IDLES and Jade Bird lead the nominees for the U.K.'s Association of Independent Music Awards with four and three nods apiece. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London in early September.
FKA Twigs, Christine and the Queens, Little Simz, Dave, Maribou State, Georgia and Fontaines D.C. are also in the running with two noms each. The Best Independent Label category will be a battle between Brownswood Recordings, Domino, Nuclear Blast, IDLES label Partisan Records and Rough Trade.
AWAL and Rough Trade have the move artists on the list—three—with Gerry Cinnamon, Little Simz and Cosmo Sheldrake distributed by AWAL, and Black Midi, JARV IS and Soak signed to Rough Trade.
One to Watch is a new category for 2019 that champions fast-rising grassroots independent artists. It will be a battle between Arlo Parks (Beatnik Creative), Barney Artist (Salute The Sun), Georgia (Domino), KOKOROKO (Brownswood) and Larkins (Good Soldier Records).
The Outstanding Contribution to Music award winner is Blondie’s Debbie Harry in recognition of a career that has spanned five decades and 40m record sales. Her memoir, FACE IT, lands in October).