Canadian Music Week, in association with Galaxie, has announced the shortlist for the 2010 Galaxie Rising Stars Award.
As opposed to the fan-voted Indie Awards, the Galaxie Rising Stars Award is the choice of the nation's music critics.
Music journalists from print, TV, radio and online media were asked for their top five Canadian independent releases of 2009. Sales and airplay are irrelevant for this award as artistic merit takes centre stage and acts as the sole judging criteria. All submissions have been boiled down to a shortlist from which these same critics will choose the most deserving recording and select Canada's emerging breakthrough artist of the year.
The Award - a $5,000 bursary - is part of the Galaxie Rising Stars Program, an original program that sets out to discover, encourage and promote new artists.
The shortlist for the 2010 Galaxie Rising Stars Award is (listed in alphabetical order):
Dan Mangan - Nice, Nice, Very Nice (fileunder:music)
Handsome Furs - Face Control (Sub Pop)
Japandroids - Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar)
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns (Paper Bag)
Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre (Arts & Crafts)
The winner of the Galaxie Rising Stars Award will be announced at The 2010 Indie Awards. Presented by Galaxie, the Indies take place on March 13, 2010 at The Fairmont Royal York Hotel's Canadian Room in Toronto.
For more information visit the Indies website at www.indies.ca.
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 five 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 10 to March 14, 2010 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and various downtown Toronto venues, attracting participants from across the globe.