Thundercat Wins Best R&B Record at A2IM Libera Awards

Thundercat's 2020 album "It Is What It Is" took home the Best R&B Record at last night's A2IM Libera Awards presented by Merlin. Produced by Flying Lotus and released on his Brainfeeder label via Ninja Tune's longstanding partnership to release, promote, and distribute their incredible and ever-expanding catalogue worldwide, the record also won the award for Best Progressive R&B Album at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards in March.

"Huge congratulations to Thundercat, Flying Lotus, and the whole Brainfeeder team for this thoroughly deserved win," said Marie Clausen, Head of North America & Global Streaming, Ninja Tune. "It's a testament to what can be achieved when an artist and team work tirelessly and without compromise in pursuit of their vision!"

Held annually, the A2IM Libera Awards brings together the independent music world to showcase and honor the vision, creativity, and hard work of their peers. In addition to Thundercat's big win, Ninja Tune were proud to be nominated in 2021 for Label of the Year (Big).

The accolades follow several recent announcements for the label, including the release of London-based artist TSHA's new single 'OnlyL' this week, which received a first-play from Zane Lowe on his Apple Music 1 radio show and was made the cover of their DanceXL playlist. TSHA was also featured on Spotify's New Music Friday Times Square billboard and fronted several of their global flagship playlists including mint, OFF POP and Altar, with press support from the likes of Mixmag, FADER, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag and many more.

The label also recently announced Mirrors, the new album from Swedish electronic producer DJ Seinfeld, set for release on September 3rd with the artist also announcing his debut live show would be coming to North America later in the year. First single "U Already Know" received strong support out of the gate with prominent featuring on key Spotify playlists such as Dance Rising, metropolis, Electronic Rising, Genre Glitch, Altar and Friday Cratediggers - where he was featured as the cover artist - with strong support also coming from Apple via their New Music Daily and DanceXL playlists.

One of the most talked-about bands to emerge from the UK in recent years; Black Country, New Road - the London-based seven-piece - announced that they will embark on their first-ever headline tour across North America throughout February and March 2022, with stops in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and many more. Their breakthrough debut album - For the first time - was released earlier this year to extensive global critical support. Making a significant dent on the UK Albums Chart where it landed at #4 in its first week, as well as breaking into multiple Billboard Charts. The album was described by The Times as "the most exciting band of 2021" and The Guardian/Observer as "one of the best albums of the year." The record also reached #1 on Any Decent Music, #2 at Album Of The Year and sat at #1 on Rate Your Music for several weeks, remaining the record to generate the most fan reviews and site discussion there this year.

Listen to the album here: