Pitchfork: Exclusive: PLUG Awards Nominees Announced

Exclusive: PLUG Awards Nominees Announced

I've got a fever, and the only cure is more awards shows! Nipping at the heels of the mtvU Woodies and the just-born New Pantheons come the PLUG Awards, arguably the coolest of the bunch. Devoted exclusively to independent music in 2005, and decided by folks roughing it in the trenches of the biz, the Pluggies (sorry, couldn't resist) seek to turn the bright lights on the music us Pitchdorks love to obsess over.

A 200-member advisory committee, which goes by the ominous name of the PLUG Cartel, chose the nominees. Cartel members include actors Adam Goldberg and Jason Lee, actor/comedian/scenster David Cross, author Dave Eggers, and groupie extraordinaire Cynthia Plaster Caster, along with a slew of journalists, bloggers, publicists, booking agents, radio programmers, filmmakers, label employees, and other industry types.

The winners, however, are decided by The People. As of right now, the PLUG ballot is open to anyone with an internet connection and a mouse. To vote, go HERE.

Plug has exclusively revealed the full lineup of nominees to Pitchfork, and man, do those nominators have good taste. (Yes, we're biased: several Pitchfork staffers were on the nominating committee.) Animal Collective, Antony and the Johnsons, Bloc Party, Bright Eyes, Broken Social Scene, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Devendra Banhart, MF Doom, The National, Sleater-Kinney, Spoon, and Sufjan Stevens will duke it out to follow 2004 winners Interpol as the PLUG Artist of the Year, and all of them were nominated for several awards, including Album, Song, Video, and Live Act of the Year. Luckily for all the nominees, "Trapped in the Closet" wasn't released on an independent label.

Pluggies will also be handed out for several genre Albums of the Year, including Hip-Hop, Punk, Indie Rock, Metal, Avant, Electronic/Dance, Americana, and DJ. Oddly, Sleater-Kinney's heavy stoner epic The Woods is nominated in Indie Rock and Punk but not Metal, and the Mobius Band's The Loving Sounds of Static falls under Electronic/Dance, when it isn't all that electronic, or danceable, or even that good.

In addition, labels, radio stations, record stores, magazines and zines, DVDs, websites, and festivals will be honored. For those last two categories, we encourage you to think fondly of the humble Fork and our little Intonation shindig when clicking those buttons.

The winners will be announced on February 2, 2006, at a ceremony at Webster Hall in New York City. The celebration will feature several performances; so far, only the National (nominated for a whopping six awards) and Beans and the Holy Fuck (nominated for, um, no awards) have been confirmed.

Once again, the PLUG ballot is HERE. Get to votin'!