The annual celebration of local independent music, the Carlton Dry Independent Music Awards took place in Melbourne last night and unsurprisingly, it was Courtney Barnett who collected the majors. Taking out three of the prestigious awards: Best Independent Artist, Best Independent Album for Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit as well as Best Independent Single for ‘Depreston’, Barnett was unable to attend as she is currently touring in America and preparing for a Madison Square Garden gig with Blur. She did however, record her acceptance speeches for viewing on the big screen and her label partner Jen Cloher was on hand to physically grab the hardware.
In her humble video message, Barnett said, “Thank you for this award for Best Independent Artist. This one means a lot to me, it’s important as an artist to be able to create what you want, when you want to and I’m very grateful to be able to do that right now.”
Last year’s Best Independent Hip Hop Album winner Remi and Sensible J (aka House of Beige records) handed out this year’s Award to Seth Sentry for album Strange New Past, Seth also accepted via video unable to attend as he has just undergone surgery on his leg.
The much-lauded Breakthrough Independent Artist Of The Year Award went to #1 Dads, on the back of a huge year for the album About Face.
Milk! Records, home to Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher and Fraser A. Gorman, amongst other acts, won the coveted Best Independent Label Award.
The night also featured some wonderful performances, most notably a surprise visit from John Butler, who has just returned from a three month tour of Europe and America and ripped into a fantastic solo version of ‘Better Than’. Opening the evening was electro-pop artist Airling, who played her new single ‘Stallin’. Bad//Dreems and Dead Letter Circus rocked the stage too.
Winner of the Best Independent Country Album, Frank Yamma was scheduled to perform ‘Everybody’s Talking’ from his Award-winning album,Uncle, but was unable to attend due to a family emergency. David Bridie accepted the Award on his behalf.
Other highlights of the night included a keynote speech from Murray Cook (of The Wiggles), former AIR Executive Officer and now MP, Julie Owens, speaking about 20 years of AIR, and winners of the 2006 Best Independent Album and Best Independent Album Awards, Hilltop Hoods, presenting this year’s Best Independent Album Award. The 10 Years of Awards milestone was also celebrated with a highlights reel looking back at past Awards.
“What a fantastic way to celebrate the 10th Awards and AIR’s 20th year. It’s so great to see the independent sector come together and pay tribute to the great work that is seeing our artists find local and international success” said AIR CEO, Dan Nevin, about the night.
And the winners are …
BEST INDEPENDENT ARTIST – PRESENTED BY CARLTON DRY
COURTNEY BARNETT
BEST INDEPENDENT ALBUM
COURTNEY BARNETT – SOMETIMES I SIT AND THINK, AND SOMETIMES I JUST SIT
BEST INDEPENDENT SINGLE OR EP – PRESENTED BY RDIO
COURTNEY BARNETT – DEPRESTON
BREAKTHROUGH INDEPENDENT ARTIST OF THE YEAR – PRESENTED BY PPCA
#1 DADS
BEST INDEPENDENT HIP HOP ALBUM
SETH SENTRY – STRANGE NEW PAST
BEST INDEPENDENT COUNTRY ALBUM
FRANK YAMMA – UNCLE
BEST INDEPENDENT BLUES AND ROOTS ALBUM
C.W. STONEKING – GON’ BOOGALOO
BEST INDEPENDENT HARD ROCK, HEAVY OR PUNK ALBUM
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD – I’M IN YOUR MIND FUZZ
BEST INDEPENDENT DANCE/ELECTRONICA ALBUM
FLIGHT FACILITIES – DOWN TO EARTH
BEST INDEPENDENT DANCE, ELECTRONICA OR CLUB SINGLE
HAYDEN JAMES – SOMETHING ABOUT YOU
BEST INDEPENDENT JAZZ ALBUM
BARNEY MCALL – MOOROOLBARK
BEST INDEPENDENT CLASSICAL ALBUM
AUSTRALIAN BRANDENBURG ORCHESTRA – BRANDENBURG CELEBRATES
BEST INDEPENDENT LABEL
MILK! RECORDS
#ausindies
