Cub Sport, The Teskey Brothers and Jem Cassar-Daley will take great form into the 2024 AIR Awards, set for Thursday, Aug. 1 at Queen’s Theatre in Adelaide.
Cub Sport is hunting a triple. The Brisbane electronic pop foursome is shortlisted for best independent dance or electronica and independent album of the year for their ARIA No. 1 collection, Jesus At The Gay Bar, and their Adam Munnings-directed clip for “Keep Me Safe” is up for independent music video of the year. Cub Sport pounced for two wins at last month’s 2024 Queensland Music Awards.
Also at the AIR Awards, The Teskey Brothers, led by Josh and Sam, are up for best independent blues and roots album or EP and independent marketing team of the year (Ivy League, Mushroom).
The Teskeys are fresh from winning the songwriter of the year at the 2024 APRA Music Awards, and best record at the 2024 Rolling Stone Australia Awards for their ARIA No. 1 album The Winding Way, and their manager, Jeremy Furze, was named manager of the year at the 2024 AAM Awards.
Meanwhile, Jem Cassar-Daley’s “King of Disappointment” could be crowned song of the year, though it faces competition from works by Genesis Owusu (“Leaving The Light”), Maple Glider (“Don’t Kiss Me”), RVG (“Nothing Really Changes”) and Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers (“I Used To Be Fun”).
Cassar-Daley, daughter of homegrown country great Troy Cassar-Daley, won a brace at the 2024 QMAs, including the night’s top honor – song of the year (for “King of Disappointment”).
Best independent label will be contested by ABC Music, Dot Dash Recordings, Ourness, Poison City Records and Spinning Top Records.
Now in its 18th year, the AIR Awards are a celebration of the best and brightest from Australia’s independent music community.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to recognize the work the independent music industry does in providing talented and emerging artists and music businesses with a platform to share their art with a wider audience,” comments minister for arts. Andrea Michaels, member of parliament.
This year’s ceremony will once more be bookended by the Indie-Con Australia conference, a gathering that focuses “on issues that are specifically relevant to the independent music sector,” say organizers, the Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR). The South Australian Music Development Office is major sponsor for the annual awards. Details on the program and lineup of speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.
