Mudrat, Photograph by Noah Sole
When the Australian Music Prize announced its nine-album shortlist for 2025, I was relieved to see that Hayley Mary – whose latest record was one of 67 albums nominated for the prize – wasn’t on there.
But according to a social media post from the AMP, Mary’s exclusion wouldn’t be related to the fact she’s a MAGA supporter, a big fan of Charlie Kirk, and someone who won’t condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza – never mind the Nakba – because, apparently, “it’s the oldest conflict ever”.
To what post do I refer? Punk and hip hop artist Mudrat, whose album Social Cohesion was on the AMP shortlist, recorded a video for the AMP socials. Most of the other shortlisted artists did the same. But Mudrat’s video was the only one with a caption attached about how the AMP’s judging criteria exclusively concerned “new music of excellence,” with all other factors irrelevant – including “political messaging.”
Here is the caption in full (emphasis mine):
It’s important to note that The AMP is all about ‘new music of excellence’ so that’s how the judges will decide on a winner – commercial success (or lack of) doesn’t Matter; live performance, doesn’t matter; visuals like cover art and videos, don’t matter; political messaging, don’t matter; artists’ gender, religion, age, and wether they’re living in Melbourne… Just doesn’t matter. What does matter? ORIGINALITY and the creation of a great album/body of music from beginning to end – such that will be recognised not just now but … Forever.
In the video, Mudrat said he wanted Social Cohesion to “amplify the voices of Palestinians who have been subject to a genocide” and to recognise “that a genocide occurred on this very land known as Australia.” He also said that “art and music matters.”
I watched the videos posted by other shortlisted artists Floodlights, Folk Bitch Trio and Divide and Dissolve, and they all basically said, thanks, it’s an honour to be nominated, we’re stoked. Takiaya Reed from Divide and Dissolve did say that “the messaging of collective liberation for all people” is at the forefront of her album Insatiable. But Mudrat’s was the only video to mention the genocide in Gaza. Hence, I infer, the AMP’s note that politics will not be taken into consideration when assessing excellence.
In the abstract, I can see what the AMP is getting at. You don’t want the judges’ deliberations to be influenced by an artist’s prevailing commercial success, or the fact that they once did lines with the bass player in the bathroom at Yah Yah’s (that’s in Melbourne). In this particular instance, I suppose they’re saying Mudrat will be neither punished nor rewarded for vociferously standing with the oppressed.
But isn’t it a bit misguided to suggest that an artist’s politics will have no bearing on the substance – and the potential “excellence” – of their art? For one thing, Mudrat’s biggest song, “I Hate Rich Cunts,” includes lyrics such as “I would rather starve than be Zio-aligned” and “I think I’m scaring my white friends / Silently wishing I’d silence / They love their peace and enlightenment.” The lyrics also call out “racist boomers on Sky News,” which, incidentally, is where you can find Hayley Mary.
Social Cohesion begins with a track acknowledging the “Wurundjeri people as the custodians of the land” on which the album was created. Mudrat recently performed at a snap action protesting Zionist Israeli psytrance duo Infected Mushroom’s performance at Naarm venue the Forum. In a few weeks’ time, he’ll perform at the People’s Blockade in Muloobinba/Newcastle, a “protestival” calling for an urgent end to coal exports.
Does all of this stuff, which could be deemed “political messaging,” influence my response to his music? Of course it does. To use another example, Kneecap rapping in Gaeilge is a political act. A fuck you to British imperialism. Can I understand what they’re saying? No. Does it make me like them more? Yes.
In short, you can’t decontextualise music. Nor should you strive to. This isn’t the same as saying that all music should be explicitly political, or that knowledge of an artist’s political leanings is a prerequisite for connecting with their music. But music is not something that can be thrown in a petri dish and analysed for some irreducible quality of excellence. Music moves us, connects us, and our experience of it will always be influenced by who we are and what we know.
Moreover, in the midst of a genocide carried out with the cooperation of the Australian government, and two years on from the disastrous Voice referendum, it’d be pretty fucking weird if none of the artists shortlisted for the country’s most prestigious music prize had anything to say about it.
We’re not living in the Platonic world of forms. Music – in its creation and its reception – is influenced and shaped by context.
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The winner of the AMP will be announced on Thursday 6 November. The other shortlisted artists are Ninajirachi, Bleak Squad, Mia Wray, Ruby Gill and Tropical Fuck Storm.
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