By Ranjini Achuthan
Blackstratblues, Thaikkudam Bridge, Lifafa and Swadesi lead with multiple nominations in various categories.
The buzz is real. Music aficionados of the country have a great reason to rejoice as an illustrious panel of seasoned members from the independent music scene of the country has announced the launch of ‘The Indies’ awards show with the idea of celebrating the brightest and finest artists across genres and geographies. 17 categories have been named for its first ever edition and the nominations have some of the heavyweights in contention. While 2020 has come with a massive spate of challenges due to the pandemic, The Indies serves as a reminder that there are several fearless, unconstrained voices and minds who craft music that can be called path breaking and timeless.
The much renowned and celebrated Blues/Rock instrumental outfit Blackstratblues leads with a stellar 9 nominations for their soulful 2019 album When It’s Time. The band finds a place in all the major categories including Best Artist, Best Album and Best Rock Artist, plus all the instrumentalist categories – Best Guitarist (Warren Mendonsa), Best Drummer (Jai Row Kavi), Best Bassist (Adi Mistry) and Best Keyboardist (Beven Fonseca), Producer of the Year (Warren Mendonsa) and Best Artwork.
Blackstratblues / When it's Time
Thaikkudam Bridge, the fusion rock/metal band from Kerala comes a close second with their collaboration heavy, roller coaster album Namah bagging 6 nominations namely Best Artist, Best Album, Best Rock Artist and Best Bassist (Vian Fernandes), Best Drummer (Anish TN) and Best Keyboardist (Ruthin Thej).
Thaikkudam Bridge / Namah
Lifafa aka Suryakant Sawhney has five nominations for his hypnotic album Jaago. Lifafa features amongst nominees in Best Artist, Best Electronic Artist, Best Album, Best Song (“Nikamma”) and Best Male Vocalist. Interestingly, vocalist’s band Peter Cat Recording Company also pick up three Indies nominations for their album Bismillah, in Best Artist, Best Album and Best Rock Artist.
Lifafa / Jaago
The Indo-American singer-producer Sid Sriram, who is well known in the film and Carnatic music circles has made his presence felt in the independent scene too with his solo album Entropy receiving four nominations, while the veterans Thermal And A Quarter also grab nominations for Best Song, Best Guitarist (Bruce Lee Mani), Best Bassist (Leslie Charles) and Best Drummer (Rajeev Rajagopal) for the hard hitting, “Leaders of Men”. Kolkata dream pop duo Parekh & Singh makes quite the impact with their evocative second album Science City, which gets them in the Best Artist, Best Album, Best Pop Artist and Best Music Video (“Summer Skin”, directed by Misha Ghose) categories.
Sid Sriram
Mumbai’s multi-lingual hip-hop crew Swadesi, who shook up the ground with Khulle Naagde, their collaborative EP featuring seasoned producer Bandish Projekt, as well as their extremely viral Marathi and Hindi protest song called “The Warli Revolt” packs a punch with five nominations -- Best Artist, Best Album/EP, Best Song (“The Warli Revolt”), Best Rap/Hip Hop Artist and Producer of the Year (Mayur Narvekar aka Bandish Projekt).
Also amongst top nominees are popular indie musicians such as hip-hop artist Prabh Deep (for KING), percussionist-producer Sarathy Korwar (for More Arriving), Kashmiri-origin Bangalore-based rock band Parvaaz (for Kun), Tamil hip hop duo Arivu and ofRO (for Therukural), and young singer- songwriter Karshni’s collaboration with electronic act Three Oscillators on “Drowning”.
Album cover art: Shubhangi Joshi Collective / Babel fish
The first edition of The Indies witnessed an exhaustive selection process involving competition between more than 200 artistes, the much awaited results of which will be announced in October.
Here are the all nominations:
Artist of the Year
Blackstratblues
Lifafa
Parekh & Singh
Peter Cat Recording Company
Prabh Deep
Sid Sriram
Swadesi
Thaikkudam bridge
Best Rock Artist
Blackstratblues
Gauley Bhai
Parvaaz
Peter Cat Recording Company
Sarathy Korwar
Thaikkudam Bridge
The F16s
Best Pop Artist
JBABE
Karshni Nair
Parekh and Singh
Shubhangi Joshi Collective
Sid Sriram
Vaisakh Somanath
Best Rap/Hip Hop Artist
Ahmer x Sez On The Beat
Arivu x ofRO
Kaam Bhaari
Prabh Deep
Seedhe Maut
Swadesi
Best Electronic Artist
Aqua Dominatrix
Jamblu
Lifafa
Pulpy Shilpy
Riatsu x Neil Gomes
Your Chin
Best Metal Artist
Dymbur
Haiku-Like Imagination
Maneating Orchid
Pacifist
Prophets of Yahweh
Trancemigrate
Album/EP of the Year
Bandish Projekt and Swadesi - Khulle Naagde
Blackstratblues - When It’s Time
Lifafa - Jaago
Parekh & Singh - Science City
Peter Cat Recording Company Bismillah
Sarathy Korwar - More Arriving
Sid Sriram - Entropy
Thaikkudam Bridge – NAMAH
Song of the Year
Arivu x ofRo - Kalla Mouni
Aswekeepsearching - Rooh
Karshni and Three Oscillators - Drowning
Lifafa - Nikamma
Seedhe Maut and Delhi Sultanate - Scalp Dem
Swadesi - The Warli Revolt
Parvaaz - Soye Ja
Thermal And A Quarter - Leaders of Men
Music Video of The Year
Ahmer x Sez On The Beat Little Kid Big Dreams - Kasheer
Fopchu Chapel O Fopalop
Marshall Sachin Hit By The Gravity
Parekh & Singh Science City - Summer Skin
Your Chin Luv Important
Artwork of the Year
Ritviz - DEV, by Santanu Hazarika
Shubhangi Joshi Collective - Babelfish, by Annada Menon
Ady Manral - Talk, by Ghost Animation
Black Letters - Still As You, by Noopur Choksi
Blackstratblues - When It’s Time, by Arjun Rajkishore at Arkwerk
Dymbur - The Legend of Thraat, by Visual Amnesia
Karsh Kale ft Komorebi - Disappear, by Archan Nair
Producer of the Year
FLESH by Aqua Dominatrix - Akshay Rajpurohit
Rooh by Aswekeepsearching - Aswekeepsearching and Ritwik De
Khulle Naagde by Swadesi and Bandish Projekt - Mayur Narvekar
When It’s Time by Blackstratblues - Warren Mendonsa
Play The Piano Drunk Like A Percussion Instrument Until The Fingers Begin To Bleed A Bit by JBABE - Harshan Radhakrishnan
Slough by Pulpy Shilpy - Gowri Jayakumar
More Arriving by Sarathy Korwar - Sarathy Korwar
Best Male Vocalist of the Year
JBABE
Lifafa
Khalid Ahamed (Parvaaz)
Sid Sriram
Vaisakh Somanath
Best Female Vocalist of the Year
Abhilasha Sinha
Hanita Bhambri
Karshni
Mali
Meera
Shubhangi Joshi Collective
Guitarist of the Year
Haiku-Like Imagination - Sucheth Ramprasad and Soorya Praveen
Blackstratblues - Warren Mendonsa
Samar Mehdi - Samar Mehdi
Takar Nabam - Takar Nabam
Thermal And A Quarter - Bruce Lee Mani
Bassist of the Year
Blackstratblues - Adi Mistry
Thaikkudam bridge - Vian Fernandes
Heat Sink - Raag Sethi
Smalltalk - Yohann Coutinho
Thermal And A Quarter - Leslie Charles
Drummer of the Year
Haiku-Like Imagination - Aniketh Ashok
Blackstratblues - Jai Row Kavi
Pineapple Express - Gopi Shravan
Thaikkudam bridge - Anish TN
Thermal And A Quarter - Rajeev Rajagopal
Keyboardist of the Year
Blackstratblues - Beven Fonseca
Flaw & Order - Sudharsan Krishnakumar
Heat Sink - Nayan Kapadiya
Shubhangi Joshi Collective - Nishant Nair
Thaikkudam bridge - Ruthin Thej
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