Japanese Breakfast, Wet Leg, Madlib Lead Winners at A2IM’s Indie Libera Awards

Japanese Breakfast, Wet Leg and Madlib were among the top winners at the Libera Awards on Thursday night, the American Association of Independent Music’s annual awards ceremony.

The event returned in a hybrid setting, with people from the indie community gathering at New York’s Webster Hall to receive awards, catch a DJ set from Madlib (featuring a freestyle from Talib Kweli) and live sets from Sammy Rae & the Friends and others, while concurrently a livestream of performances from Japanese Breakfast, Brittany Howard, Jason Isbell, Helado Negro and Cautious Clay was played in a separate room at the venue. Also performing live at the event were Tré Burt, Canadian Brass and Adrian Daniel.

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Veteran DJ-producer-rapper Madlib received the Independent Icon honor, presented to him by longtime New York rapper Kweli. Japanese Breakfast swept the awards categories, taking home four awards for Record of the Year, Best Alternative Rock Record, Creative Packaging, and Marketing Genius for her album “Jubilee” (Dead Oceans). British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks, who was last year’s Breakthrough Artist, won Best Pop Record for “Collapsed in Sunbeams” (Transgressive/[PIAS]). Britain’s Wet Leg were chosen as the 2022 Breakthrough Artist for their single “Chaise Longue” (Domino), which also garnered the Video of the Year award. Common was honored with the A2IM Humanitarian Award, while Bandcamp was celebrated as this year’s Independent Champion.

The 2022 A2IM Libera Awards were presented by Merlin and sponsored by ADA, YouTube Music, Ingrooves, The Orchard, CLIO Music, edm.com, MSK (Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, LLP), Redeye Worldwide, Virgin Music, Artist Growth, EnterGain, SourceAudio, trac, and Luminate.

Full list of this year’s winners:

Independent Icon
Madlib

Record of the Year
Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (Dead Oceans)

Self-Released Record of the Year Cautious Clay – Deadpan Love (Cautious Clay)

Video of the Year (Presented by YouTube Music)
Wet Leg – “Chaise Longue” (Domino Recording Co.)

Label of the Year (Small)
Oh Boy Records

Label of the Year (Medium)
Sacred Bones Records

Label of the Year (Big) (Presented by ADA) (tie)
Mom + Pop Music
Matador Records

A2IM Humanitarian Award
Common

Best Alternative Rock Record
Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (Dead Oceans)

Best Americana Record
Madi Diaz – History Of A Feeling (ANTI-)

Best Blues Record
Cedric Burnside – I Be Trying (Single Lock Records)
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – 662 (Alligator Records)

Best Classical Record
Bryce Dessner, Australian String Quartet, Sydney Dance Company – Impermanence/Disintegration (37d03d)

Best Country Record
Sturgill Simpson – The Ballad of Dood & Juanita (High Top Mountain Records / Thirty Tigers)

Best Dance Record, Presented by edm.com
Jungle – Loving In Stereo (AWAL)

Best Electronic Record, Presented by Redeye Worldwide
박혜진 Park Hye Jin – Before I Die (Ninja Tune)

Best Folk/Bluegrass Record
Hand Habits – Fun House (Saddle Creek)
Jose Gonzalez – Local Valley (Mute)

Best Heavy Record
Deafheaven – Infinite Granite (Sargent House)

Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record (Presented by Virgin Music)
Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (AWAL)

Best Jazz Record
BADBADNOTGOOD – Talk Memory (XL Recordings/Innovative Leisure)

Best Latin Record
Helado Negro – Far In (4AD)

Best Live/Livestream Act
Mdou Moctar – “Live at the Niger River”

Best Outlier Record (Presented by The Orchard)
L’Rain – Fatigue (Mexican Summer)

Best Pop Record
Arlo Parks – Collapsed In Sunbeams (Transgressive/[PIAS])

Best Punk Record
The Linda Lindas – “Racist, Sexist Boy” (Live at LA Public Library) (Epitaph)

Best R&B Record
Hiatus Kaiyote – Mood Valiant (Brainfeeder (Ninja Tune))

Best Reissue
Radiohead – Kid A Mnesia (XL Recordings)

Best Rock Record (Presented by Mitchell; Silberberg & Knupp LLP)
IDLES – CRAWLER (Partisan Records)

Best Spiritual Record
Blind Boys of Alabama feat. Bela Fleck – “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” (Single Lock Records)

Best Sync Usage
Phoebe Bridgers – “I Know The End” – Ep 106 Mare of Easttown (Dead Oceans)

Best World Record
Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (Matador Records)

Breakthrough Artist/Release (Presented by Ingrooves)
Wet Leg – Chaise Longue (Domino Recording Co.)

Creative Packaging
Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (Dead Oceans)

Independent Champion (Presented by Merlin)
Bandcamp

Marketing Genius
Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (Dead Oceans)

Excellence In Advocacy
Dionne Warwick

Congressional Independent Music Guardian
Congresswoman Linda Sánchez (D-CA)

Innovation in Sustainability
IMPALA Sustainability Task Force

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