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The side-project of Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and an album by the former frontman of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci head the shortlist of this year’s prestigious Welsh Music Prize.

Praxis Makes Perfect by Neon Neon, a collaboration between Gruff Rhys and producer Boom Bip, as well as Summer Special by Euros Childs, have made the shortlist of 12 albums, which was announced today.

It also includes rising stars such as Georgia Ruth, Sweet Baboo and Zervas & Pepper alongside emerging acts like Winter Villains, Little Arrow and Metabeats.

The titles encompass a wide range of genres from hip-hop and indie, to folk and electro, as well as bilingual releases.

Launched in 2011, the prize aims to celebrate Welsh music across a wide variety of genres, while establishing a reputation similar to the UK-wide Mercury Music Prize.

The Welsh Music Prize, the initiative of Swn Festival co-founders Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens and music promoter John Rostron, will be selected and judged by a panel of 12 industry figures and music experts.

The judges will meet in early October to narrow down the list and submit their votes on a final five albums, which will determine a winner.

Previous judges have included: Mike Williams (Editor, NME), Neil Pengelly (Reading Festival booker), Lisa Gwilym (BBC Radio Cymru) and Peredur ap Gwynedd (member of Pendulum). Details of this year’s panel will be announced later this month.

The winner will be announced on October 17 at a ceremony in Kuku Club, Cardiff on the opening night of this year’s Swn Festival – the multi-venue event held annually in the Welsh capital.

Additionally, there will be a Welsh Music Prize concert on October 16 at Clwb Ifor Bach featuring many of the shortlisted acts.

Tickets for the gig are priced £10 and on sale today from www.swnpresents.com

Now into its third year, the winner of last year’s Welsh Music Prize was Future of the Left for their album The Plot Against Common Sense, and the previous year it was won by Gruff Rhys for Hotel Shampoo.

“The shortlist announcement is particularly exciting as we know that people from all over the world use it as a starting point to dive into new music from Wales,” said Mr Rostron.

“It’s wonderful that the Welsh Music Prize has begun to help acts from Wales reach new international audiences.

“It complements the work we do at Swn Festival, and that others like Green Man Festival, Festival Number 6, Womex and Laugharne do to promote the best of Wales culture globally. Everyone should dip into this list and try some records that might be new to them.”

Mr Stephens added: “It’s the third year of the Welsh Music Prize, and we are pleased that it continues to grow in stature.

“This year’s shortlist is again an eclectic and exciting one, all chosen by our jury of more than 100 members from across Wales who spoke up for the albums they felt deserved a greater platform.

“This year’s prize, which forms part of Swn Festival, will be an exciting one and we looking forward to celebrating all the nominees this year”.

Watch videos of all the nominated acts below...

Metabeats

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Trwbador

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Winter Villains

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Sweet Baboo

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Georgia Ruth

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Little Arrow

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Fist Of The First Man

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Laurence Made Me Cry

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Neon Neon

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Race Horses

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Euros Childs

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Zervas & Pepper

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Find out more at www.welshmusicprize.com