Thursday, June 21st was a great night for the Indie at A2IM’s 2018 Libera Awards, to honor all of the independent community. Our performers included Aimee Man, Natalie Prass, Raul Midon and Sam Outlaw among others, and a beautiful tribute to Sharon Jones by The Dap-Kings – who won the award for Best R&B Album for Soul of a Woman (Daptone Records).
Other winners included Aimee Mann’s Mental Illness (SuperEgo Records) for Best Roots/Folk Album, Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Copland: Symphony No. 3 & 3 Latin American Sketches (Naxos Records), and The National’s Sleep Well Beast (4AD Records) for Best Rock Album.
Also honored were MERLIN as Independent Champion, Brett Gurewitz for Lifetime Achievement and The Funky 4 + 1 with the Independent Icon Award.
For more info on all of the nominees, check out the full Libera Awards website here
Best Live Act
Nick Cave
Bad Seed Ltd.
Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album
Shabazz Palaces – ‘Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star’
Sub Pop Records
Best American Roots/Folk Album
Aimee Mann – ‘Mental Illness’
SuperEgo Records
Best Blues Album
Benjamin Booker – ‘Witness’
ATO Records
Best Classical Album
Detroit Symphony Orchestra – ‘Copland: Symphony No. 3 & 3 Latin American Sketches’
Naxos
Best Country/Americana Album
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – ‘The Nashville Sound’
Southeastern Records /Thirty Tigers
Best Jazz Album
Kamasi Washington – ‘Harmony of Difference’
Young Turks
Best Latin Album
Chicano Batman – ‘Freedom Is Free’
ATO Records
Best Outlier Album
Moses Sumney – ‘Aromanticism’
Jagjaguwar
Best Metal Album
Converge – ‘The Dusk In Us’
Epitaph Records
Best Dance/Electronic Album
Sylvan Esso – ‘What Now’
Loma Vista Recordings
Best R&B Album
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – ‘Soul of a Woman’
Daptone Records
Best Re-Issue
Elliott Smith – ‘Either/Or: Expanded Edition’
Kill Rock Stars
Best Rock Album
The National – ‘Sleep Well Beast’
4AD
Best Sync Usage
Cigarettes After Sex – ‘Cigarettes After Sex’
Partisan Records
Best World Album
Ibeyi – ‘Ash’
XL Recordings
Independent Icon Award
Funky 4 + 1
Breakthrough Artist Award
Princess Nokia – ‘1992 Deluxe’
Rough Trade Records
Creative Packaging Award (1)
Bob’s Burgers – ‘The Bob’s Burgers Music Album’
Sub Pop Records
2018 A2IM Libera Awards: Independent Champion
MERLIN
2018 A2IM Libera Awards: Label of the Year (6+ employees)
Dead Oceans
Label of the Year (<5 employees)
Daptone Records
Marketing Genius Award
Run the Jewels – Call Ticketron! 646.846.RTJ3
Run the Jewels, Inc.
Video of the Year
Perfume Genius – “Die 4 You”
Matador Records
A2IM Lifetime Achievement Award
Brett Gurewitz
Independent Impact Award
Taylor Swift – ‘Reputation’
Big Machine Label Group
Album of the Year
Slowdive – ‘Slowdive’
Dead Oceans