Mute label boss Daniel Miller and alternative scene hero Edwyn Collins will both be honoured by lifetime achievement awards at this year’s AIM Independent Music Awards on October 29.
Miller will be given the Pioneer Award, with AIM recognising him as "one of the most influential figures in the history of electronic music". As well as making music as The Normal (and writing the infamous/much-covered ‘Warm Leatherette’), Miller founded the Mute record label in 1978, and went on to sign artists including Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Laibach, Depeche Mode, Liars and Yazoo, as well as set up sub-labels (Novamute, Rhythm King, and most recently Liberation Technologies) that have engaged directly with the blossoming of electronic dance music over the last couple of decades. As regular readers of the Quietus will have noticed, Mute have been having a particularly scorching 2012, with Carter Tutti Void’s Transverse, Liars’ WIXIW, VCMG’s SSSS and Can’s The Lost Tapes all crashing into the upper echelons of our ‘best of 2012 so far’ lists.
Collins (above) will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award for his music with Orange Juice and as a solo artist, as well as his production work for The Cribs, The Proclaimers and Little Barrie.
"How gracious of AIM to consider me, I’m most flattered. Thirty years of rock n’ roll independence! It’s where I started and I’m there yet. I think it’s the future, young people," said Collins of his award, with Miller adding: "I am very flattered and honoured to receive this award. It’s particularly special to be acknowledged by fellow independents."
The Quietus‘ very own Luke Turner is one of the judges for this year’s AIM Awards, with the rest of the panel including Sean Adams from Drowned In Sound, Pete Paphides and BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq, who will host the ceremony along with BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens.