Hump Day News helps the 2023 Boston Music Awards do it better.
Didja see? The Boston Music Awards nominations started rolling out in September.
What are the BMAs? Well, the annual music awards ceremony is presented by the whiskey drink Jack Daniels. It’s held at Big Night Live on December 20th. Tickets are sold for seats you sit in. And the logo looks like Paul Revere on a horse, carrying a boombox?
The website says the nominations were pinned down by September 18th.
Doesn’t that seem early to pin down 2023 awards?
It’s always a kind of curse to release a great album or have your breakthrough live performance too close to the start or end of the year. Time it right before the close of nominations and maybe you can benefit from recency bias? But wait too long and watch your beloved album wither on the critical vine while the journos are busy with year-end wrap ups and holiday shopping.
If you have the time and prolific output, do what Pile did this year: release a killer album (All Fiction) earlier in the year, reap the extra attention won in a relatively quiet time of the year for album announcements, then drop a short & sweet EP (Hot Air Balloon) in the last quarter to remind everyone that you’re still alive and you’re awesome.
Evil genius!
If you want to vote, vote here.
All the nominated artists in the virtual, not real, fake pages of Hump Day News for 2023.
We don’t endorse nominees, we report on them. Here’s who we reported on in 2023. Check it out.
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominee is: Pile.
Pile celebrates the All Fiction record release at the old Somerville Armory.
Moody, broody, tutti frutti. Earth’s Pile returns to the fray with the full-length All Fiction.
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are Astral Bitch and Cape Crush.
ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR
(1 million+ streams)
Our nominee is: Pile - All Fiction.
ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR
(not 1 million+ streams)
Our nominees are: Cape Crush - San Souci, Little Fuss - Girls At Parties, Winkler - For You, Now.
SONG OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Anjimile - The King, Little Fuss - She's a Liar, and Mallcops - To The Side ft Layzi.
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are Cakeswagg - Big Plays, Latrell James - MATH, and Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys - Keep My Head.
LIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominee is: Pile.
ALT/INDIE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Little Fuss, Lost Film, Paper Lady, Winkler.
Day Two at Boston Calling AKA “your second chance to wait in line at House of Dunkin.”
Paper Lady eschews the plastic at Arlene’s Grocery for The New Colossus Fest.
BLUES ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominee is: Dwight + Nicole.
FOLK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Izzy Heltai and Sweet Petunia.
A preview of In Between Days 2023, a two-day summer music festival in Quincy, MA.
Miss Bones welcomed a new album into the world at Cantab Lounge.
Boston’s Sweet Petunia fires up experimental folk with harmonies for miles.
METAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominee is: Lesotho.
POP ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Layzi and Shallow Pools.
A preview of In Between Days 2023, a two-day summer music festival in Quincy, MA.
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.
Boston’s Layzi makes suave, stylish bedroom electropop that deserves a martini and a beautiful sunset.
PUNK/HARDCORE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Nervous Eaters, Rebuilder, and Sapling.
ROCK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Dino Gala, Paper Tigers, Pile, and The Endorphins.
A preview of In Between Days 2023, a two-day summer music festival in Quincy, MA.
SINGER-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Anjimile, Senseless Optimism, Sidney Gish, Jill McCracken, and Maeko.
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Cliff Notez and Pink Navel.
VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Jill McCracken and Walter Sickert.
MUSIC PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
Our nominee is: I Book Things.
TALENT BUYER OF THE YEAR
Our nominees are: Cody Rico (IBOOKTHINGS) and Heather Timmons (Tiny Oak Booking).
Music Publication Of The Year
A soulful call and response between the flute and the kora.
A live solo ditty from an artist you know from Lewis Del Mar.
Andrew Stern; interview with DIY venue 4th Wall organizers; and more.
BMAde Betterz 2024: we fix it.