Amyl and The Sniffers, Courtney Barnett, King Gizzard nominated for U.S. indie awards

With a brace of nominations, Amyl and The Sniffers lead a strong Australian contingent at the 2022 A2IM Libera Awards, the U.S. indie music community’s annual ceremony.

The Aussie pub rockers are up for Best Live/Livestream Act (Live on KEXP at Home) and Best Punk Record for Comfort To Me (via ATO), the band’s second album.

Amy Taylor and Co. have a solid record on the awards circuit, bagging ARIA, NME and A2IM Libera Awards (winning for Best Punk / Emo Album in 2020 with Amyl and The Sniffers) in a career that’s rocking hard.

Formed in 2016, the indie act self-released two EPs and a handful of singles before signing with King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizards’ Flightless Records label in Australia.

A recording deal followed with ATO Records for North America. Then, Geoff Travis’ iconic Rough Trade signed them up for the rest of the world, where they became the first Australian band on the label since The Go-Betweens.

Meanwhile, the A2IM Best R&B Record category has a particularly strong homegrown flavour this time, with both Hiatus Kaiyote (Mood Valiant via Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune) and Tkay Maidza (Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 via 4AD) earning nods.

Courtney Barnett earns A2IM Libera Awards nomination, this time in the Best Alternative Rock Record frame for ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ (via Mom + Pop Music), while Logic1000 is a chance for Best Dance Record with ‘You’ve Got the Whole Night to Go’ (via Therapy distributed by Because Music) and King Gizzard is in the hunt for the Marketing Genius gong, for Official Bootlegger Series (KGLW/Virgin Music).

Held each year in New York, the Liberas support and honour “the extraordinary talent of independent music sector,” and is presented by Merlin, the independents’ digital rights agency.

This year’s ceremony will take place June 16 as hybrid online and in-person events, at a yet-to-be announced venue in the Big Apple.

It’s produced by the American Association of Independent Music, the sister organisation of AIR, with a list of sponsors this time including ADA, YouTube Music, Ingrooves, The Orchard, edm.com, MSK (Mitchell; Silberberg & Knupp, LLP), Redeye Worldwide, and Virgin Music.

The show typically wraps-up A2IM’s Indie Week, which this year runs June 13-16 as a hybrid experience.

Visit A2IM.org for more.