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Awards
IMPALA launches awards
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 24 January 2011
Pan-European indie label trade body IMPALA has announced details of two new annual awards it is launching as part of is tenth anniversary celebrations this year. It presented one and announced a shortlist for the second during the MIDEM junket in Cannes this weekend.
The first is an outstanding contribution to independent music prize, the first winner of which is Mario Pacheco, the Spanish record producer and label owner who died last November after a long career as a key player in Spain’s indie label community. Through his Nuevos Medios record label, Pacheco worked with a string of new wave and jazz musicians, including a number of British artists, but was probably best known defining the “new flamenco” movement in his home country and beyond.
The second is a Mercury-style European Independent Album Of The Year prize, for which indie releases from across Europe will be eligible. A shortlist of twenty long players was announced this weekend, with the overall winner due to be confirmed in February. The short list is as follows:
Aeroplane – We Can’t Fly (Eskimo Recordings)
Dubioza Kolektiv – 5 Do 12 (Menart)
Bambi Molesters – As The Dark Wave Swells (Dancing Bear)
Arryan Path – Terra Incognita Pitch (Black Records)
Efterklang – Magic Chairs (Rumraket/4AD)
Paleface – Helsinki Shangri-la (XO Records)
Various Artists – Nonplace: 10th Anniversary Edition (Nonplace Records)
Irie Rock Trio – Kickout (CLS Music)
Caro Emerald – Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor (Grand Mono)
Bjørn Eidsvag – Rundt Neste Sving (Petroleum Records)
Delorean – Subiza (Mushroom Pillow)
The Concretes – WYWH (Licking Fingers)
The National – High Violet (4AD)
Agnes Obel – Philharmonics (PIAS)
Skunk Anansie – Wonderlustre (EARmusic)
Field Music – Field Music (Measure) (Memphis Industries)
Feloche – La Vie Cajun (Ya Basta Records)
Underworld – Barking (Cooking Vinyl)
El Guincho – Pop Negro (Young Turks)
Junip – Fields (City Slang)
Commenting on the outstanding contribution award, IMPALA Executive Chair Helen Smith told CMU: “Mario Pacheco was an inspiration to artists and labels across Europe. He had an innovative approach in whatever he did. He will be sorely missed”. On the album prize shortlist she added: “These awards recognise talent and great music irrespective of sales. The 20 albums demonstrate the diversity of the European independent sector and are a great start to this European Mercury-style award”.
