A guide to the 2024 Boston Music Awards

The 2024 Boston Music Awards is at Big Night Live on December 11.

Hump Day News was nominated for Best Music Publication.

You can vote for all the nominees here.

To honor our glorious symbolic inclusion and insufferable clout chasing, we’re rolling out the BMAde Betterz series for 2024. In this series we send the nominees through the meat grinder to yield three main categories of sodium-enriched meat byproducts.

The “New To Us”
- Never heard of them, or at least never heard them. But they’re on the list, so let’s have a listen.
The “House Specials”
- We’ve covered these acts, we treasure these acts, we 100% get why they’ve been nominated.
The “New To You”
- These artists didn’t make the list, but they should have!

Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

〰️

Hump Nights

〰️

Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️

Hump Nights

Nov 22

Hard rocking Cortez has a real metal ripper with their new album Thieves and Charlatans. With Worshipper and Curse the Son.

Nov 30

Punk in broad daylight. Get there early for WORM, Presidential Disgrace, Screw Cart, and Neponset Monastary.

ONCE Presents: Ezra Furman Doing What She Wants

Dec 3

What does Ezra Furman want to do? Find out at ONCE at The Rockwell.

The Ladybug Transistor / Lightheaded / Mark Robinson (of Cotton Candy)

Dec 4

The Ladybug Transistors touring on the 25th anniversary of The Albemarle Sound.

Dec 7

A fourstack indie rock bill at JP’s favorite rock n roll joint.

Dec 13

The 4th Wall celebrates its 13-month anniversary at the Capitol Theater.

Dec 13

Funk reigns supreme at JP’s favorite rock n roll joint.

Dec 14

A romp through Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” album with Billy Hough (Scream Along) at EventThem Studios.

$Fat Togue Holiday Bash: Give Up!, Love City Dirt, BAD\\VERB$

Dec 16

Three bands, one holiday bash, and who knows how many hot dogs. Maybe none!

Dec 26

Bohemian Rhapsody Sing-Along. The movie like you've never seen it before: host, goody bags, glam ups encouraged!

Dec 31

Bohemian Rhapsody Sing-Along. The movie like you've never seen it before: host, goody bags, glam ups encouraged!

Hump Nights

〰️

Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

〰️

Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️

Album/EP of the Year // Nominees

Alisa Amador "Multitudes" / Cloudbelly "i know i know i know" / DeevoDaGenius "Champion Sound" / Exit Fame "Exit Hell" / Gio Dee "Hardbody." / Gollylagging "Dry Rot" / JVK "Who Is JVK (Deluxe Edition)" / Latrell James "Running In Place" / Layzi "in between" / Worshipper "One Way Trip"

Worshipper brings metal back to the fundamentals with its third full-length album One Way Trip. Big guitars, big vocals, big solos. And Exit Fame’s Before I Exit Hell is a rap album with samples chock full of operatic drama and cinematic splendor.

The title track of Gollylagging’s Dry Rot shows it’s a band that can’t be painted into the post hardcore grind corner. JVK has had a big year, including a Boston Calling appearance. But didn’t Who Is JVK? come out in 2023? Even the “deluxe version”? Latrell James raps over immaculate studio production on Running In Place, with all the digital bells & whistles, but don’t miss him live when he cooks in real time with a full band. And Layzi’s 6-track EP in between is a dreamy grower. The “lo fi” self-descriptor doesn’t do it justice.

Gollylagging

Gollylagging: “Dry Rot”

A moody emo soft rawker that takes its time.

Grit Scott

Sunbloc played O’Brien’s Pub in the phantasmagoric presence of a bygone bar.

Thank You, Alex Pickert

A four-stack bill joined to celebrate the split release Fauna at Crystal Ballroom.

Nice, A Live Review: Day 3

The third and not final installment of Nice, A Fest raised the stakes once more, stretching the bill across the day and night of Saturday, 30 July.

Kangaroo

Boston’s Gollylagging play screamo punk ditties designed for smashing beer cans against your forehead.

Otis Shanty’s Up on the Hill is one of the Shantiest record Outis there! We’re still coming to terms with Beeef’s band name, but Somebody’s Favorite is one of our favorites. And Jake McKelvie’s A New Kind of Hat is one of those albums that, like a cozy fireplace in winter, you always look forward to coming home to.

Otis Shanty

Up On The Bill

Otis Shanty celebrate a new album at Crystal Ballroom.

Saturday Re, Cap: Nice!

Saturday of Nice, A Fest 2024 in Davis Square.

Otis Shanty: “Why Do I Care?”

A dreamy, jangly amuse bouche before the main course.

Porch The Fest

Somerville Porchfest 2024: not just Guster!

You Deserve More

Otis Shanty tristams the shandy at Remnant Satellite.

Riding Gobbles

A. Savage leaves the courts behind at Crystal Ballroom.

Otis Shanty: “Early Birds”

A ferocious opening tagline blooms into a dreamy pop stunner.

So many albums to shout out, can’t hit them all. Some of these just hit in the right way. Honorable mentions: Main Era, The Bank, a Farmer; Circus Trees, This makes me sad, and I miss you; Jean Paul Jean Paul, It Comes Back; Impossible Dog, Shoeless In A Casket and Specifics; Ribbon, I Watched the Ribbon; Hell Beach, Beachworld; Watercoat, Circles On My Map; Lane, Receiver.