Hump Day News helps the 2023 Boston Music Awards do Best Video 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.

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.

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Once upon a time music videos played a big role in whether an underground artist broke through into the mainstream or not. Boatloads of musicians without strong three- or four-minute reels got left at the docks in the 80s while the USS MTV set sail.

Nowadays we have smartphones, which are more powerful than professional cameras a decade ago. Plus, free editing software and social media as distribution channels. You don’t need an auteur director to get a visual for your music out there.

If you’re making a music video these days, it’s either because you’re a super-sized mainstream musician who’s trying to oversaturate every market possible with content, content, content. Or you’re an underground artist doing art for art’s sake. It’s obvious which category the BMA nominees fall into.

Here’s the list of BMA nominees:

Actor Observer’s “Fools Gold,” Air Traffic Controller’s “Ferocious,” Bad Rabbits’ “Garden Of Eden” (ft. Rou Reynolds, Enter Shikari), Cakeswagg’s “Big Plays,” JATK’s “Don't Come Knockin',” Latrell James’ “MATH,” Mel Go Hard’s “Waterfall” (ft. EXITFAME, Amandi Music, Dutch Rebelle), NEEMZ’s “I Choose Myself,” PVRIS’ “I Don't Wanna Do This Anymore,” and Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys’ “Keep My Head.”

Hump Day News wrote up tracks by Cakeswagg, Latrell James, and covered a great live show by Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys. The latter group is kind of a rolling, performance art carnivale. Lots of visual appeal. Easy to see why their creative impulses map so easily onto a music video like “Keep My Head.”

Let’s improve the list with a few adds.

How about Talk Chalk’s “Hot Dog Detective”?

A homage to a hot dog. Or the detective hunting it down? You don’t need to be a meat eater to bite into this surf punk safari.

How about Battlemode’s “Die Alone”?

Another DIY adventure that unfolds like a love letter to public access television.

How about OrangePeelMystic’s “High One"?

We love artists who do a lot with a little. Sure, there’s more production value here than meets the eye. OrangePeelMystic is toying around with the lofi aesthetic. But a good chunk of it is just… lofi. Shades of Harmony Korine shorts, scored by Salem, topped up with Benzedrine fed by a witchy Mary Poppins. The song “High One” is hype, and the video gets it higher.

Music Publication Of The Year