer Of The Year: Mandy Parnell
Remixer Of The Year: Jamie xx

International Producer Of The Year: Butch Vig
International Engineer Of The Year: Andrew Scheps

Breakthrough Producer of the Year: Yogi
Breakthrough Engineer of the Year: Tom Morris

UK Album Of The Year: PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
UK Single Of The Year: Adele – Rolling In The Deep
Live Production Of The Year: Radiohead – Live In Praha

Studio of the Year: Eastcote Studios

The Joe Meek Legacy Award: Steve Lillywhite
Outstanding Contribution to UK Music: Martin Mills
Unsung Hero: Crispin Murray
Special Recognition Award: Martin Rushent

Pan-European indie label trade body IMPALA has announced the shortlist for its European Independent Album Of The Year Award, the annual gong that was launched last year. A panel will now pick a winner from this list which will be announced on 29 Feb.

And the shortlisted albums are:

Adele – 21 (XL Recordings)
Ane Brun – It All Starts With One (Balloon Ranger Recordings)
Arrayan Path – Ira Imperium (Pitch Black Records)
Claude Hugo – Claude Hugo (Five-OMusic / Fakto Records)
Hladno Pivo – Svijet Glamura (Menart)
Iceage – New Brigade (Tambourhinoceros)
Justyna Majkowska – Zakochana Od Jutra (Anaconda)
Kaizers Orchestra – Violeta Violeta Vol 1 (Petroleum Records)
Kitty Daisy & Lewis – Smoking In Heaven (Sunday Best)
Little Dragon – Ritual Union (Peacefrog)
M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming (Naïve)
Maia Vidal – God Is My Bike (Crammed Discs)
Modeselektor – Monkeytown (Monkeytown)
Nick & Simon – Symphonica In Rosso (Volendam Music)
Ocho Macho – Online A Vilag (CLS Music)
Pegasus – Human Technology (Muve Recordings)
Raphael Gualazzi – Reality And Fantasy (Sugar Music)
Rubik – Solar (Fullsteam)
Selah Sue – Selah Sue (Because Music)
SBTRKT – SBTRKT (Young Turks)
Sigur Ros – Inni (Krunk)
The Glockenwise – Building Waves (Lovers & Lollypops)
Vetusta Morla – Mapas (Pequeno Salto Mortal)

While last weekend’s Grammys (watched by their biggest TV audience since the 1980s) were dominated by all the Whitney celebrating, Adele’s mega-wins, and Nicki Minaj’s “what the fuck?” performance, there were other conversations going on around the peripheries also.

The decision by Grammy chiefs to cut some awards from the proceedings this year continued to cause some mild controversy, though it was another decision by the awards’ bosses that was pissing off some others among America’s music community: the decision to allow R&B wife-beater Chris Brown back ontheir stage just three years after he delivered one of the more memorable Grammy weekend performances, beating his pop star girlfriend unconscious in the street.

While some (and Brown’s always dedicated fan base especially) would say the R&B star has ‘done his time’ as it were (180 hours of community service) for beating Rihanna senseless, and that the world should therefore forgive and forget, others are concerned that no one has really forgotten, and therefore giving the singer a star billing at the Grammy awards show sends out a dangerous message.

After all, Brown’s criminal assault on his girlfriend three years ago will always be closely linked to the Grammy Awards, and the singer is still serving the five years of probation the US courts felt were required for his crime. Did the Grammy booking not say to the world, some wondered, “don’t worry about beating your girlfriend unconscious at our party, sell a few records and give it three years, and we’ll make you guest of honour”?

Sasha Pasulka perhaps best summarised that viewpoint in a piece for Zooey Deschanel’s HelloGiggles website titled ‘I’m not okay with Chris Brown performing at the Grammys and I’m not sure why you are’. She was unsurprisingly unimpressed with Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich justifying booking Brown by saying: “I think people deserve a second chance, you know. If you’ll note, he has not been on the Grammys for the past few years [actually, two] and it may have taken us a while to kind of get over the fact that we were the victim of what happened”.

After stating the obvious flaws with Ehrlich’s statement, Pasulka notes: “We – the grown-up influencers in this country, the people with platforms and with educations and with power – are allowing a clear message to be sent to women: We will easily forgive a person who victimises you. We are able to look beyond the fact that you were treated as less than human, that a bigger, stronger person decided to resolve a conflict with you through violence. We know it happened, but it’s just not that big of a deal to us”.

Although the arguable scandal of Brown’s Grammy booking and two performances on the night didn’t get much media coverage, some did express their concerns or outrage via Twitter, among them country star Miranda Lambert, who knows a thing or two about the impact domestic violence has on its victims, her parents running a shelter for abused women. She tweeted: “Chris Brown twice? I don’t get it. He beat on a girl… Not cool that we act like that didn’t happen”.

The Twitter criticism didn’t go unnoticed by Brown himself, who didn’t seem so happy that some in the Grammy audience were still focusing on his Rihanna beating escapades rather than his lacklustre pop songs. So much so, the singer seemingly took to Twitter himself to respond, though said tweets were later removed, possibly because the R&B star calmed down, or possibly because the same advisors who told Brown to big up the “remorse thing” when his assault case went to court, told him to play down the “gloating thing” now that the American pop establishment has reappointed him as its approved bad boy.

Seemingly there were several tweets, though only one was grabbed by Mashable before its deletion – it reading: “HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY NOW! That’s the ultimate fuck off! I’m back so watch my back as I walk away from all this negativity”. So that’s nice. On the upside, I don’t think he smashed any windows this time.

All five members of the original Guns N Roses line-up, Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, will attend the band’s induction into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame in April. Or so says the band’s current keyboard player, Dizzy Reed. Although it’s not the first time someone has made that claim, and previously a denial quickly followed.

As previously reported, in December last year Hall Of Fame CEO Joel Peresman said: “Who will be invited, obviously, is the original five, and Dizzy and Matt. All have RSVP’d that they will show. Everyone’s said they’re coming”.

But Slash, who was presumably part of the “everyone” Perseman referred to, then tweeted: “For the record, I didn’t RSVP, or in any way commit to attending the RRHF”.

But now Reed, who first joined the band in 1990 making him the longest serving member after Axl Rose, says that everyone is now on board. “I know that all the original band is going to be there”, he told Billboard. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to go down. It’s one of those things I’m sure will all come together and be really cool. I’m just going to go in with a good attitude and a clear head and a grateful heart”.

Even if all the original members do end up attending the Hall Of Fame party, the prospect of them all standing on stage together seems unthinkable, and a live performance even more so. Can Reed shed any light on that matter? No. “Honestly, we haven’t spoken about it”, he said. “I don’t know when or why or how to bring it up. It’s not an every day sort of thing. So we haven’t really talked about it – but I’m sure we’ll have to [stand together] at some point”.

So, that’s something to look forward to.

Although this year’s Grammys ceremony became something of an impromptu tribute show in honour of the late Whitney Houston, who died this weekend, in terms of number of awards the night belonged to Adele Adkins, who won six gongs in total, including some of the key prizes like Album and Song Of The Year.

The latter went to ‘Rolling In The Deep’, which Adkins co-wrote with producer Paul Epworth, who also picked up a Grammy all of his own, after being declared Producer Of The Year for his work with Adele, Foster The People and Cee Lo Green. So, all in all, a good night for the Brits. The parents of Amy Winehouse were also in LA to pick up a posthumous Grammy for the singer for Best Duo, for her duet with Tony Bennett, who also accepted the prize on the late singer’s behalf.

In terms of gong count, Foo Fighters came in second, taking five awards in total, while Kanye West, Bon Iver, Skrillex, Cee Lo Green and Taylor Swift all also won multiple prizes. All the winners have now been tagged on this page on the Grammys website.