2020 Golden Indie Music Awards Nominees Revealed

Sep-18-2020

Golden Indie Music Awards (GIMA), which is established to spotlight Taiwanese independent genre-defining artists, just announced the nominees for its 11th ceremony, with celebration of the newly added category Asian Original Music open to artists across Asia.

Poet rapper Soft Lipa, who released the critically acclaimed album Home Cookin timed after taking a 7-year gap, and gaining a dual identity as a new dad and label owner, is topping the list of nominations with 5 nods. Soft Lipa clearly hasn't lost a step. Yujing Peng, the owner of legendary venue Witch House, is granted an Outstanding Contribution Award to honor the efforts she's been donating to independent music. For the past 25 years Peng has shaped and continues to positively influence the the scene by offering young talents endless opportunities and indie lovers a second home. Thanks to her belief and dedication, Taiwan today is lucky enough to have outstanding artists like Desert Chang (anpu), Qing Feng Wu, Cheers Chen, and more.

Discarding the language barrier initiated from lyrics, Hakka bard Misa and Paiwan daughter ABAO are both highly complimented by their daring and homegrown aesthetics. Cited from Foucault's The Ship of Fools, Misa's magic realism-fuelled album psychedelically drifts around from folk, jazz, blues, rock to reggae, and all gracefully tie together with the artist's sophisticated voice and Hakkanese narration. From kicking off  spanning genres such as gospel, pop, electronic, and R&B harmoniously layered on danceable baselines, ABAO, the most nominated artist for GMA 2020, cleverly introduces her cultural heritage through her ground-breaking all-Paiwan album kinakaian under the independent electronic label Dark Paradise Records. While Mandarin is the primary language spoken in Taiwan, Misa and ABAO are proof that music speaks to us all.

New to this year's GIMA is the category Asian Original Music Award calling for individual/group artists holding Asian citizenship and heritage outside of Taiwan, GIMA hopes to further tap into Asia's thriving independent music sector as well as to connect Taiwan to wider audiences and opportunities. The stellar nomination list includes Japan-born London-based glossy singer Rina Sawayama, who has been overwhelmingly touted by both mainstream superstars and pioneering underground media, and Chinese-Indonesian viral rap star Rich Brian (formally known as Rich Chigga) signed to US-stationed Asian talents collective 88rising. There are more exciting bands and artists from Japan, Philippines and South Korea to expect in this culture exchange-championing category.

Golden Indie Music Awards (GIMA) is set to be held on 31st October 2020 at Taipei Music Center.

GENERAL FIELD

Best Album

The Ship of Fools - Misa
Beat Maker - Chick en Chicks
PORTAL - Zani
Hypnocity - Peggy Hsu
Home Cooking - Soft Lipa
kinakaian - ABAO

Best Band

Fire Ex.
Modern Cinema Master
FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
No-nonsense Collective
Hormone Boys

Best Singer-Songwriter

Misa
Yen Ting Lo
Peggy Hsu
Soft Lipa
Sophy
ABAO

Best New Artist

9m88
Yen Ting Lo
Heat Sketch
Yellow
Mong Tong
Chih Siou

Best Musician

Shen Yu Su
Nicky Li
Min Yen Hsieh
Ying Da Chen
Ohtake Ken
Tzu-Heng Chuang
Devlin Chen
Marcus Tsao

Best Live Performance

The Great Paradisiacal Mountain - Amazing Show
Autumn Attack 2019 - FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
Leo Wang 2019 Simple Urban - Leo Wang
2019 The Next Big Thing Year-end Comeback - Yellow
Legacy Presents Hidden, Not Forgotten - waa wei

Asian Original Music

19FACT - Sorane (Japan)
2ND GALAXY - Nulbarich (Japan)
FREESUMMER - CADEJO (South Korea)
The Sailor - Rich Brian (Republic of Indonesia)
ena mori - ena mori (Republic of the Philippines)
Enlightenment - THONAPPLE( South Korea)
SAWAYAMA - Rina Sawayama (Japan)

GENRE FIELD

Best Rock Album

The Art of Embarrassment - Wayne's So Sad
Stand Up Like a Taiwanese - Fire Ex.
OFiN- FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
Urban Noir - Hormone Boys
The Village - Shallow Levée

Best Rock Song

"Wanderer Guide In Taipei" - Wayne's So Sad
"Stand Up Like a Taiwanese" - Fire Ex.
"INVERT" - FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
"Tuck" - Jade
"21st Century Post Youth" - No-nonsense Collective
"Underwater Tickling" - Heat Sketch

Best Alternative Pop Album

Beyond Mediocrity - 9m88
Portal - Zani
Hypnocity - Peggy Hsu
Harsh - Sophy
Elephant in the Room - Chih Siou

Best Alternative Pop Song

"Abyssal zone" - Enno Cheng
"Glass" - Zani
"Farewell, Farewell, Farewell." - Peggy Hsu
"24 Years Old of You" - I Mean Us
"Once In A Blue Moon" - Yellow
"Heaven" - waa wei
"Otomen" - Yoga Lin

Best Hip Hop Album

#ChillChillAlIGood - ShiShr
Home Cookin - Soft Lipa
BOARDING - SHOU
Earlier This Morning - GorDoN
Liars Like Us - Chang Wu

Best Hip Hop Song

"Bachelor in Distress" -  ShiShr
"RAZOR" - J.Sheon
"Hopping Cock" - Soft Lipa
"Neurosurgical Treatment During the Day. Dental Cure At Night." - Soft Lipa
"No Suicide Statement" - Dudu King
"U sTuPiD feat. OZI" - Karencici

Best R&B Album

The Alley - J.Sheon
5 am - Julia Wu
User Guide: I -  It’s Your Fault

Best R&B Song

"Aim High" - 9m88
"Sugar-coated" - Dan Hsueh
"Ballad" - J.Sheon
"Fever" - Julia Wu

Best Folk Album

Longing -  FayeHong
The Ship of Fools - Misa
Going Up to The Country - Zixuan & Slow Train
Seven Days - Bobby Chen
Sasela’an  - Ado

Best Folk Song

"The Tree & the Memories" - Yachun Asta Tzeng
"1984" - Misa
"Traveling With The Stars" - Ohtake Ken
"Mipaliw" - Ado
"Alian" - BOXING & Matzka

Best Electronic Album

Beat Maker - Chick en Chicks
Panorama - N7a
____w/ me. - Dinpei
Expansion ROM - 3R2 & fish.the
Medic - Wring Out Laura

Best Electronic Song

"Non-Confined Space" - Non-Confined Space
"Nalakuvar" - Chill Qin
"Iridescent Vision Feat. Taj Raiden" - Sonia Calico
"Back to Heaven" - G5SH
"minetjus feat. Oberka" - ABAO

Best Jazz Album

Ciao Bella -  Organ3
Epiphyllum - Yen Ting Lo
Off Peak Hour - Ying Da Chen

Best Jazz Song

"If I Could" - 9m88
"The 5 Mins in Between" - Yen Ting Lo
"Once This All Ends" - Yin Da Chen
"|Pxz-Pzy|≤1+Pxy" - Non-Confined Space
"El Mediodia" - Muda

Outstanding Contribution Award

Yujing Peng