Canadian Music Week 2011: Arcade Fire Lead Nominees for CMW's Indies Awards

Along with offering an impressive line up of great performers from around the world, the annual Canadian Music Week 2011 will include an awards ceremony, the Indies, that has made many other Canadian artists known internationally, such as the cases of Cuban and Canadian resident Alex Cuba, who went to win the Indie in the World Music category and then a Latin Grammy in 2010 and being nominated for a mainstream Grammy early this year (he even recorded a duet with superstar Nelly Furtado) and Edmonton-born, Montreal based and worldwide known  Auresia. This year marks the 11th instalment of the Independent Music Awards, which will be presented on March 12 in the Canadian Ballroom of Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

Unsurprisingly, given the their recent award-winning ways, Grammy winner Arcade Fire lead the pack with nominations for Album of the Year, Group or Duo of the Year and Live Artist/Group of the Year. The other artists with three nominations are Danny Fernandes, JRDN and Marianas Trench; the Black Keys are nominated in three international categories.

Other noteworthy Canadians up for awards are Owen Pallett, Shad, Caribou, the New Pornographers, Tokyo Police Club, Broken Social Scene, Tegan and Sara, Diamond Rings, Metric, Crystal Castles, the Sadies, White Lung and Black Mountain, among others. Read the full list of nominees here.

The night will include performances by Janelle Monáe, Shad, Hollerado, Bombay Bicycle Club, Hannah Georgas and Desperate Union. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Verge 87 XM on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The Indies aim to "acknowledge, promote and honour achievements of Canadian and international artists in the independent music sector."

Canadian Music Week is proud to present the nominees for the 11^th Annual Independent Music Awards, “The Indies”. Presented in association with Astral Radio and XM Satellite Radio, the awards will be handed out on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at the legendary Canadian Ballroom in the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto, as part of Canadian Music Fest.
Featuring performances by Janelle Monae, Shad, Hollerado, Bombay Bicycle Club, Hannah Georgas, and Desperate Union, The Indies will be broadcast live to air on XM Satellite Radio’s “The Verge”.  Arcade Fire, Danny Fernandes, JRDN and Marianas Trench lead this year’s Canadian nominees with three nominations apiece, followed by The Black Keys with three nominations in the international categories.
And the nominees are…
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY CHARTATTACK.COM)Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Merge)
Caribou – Swim (Merge)
The New Pornographers – Together (Last Gang)
The Sadies – Darker Circles (Outside)Tokyo Police Club – Champ (Dine Alone)
GROUP OR DUO OF THE YEAR
Alexisonfire (Dine Alone)Arcade Fire (Merge)
Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)
Elias (Wax Records)
Tegan and Sara (Vapor/Sire)
SINGLE OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY ASTRAL RADIO)
Danny Fernandes – Addicted (CP Records)
JRDN – U Can Have It All (Fontana North)Marianas Trench – Celebrity Status (604 Records)
Mia Martina – Stereo Love (CP Records)
My Darkest Days – Pornstar Dancing (604 Records)
SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Basia Bulat (Secret City)
Diamond Rings (Secret City)
Hannah Georgas (Hidden Pony)
Owen Pallett (Domino)
Shad (Black Box Recordings)
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Danny Fernandes – Automatic (CP Records)

Faber Drive

– Pay Off (604 Records)
Hollerado – Americanarama (Royal Mountain/Arts & Crafts)
J Diggz Ft. Neverending White Lights – This Time (Ocean Records)Marianas Trench – Celebrity Status (604 Records)
LIVE ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Arcade Fire (Merge)
Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)
Danko Jones (Bad Taste Records/Aquarius)
Hollerado (Royal Mountain/Arts & Crafts)
Metric (Last Gang)
BLUES ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Downchild (Linus)
Johnny Max Band (Independent)
Matt Andersen (Busted Flat Records)
Shakura S’Aida (Ruf Records)
Shrimp Daddy & The Sharpshooters (Independent)
CHILDREN’S ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Andrew Queen (Independent)
The Kerplunks (Independent)
The Monkey Bunch (Independent)
Peter Lenton (Independent)
Rik Barron (Independent)
COUNTRY ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Carolyn Dawn Johnson (Dancing Lily/Roadangel)Chad Brownlee (MDM Recordings)
Deric Ruttan (Black T)
Doc Walker (

Open Road

Recordings)
Gord Bamford (Royalty Records)
ELECTRONIC ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Caribou (Merge)
Chromeo (Last Gang)
Crystal Castles (Last Gang)
Diamond Rings (Secret City)
Holy Fuck (Young Turks/XL)
FOLK/ROOTS ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Carolyn Mark (Mint)
Lynn Miles (True North)
Old Man Luedecke (Black Hen)
The Sadies (Outside)
Tim Hus (Stony Plain)
FRANCOPHONE ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Bernard Adamus (Grosse Boîte)
Karkwa (Audiogram)
Les Trois Accords (Indica)
Marie-Mai (Musicor)
Radio Radio (Bonsound)
JAZZ ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Christine Jensen (Justin Time)
Cory Weeds (Cellar Live)
Elizabeth Shepherd (Do Right!)
Emilie-Claire Barlow (Independent)
Fond Of Tigers (Drip Audio)
METAL ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
3 Inches of Blood (Century Media)
Annihilator (Neverland/Earache)
Bison B.C. (Metal Blade)
Kataklysm (Nuclear Blast)
Striker (Iron Kodex)
POP ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Ash Koley (Nettwerk)
Bobby Bazini (Mungo Park Records)
JRDN (Fontana North)
Laurell (Independent)Marianas Trench (604 Records)
PUNK/HARDCORE ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Burning Love (Deranged)
Cancer Bats (Distort)
Comeback Kid (Distort)
The Flatliners (Fat Wreck)
White Lung (Deranged)
ROCK ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Black Mountain (Jagjaguwar/Outside)
Crash Karma (E1 Music)
Danko Jones (Bad Taste Records/Aquarius)
Melissa Auf Der Maur (Phi)
My Darkest Days (604 Records)
URBAN ARTIST/GROUP OR DUO OF THE YEAR
D-Sisive (Urbnet)
Danny Fernandes (CP Records)
Eternia & Moss (Fat Beats Records)
JRDN (Fontana North)
Shad (Black Box Recordings)
WORLD ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Alpha Yaya Diallo (Jericho Beach Music)Delhi 2 Dublin (Independent)
Dubmatix (Renegade Rocker)
Mighty Popo (Independent)
Pacifika (Six Degrees)
INTERNATIONAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
The Black Keys (Nonesuch)
The Dirty Heads (Executive Music Group)
Mumford & Sons (Glassnote Records)
Spoon (Merge)
Temper Trap (Liberation/Infectious)
INTERNATIONAL SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (4AD)
Joanna Newsom (Drag City)
Robert Plant (Rounder)
Sufjan Stevens (Asthmatic Kitty)
Taylor Swift (Big Machine)
INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Beach House – Teen Dreams (Sub Pop)
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening (DFA)
The Black Keys – Brothers (Nonesuch)
The National – High Violet (4AD)
Vampire Weekend – Contra (XL)
INTERNATIONAL SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Angus and Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane (Nettwerk)
The Black Keys – Tighten Up (Nonesuch)
The Dirty Heads – Lay Me Down (Executive Music Group)
Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man (Glassnote Records)
Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition (Liberation/Infectious)
INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST/GROUP OR DUO OF THE YEAR
Angus and Julia Stone (Nettwerk)
Best Coast (Mexican Summer)
Sleigh Bells (Mom and Pop)
Titus Andronicus (XL)
Two Door Cinema Club (Glassnote)
An initiative of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Music & the Arts (CAAMA), the awards are limited to independent artists and cover 15 genres of music. Both a public and an industry vote decide the winners. Voting will be accessible through the Indie Awards website at www.indies.ca.  For additional details and voting information, please visit the website.
Tickets for this event can be purchased for $30.00 at Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.ca, www.canadianmusicfest.com, www.indies.ca, Rotate This and Soundscapes.
ABOUT CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK:
Canadian Music Week is Canada’s leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries. Combining four information-intensive conferences; a trade exposition; a film festival; four awards shows and the nation’s largest New Music Festival – Canadian Music Fest – CMW spans a five-day period from March 9 to March 13, 2011 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and various downtown Toronto venues, attracting participants from across the globe. For more information, visit www.cmw.net.
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For Canadian Music Week information, please contact:
Planet3 Communications: Piera Savage/Joanne Smale
T: 647.346.4101 E: info@planet3com.net
Bessie Bullard – Communications Director
T: 905.858.4747 E: bessie@cmw.net

CMW winner Alex Cuba and his Grammy Nomination for Feb 13: "I was Blown Away!"

Cuban singer-songwriter Alex Cuba has had a stellar year 2010. Winner in the World Music Category at The Indies in Canadian Music Week 2010 (runner up was another Canadian doing great overseas, Edmonton-born, Ukrainian background and Montreal-resident Auresia). Not only did he win a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist this past November, but just last month he also received a Grammy nod for Best Latin Pop Album. And even though he faces some stiff competition (Ricardo Arjona, Kany Garcia, Alejandro Sanz and Julieta Venegas are all nominated in the category), his soulful self-titled album is deserving of the accolade. We talked with the artist about his big nomination and his monster year:

Congrats on the Grammy nomination, what was your reaction when you heard the news?

I was blown away. I was spending the night in New Orleans on my way to Atlanta before finishing my tour in the U.S. I received a call from my wife and business partner and she said 'Honey, you are nominated for a Grammy.’ My band started screaming. They bought me a Corona right away.

Were you surprised?

I’m a member of the academy. The way the process works is that they do a round of votes. And of course, I voted for myself. I saw how many entries came in and I thought it was a long shot.

You collaborated with Nelly Furtado on her Spanish-language album debut Mi Plan. Did she call to congratulate you?

She didn’t notice until five or six days later, and then sent an email. She said ‘Congrats that’s amazing.’ I would’ve liked for her to be nominated, too.

How does your self-titled album reflect who you are and your personality?

With this album I have finally understood what my sound and my musical identity are. It’s like a portrait of who I am as a musician. Spiritually speaking, the album is very positive. It’s bright, happy, not in a cheesy way, in a way that will stick with you. It’s very conscious of what it’s supposed to do, which is make you feel good about yourself.

What is your sound?

My sound is a lot of variety. I don’t believe in one style. I choose to combine sounds and put them together. The gentleness and fragility of my melodies may seem simple, and if you’re a musician, that can fool you until you decide to play what I’m playing. I really pay attention to the music underneath the vocals. My music has a lot of condiments.

Is there one song in particular that you just love?

The opening track, “Directo,” is my favorite track. An incredible amount of magic happened in that song. It’s a short song but it has an incredible life of its own. There are songs that speed up time. You start listening to it and suddenly it’s over. When a song can do that, it’s because it has that magic.

In November you won a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist, you’re having a good year.

Yes, my best year so far. My reaction was the same as a kid with a new toy. I was very excited. It was an incredible moment.

But you’ve been working steadily for years, from being in a band with your brother and going solo in 2003, what has been the biggest challenge in that time?

The challenge has been to make the Latin population open their minds to me as fast as its happening in the Anglo market. We tend to close our minds a bit and music tends to be a bit repetitive. Yes, I’m from Cuba, but I can also rock the universe.

Do you plan to keep sharing your magic with other artists?

I’m currently working with Luis Enrique, the salsa guy out of Miami. We’ve written 10 songs so far and we don’t stop writing. I think we’ll end up writing the whole album together. I’m also working with Noel Schajris from Sin Banderas. He’s an incredible singer. Very socially awake. We just wrote a song over Skype called “Vale Todo.”

What are your plans for the holidays?

It seems like I fool myself sometimes. I get this illusion that I will put my guitar down but I’m writing songs every day. I think it’s going to be a musical holiday.

The Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on February 13 at 8 p.m. (EST) on CBS.

NELLY FURTADO EN CHILE NUEVAMENTE POR EL PUBLICO LATINO

Nelly Furtado:

“El Festival de Viña del Mar me abrió los ojos para conocer al público latino"
La cantante adelanta su show de este lunes 22 en Santiago y dice que será muy distinto a su paso de 2008 por la Quinta Vergara. También habla del disco que lanzará en junio.
Ni su genética cosmopolita, con cuna en Canadá y padres originarios de islas Azores, ni su mixtura de géneros. Hay un detalle que hoy desnuda la ambición global de Nelly Furtado: sus entrevistas. Como una suerte de copy paste idiomático, pide que las preguntas sean en español, responde en inglés, vuelve al español, tropieza con un veloz spanglish y para el cierre de nuevo al inglés.
Pero hay otro barómetro -igual de vertiginoso- para medir su estatura artística: su agenda. Sólo a mediados de septiembre lanzó su primer álbum en español, Mi plan; en febrero fue la gran invitada de la obertura de los Juegos Olímpicos de Invierno, en Vancouver; y en junio editará Lifestyle, su retorno al inglés. Al medio de todo, una gira por Latinoamérica que partió el pasado sábado 13 en Guadalajara y que la trae por segunda vez al país, este lunes 22 al Movistar Arena de Santiago (entradas en Feriaticket).
"Siento que será mi primera vez en Chile, porque cuando estuve en Viña del Mar, en 2008, fue dentro de un festival. Ahora es un espectáculo propio, aunque mis fans lo van a disfrutar igual. Tengo recuerdos impresionantes de Viña, de algún modo me abrió los ojos para conocer parte del público latino que me seguía", puntualiza, al teléfono desde México.
El concierto que trae a la capital no sólo mostrará su mudanza lingüística; también se presentará como un show de grandes éxitos, donde mezcla canciones de sus tres anteriores trabajos -sobre todo de Loose (2006), el álbum que la graduó como estrella- con los singles de su última aventura. Además, un 5% de las ganancias irá para los damnificados del terremoto. "Me he enterado de todo por las noticias y esto será mi forma de apoyar. Además, será un espectáculo donde las canciones y la interacción será en español", dice.
¿Y por qué el cambio de idioma? Furtado al habla: "En 2002 canté Fotografía con Juanes y fue el primer impulso. Pero también es fruto de cierto aburrimiento que tuve tras el éxito de Loose, ya no quería cantar en inglés y me pareció que el español era más intenso. Fue natural".
Pero el ensayo con el español no terminará con la salida de su próximo disco en junio. Ahí la artista inaugurará un concepto con que ella misma bautiza su destino inmediato: desdoblarse. "Voy a tener que aprender a promocionar dos discos a la vez. Cuando en junio salga Lifestyle, voy a seguir publicitando Mi plan", dice con respecto al nuevo álbum, que mezclará hip hop, reggae y funk.
Es que la luso canadiense sabe que hay que reinventarse, porque el asunto es rudo: el pop está monopolizado por mujeres y el ring enfrenta propuestas tan distintas como Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Shakira y la propia Furtado. "Pero hay lugar para todas", matiza. "Siento como si fuéramos todas primas. Beyoncé es la que más admiro, me parece una artista completa".
CLAUDIO VERGARA