My Ugly Clementine scoops IMPALA’s European Independent Album of the Year Award
Brussels, 15th February 2021,
The 11th edition of IMPALA’s Album of the Year award goes to Austrian band My Ugly Clementine for “Vitamin C“, released on Austrian record label Ink Music. My Ugly Clementine fought off stiff competition from a shortlist of 25 albums across Europe.
This is the first time an Austrian band has won the award. My Ugly Clementine is added to the list of prestigious winners including Apparat, Gurr, Viagra Boys, Agnes Obel, The xx, Adele, Guadalupe Plata and Efterklang.
This supergroup from Vienna is described by Ink Music as “a four-piece, non-male rockband telling stories about self-confidence, empowerment, self-love, respect and equal rights”. No surprise that Sophie Lindinger, the initiator of this new band, set up the rule there wasn’t going to be a “frontperson”. They share the lead (vocals). The group now features Mira Lu Kovacs (of 5k HD), Kathrin Kolleritsch (aka Kerosin95) and Nastasja Ronck. The band also started a podcast, Peptalk, that celebrates diversity in the music industry and will participate in IMPALA’s podcast 20MinutesWith.
Their debut album “Vitamin C” released on Ink Music in March 2020 received great reviews and the band has already been invited to play at Eurosonic and Reeperbahn.
Listen to Vitamin C by My Ugly Clementine on Spotify, Deezer, YouTube, Apple Music.
Sophie Lindinger from My Ugly Clementine said: “We are absolutely speechless and feel honoured. It’s strange to have written and produced this record in a DIY setting and to see it standing in line with these great artists and their magnificent works that won this award in the past 10 years. We are now even more desperately waiting to finally be able to go out and hit the stages again. We can’t wait to return all the love we got, just by sharing our message and music with the people out there. Love.“
Hannes Tschürtz, founder of Ink Music, commented: “For more than a year we put a lot of effort and work into the My Ugly Clementine’s debut ‘Vitamin C’. When it was finally released, it happened to be exactly when the pandemic struck, and everything was closed down. We often referred to the irony of this and suggested that this ‘Vitamin C’ may help us overcoming this difficult period. And it indeed does. While My Ugly Clementine underline important issues – empowerment, equal rights, self-love, feminism – with every piece, they always have been a band full of joy and positivity, and therefore are the greatest companion you could possibly ask for, especially in times like these. We feel incredibly privileged to be working with these wonderful people and are happy and proud to see them getting the recognition they truly deserve.”
Helen Smith, Executive Chair of IMPALA added: “’Vitamin C’ is a great debut album from a band who managed to sell out their shows in record time (just wait till we can go to shows again…). My Ugly Clementine fought off some very tough competition and still emerged the clear winner with votes coming in from all across Europe. The album and the band have clear messages about avoiding gender stereotypes which IMPALA fully support – music is a great tool for tolerance and inclusion, so get Vitamin C on your playlist!”
More about My Ugly Clementine and their album
My Ugly Clementine is a four-piece, non-male rock band, telling stories about self-confidence, empowerment, self-love, respect and equal rights. Early on being labelled ‘supergroup’ for their setup of well-known figures from the vibrant Vienna music scene, they are combining all this with being damn serious about one thing: having fun! Nevermind finally someone is brushing off all the dust from those old rock guitars and is fitting them right into the world of today. The group now features Sophie Lindinger (Leyya), Mira Lu Kovacs (of 5k HD), Kathrin Kolleritsch (aka Kerosin95) and Nastasja Ronck. The band also started a podcast, Peptalk, that celebrates diversity in the music industry and will participate in IMPALA’s podcast 20MinutesWith.
Listen to Vitamin C by My Ugly Clementine on Spotify, Deezer, YouTube, Apple Music.
Website – Facebook – Instagram – YouTube
More about Ink Music
Since 2001 Ink Music has become a major player in the Austrian music landscape in the field of artist development, career planning and support in the broader sense. Working also as management and agency, booking and promoting countless shows, the label has always been the company’s heart and soul. It helped bringing many now familiar names into the light – like Ezra Furman, Bilderbuch or Ja, Panik. One of the longest serving members of local independents label association VTMÖ (since 2005), the label continues to develop, release and market talent in 2021 with upcoming solo releases of Mira Lu Kovacs and Kerosin95 (both of My Ugly Clementine), but also with more output from promising soul singer Lou Asril or HipHop/Indie outfit Sharktank.
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
More about IMPALA
IMPALA was established in 2000 and now represents over 5000 independent music companies. 99% of Europe’s music companies are small, micro and medium businesses and self-releasing artists. Known as the independents, they are world leaders in terms of innovation and discovering new music and artists – they produce more than 80% of all new releases and account for 80% of the sector’s jobs. IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector sustainably, return more value to artists, promote diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political access, inspire change, and increase access to finance.
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
More about the Independent Album of the Year Award
The “European Independent Album of The Year” award was launched in 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of IMPALA. This award showcases the breadth and diversity of independent talent across Europe. The winner is selected on the basis of completely open criteria from a shortlist compiling national album nominations from territories across Europe put forward for their musical, artistic or other exceptional quality. Previous winners of the Award are Apparat, Viagra Boys, Gurr, Agnes Obel, José Gonzalez, Caribou, Guadalupe Plata, The xx, Adele and Efterklang. Discover previous winners by listening to the dedicated 20Tracks playlist.