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

MELISSA ETHERIDGE – TO SPEAK IN RARE ONE-ON-ONE AT CMW 2011

On Saturday, March 12, Canadian Music Week will play host to one of rock’s most distinguished voices and personalities – Melissa Etheridge. In an exclusive in-depth celebrity interview at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Etheridge will share her philosophies on music and discuss her life and times.

Melissa Etheridge exploded onto the rock scene in the 1989 with the release of her critically-acclaimed eponymous debut album which was four times platinum in Canada.  Etheridge’s popularity has been built around such memorable songs as “Bring Me Some Water” (from her debut), “No Souvenirs” (from Brave And Crazy) and “Ain’t It Heavy” (from Never Enough), for which she won her first Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal. She hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, 1993’s Yes I Am, featuring the massive hits “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window,” a searing song of longing that brought her second Best Female Rock Grammy.  The album went six times platinum in the US, double platinum in Canada and spent more than two and a half years on the album chart. In 1995, Etheridge issued her highest charting album, Your Little Secret (#6 on the Billboard Top 200), which included the hit single, “I Want to Come Over.”

Her astounding success has been recognized with a Juno award for International Entertainer of the Year in 1990, the Songwriter of the Year honor at the ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996, and the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “I Need To Wake Up” in 2007.

Her 10^th studio album Fearless Love released in April of this year expands on the multiple strengths that have made Etheridge one of the most beloved figures in rock. The album has struck a momentous chord around the world, including a Top Ten debut on the Billboard Top 200 US album chart. In support of the release, and prior to her interview at Canadian Music Week, she will be performing March 11th at Massey Hall in Toronto.

For a unique insight into this multi-platinum singer, visit the Canadian Music Week website – http://www.cmw.net/conference/online-registration/ – to register for your Canadian Music Week delegate pass.

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

Miami Singer RIA hosts her Debut Album Release Party at The Florida Room in Miami Beach

This has been a really fun weekend in Miami! On Friday, November 12th, I attended RIA's Debut Album Release Party at The Florida Room (inside of The Delano Hotel on South Beach) and it was truly A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!! RIA (pictured on the left) is a Colombian born singer who is bringing her sazon to our magic city with the release of her self-titled independent solo album. During the celebration, RIA and her band rocked out to her favorite beats while guests sipped on complimentary cocktails by Hypnotic. The album resonates an eclectic mix of soulful R&B and Pop [all of the songs in the album were written by RIA]. Oh and let's not forget, the album has an edgy latin rhythm that kept fans on their feet all night! As a graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, RIA has performed for artists like Melissa Etheridge and she even opened a side stage for John Mayer during the last stop of his Battle Studies Summer Tour 2010. If you were unable to attend this HOT party, get a taste of RIA's music by visiting her Facebook Page where you can stay connected to RIA and purchase her songs as MP3 files. Albums are on sale on the website as well. As for RIA's next move, I heard she's planning an event in Broward and she's releasing her first music video in December too! Keep your eyes on this Latina beauty because she's taking the music world to a whole new level my friends!

The Florida Room was packed with RIA fans on Friday!

RIA strikes a pose for Miami Beats & Sazon! LOVE IT!

Top: After an electrifying live performance, RIA signed copies of her posters and albums for the fans! My favorite songs of the night were "The Real Thing" and "Queens." Trust me, these songs will get stuck in your head instantly [guaranteed so enjoy].



Top: RIA and her band at the end of their performance. Cheers to a wonderful event! Don't forget to check out www.RIAmusiconline.com for more information on RIA. You can also follow RIA on twitter [@RIAmusiconline] and Facebook. Until next time...ciao!

Singer & Songwriter, RIA, set to Launch her Debut Album at The Florida Room in Miami!

RIA, a Colombian born singer raised in Miami, is gearing up to release her first solo album as an independent artist this upcoming week. On Friday, November 12th, Miami movers and shakers are invited to attend RIA's Debut Album Release Party at The Florida Room (inside The Delano Hotel) from 10:30 pm till 4:00 am. As a graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, RIA has performed for renowned artists like Melissa Etheridge during a graduation ceremony at Matthews Arena in Boston. Melissa was receiving her doctorate degree that day and RIA performed one of Etheridge’s classic songs in her honor. After the show, Melissa found RIA backstage and exclaimed “You rocked my world!” Talk about a compliment! Etheridge isn't the only Grammy winning artist to find herself captivated by RIA's powerhouse voice and charm! While studying at Berklee, RIA opened a show for jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and sang lead vocals for salsa great Ruben Blades.

Don't miss your chance to watch this rising star in action! I'm personally looking forward to attending her LIVE performance on Friday. Oh, here's one more fun fact about RIA: This past September, she also performed and opened a side stage for John Mayer during the last stop of his Battle Studies Summer Tour 2010. For those who are curious about her sazon, RIA’s self titled independent debut album features a multi-faceted collection of tracks that range from soft pop to what she calls “R&B pop with an attitude and bluesy melodies,” dance pop and, drawing on her own cultural influences and her Miami background, Latin pop. Want to listen to her hot tracks? Go to http://www.riamusiconline.com/ before the big show!

Top: RIA performing during Miami International Fashion Week. If you want to attend RIA's Album Release Party, check out her website to purchase "The Ultimate Fan Package" ($15 cost) which includes her debut album, a signed poster and a complimentary drink during the celebration at The Florida Room (1685 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach). To learn more about RIA, visit her Facebook Page or follow her on Twitter (@RIAmusiconline). See you at the show!!!