The ICM Awards have returned once more after another game-changing year of incredible Indie music. Here at ICM, we’re all about giving the spotlight to the artists that we think you should be listening too. In the past five years, we’ve given the likes of Tom Grennan, Tom Walker, Sundara Karma and Lauran Hibberd the chance to shine on our platform and they’ve gone on to be some of the most successful artists the UK has to offer. Now that we come close to the end of 2019, it’s time to see the Best International Act Nominees.
Kid Bloom
LA musician Lennon Kloser a.k.a. Kid Bloom has been impressive over on the west coast for his style of funky and fuzzy pop rock and 2019 has solidified his position as an artist to look out for in 2020. His name has been heard in the States for a few years now but his work is making its way to the UK with his Lemonhead EP which includes ‘Evrwndr’ and ‘Does It Make Me Wrong?’. Big things are on the horizon for Kid Bloom.
Last Dinosaurs
Australian trio Last Dinosaurs are giants of the indie pop game and now three albums in the Brisbane-based band has spent the majority of 2019 playing festivals and touring last year’s album Yumeno Garden. They sold out Australia, America and Europe shows which are a testament to the band of just how good they are. The trio will be going to South America in 2020 to tear up waves over there too. We at ICM are very much looking forward to album number four.
Cage The Elephant
American rock giants Cage The Elephant have been busy this year with their sixth studio album Social Cues (which was nominated for a Grammy Award) and hitting the road with dozens of festivals and shows. They round off the year having been streamed over 412 million times in 79 countries and fans have listened to their music to the tune of 280 decades in the 2010s. The work’s not stopped yet however, they have an album tour in February-March and there are a dozen festivals still left to play.
The Lighthouse
The Belgian five-piece released their debut album Whatever Comes Our Way in September and took the LP to the UK for a mini-tour last month. Having already made waves across central Europe as a one to watch, The Lighthouse have a great catalogue of funky and vibrant indie pop including singles ‘Cover Story’ and ‘Catch Fire’. 2019 has already been an incredible year for the band and 2020 promises a lot more.
The Beaches
Canadian all-female quartet The Beaches round off the Best International Act nominees for their recent EP titled The Professional and live performance at the Canadian Football League Grey Cup Final just a couple of weeks ago. The Toronto-based rock band has had a whirlwind couple of years which continues to push them higher with the announcement of their biggest headline tour in February.
ICM AWARDS 2019
As 2019 draws to a close, IndieCentralMusic looks back at the greatest new guitar bands, right through some of the best live performances and even the most jaw-dropping videos! With an array of categories; Greatest Discovery, Best International Act, Best Music Video, Best Live Performance, Album of the Year, and the highly-anticipated, Track of the Year, find us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on all of the award category nominees, and more importantly, the winner announcements on Saturday, December 21st!
