THE MUSICALLY FRESH AWARDS 2015 – RESULTS!
2015 – The Musically Fresh Awards – 2015
For The Musically Fresh Awards Of 2014 – Click Here.
Editor’s Note:
Well, what a year it has been! Musically Fresh has more than double in size across just about every aspect of our fledgling endeavour to find the best in new music, wherever it may be and what ever genre or style. This year has seen it all, from Punk and Hardcore, to Metal, Hip-Hop, Indie and more! and we really couldn’t be happier with what we have been sent, discovered or simply stumbled across.
For music fans, there’s nothing better finding that new song, band or album that captures a moment in time or fits with what is happening around you. A feeling that always strengthens the realisation that Music is alive and well and that the cultivation of this wonderful crop is as bountiful and worthwhile as it’s always been, perhaps more so.
The organisation of this year’s awards was somewhat of an experiment. The internal staff votes were still cast as before but this time were not alone. Due to our growing size we decided to enlist help from many of the world’s MFers, this included readers, friends, bands, band members – the lot!
So before we start, a thank you goes out to all that have helped, voted, read, glanced, listened to the music we feature, liked, shared – all of it. Without you we wouldn’t exist, so a huge thank you from all the MF staff, past, present and future is in order. Thank you, so very much. – Matthew Speer, Managing Editor.
So without further ado, here are the winners of The Musically Fresh Awards 2015.
Click on the acts for a link to our article(s)!
Fresh Pick Of The Year
Nominees – Hightower, Obliterations, Eight Days, Bar Fight, Vales, GutterLIFE, Positive Junk.
WINNER – Eight Days // Runners Up – Bar Fight, GutterLIFE.
London’s Eight Days were first discovered headlining a small Punk & Hardcore show in the back of a normal pub on a normal weekday evening. Needless to say, after a stage presence that put forth nothing but an honest and committed upcoming band, and a sound straddling the best of Modern Punk music, they were perfect for a ‘Fresh Pick’. Perfect as well as is seems for the first winner of the BRAND NEW category at our second annual awards. Well done, boys, it was a tough competition, keep the music coming.
EP Of The Year
Last Year’s Winner – Profile Me.
Nominees – WACO, Light Fire Down, SNAKE, Pembleton, Above The North, Leggy, Phantom Sea, ZUU Music, Ghost Of The Avalanche, Modern Tribes, United Defiance, Bobby Funk, Ghouls, Sixteen Floors Above, Montroze, Vera Grace, Deadlines.
WINNER – Modern Tribes // Runners Up – Montroze, Sixteen Floors Above.
By the second half of 2015 we already knew this was going to be a hefty category. Not only were the nominations difficult and time consuming, totalling votes also took time. Not on the negative however, this year’s running featured some amazing bands and it was all very close, but Modern Tribes managed to walk away with the award. The band’s jagged Indie-Punk succeeds where many who attempt such a musical union fail or fall short.
Video Of The Year
Nominees – Guardian, Eight Days, Not Tonight and The Headaches, Calling All Captains, False Heads, Brain Ape, Bobby Funk, An Arcane Dispute, CapeFox.
WINNER – Eight Days // Runner Ups – Brain Ape, An Arcane Dispute.
They’ve done it again! Again, new this year, this category was incredibly close and with good reason. Each of the videos this year showed bands in their own worlds, doing what they do best and Eight Day’s video captures that distorted shakey vision of the crowd at their live shows, with a welcome simplicity.
Single Of The Year
Last Year’s Winner – Hora Douse.
Nominees – The Gunflowers, Bonneville, False Heads, Holding Absence, Dreamer Joe, Mr, Phlyzz, Summoned By Ash, Television Villain.
WINNER – The Gunflowers // Runners Up – Television Villain & False Heads, Dreamer Joe.
The Gunflowers are from Bath in England, and have been an interesting band to watch. The single in question, ‘Rotten Pills’, was their debut track. The band have come along way since then and you will even be hard-pressed to hear this one live. However, despite this, we chose this in nomination because as a single and a debut, it had all the coherence of a band who’d been in the game while and that seemed to impress MFer’s throughout the weeks of voting. Be sure to check out the bands debut EP too.
Live Act Of The Year
Last Year’s Winner – Ghost Of The Avalanche.
Nominees – Ghost Of The Avalanche, Skaciety, Television Villian, Bobby Funk, Eight Days, Against Me!, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes.
WINNER – Skaciety // Runners Up – Eight Days, Ghost Of The Avalanche.
Get your dancing shoes on and start flexing your neck, a Ska-Punk band have pulled it off this year. A band in their youth, both in individual ages and as unit, Skaciety are on the up and possess a live show that shows no sign of faltering, and that’s just what the staff think, clearly the MFers agree.
International Act Of The Year
Last Year’s Winner – Go Rampage.
Nominees – Strung Out, Super Thief, Above The North, GutterLIFE, Leggy.
WINNER – Strung Out // Runners Up – Above The North, GutterLIFE.
Strung Out returned after a six-year period of studio silence with their new album in 2015, and what an album it was! Transmission.Alpha.Delta, is the sound of a band that have influenced so many of today’s bands, many featured on Musically Fresh in fact. It was a long awaited effort, and a very fresh moment in the world of Punk-Rock music in 2015, with Strung Out pulling out all the stops with their unique brand of Progressive Punk.
Breakthrough Act Of The Year
Last Year’s Winner – Yawning Dog.
Nominees – Postscript, Summoned By Ash, Sixteen Floors Above, Modern Tribes, An Arcane Dispute, The David J Edgar Hoovers.
WINNER– Postscript // Runners Up – Sixteen Floors Above & Modern Tribes, An Arcane Dispute.
Melbourne, Australia, has a varied and fantastic music scene, it’s Punk scene being a particular strong point. Postscript debuted their self-titled in 2015, an album with nods to both the greats of the scene and that of their local peers, it’s Skate Punk at it’s finest and clearly impressed the MFers, with it’s up-tempo, rough round the edges melodic assault, finished off with that Punk-Rock tradition of socio-political lyrics and critique. Our recommendation? Get this album.
Album Of The Year
Last Year’s Winner – Riskee & The Ridicule.
Nominees – Postscript, The David J Edgar Hoovers, Dope Body, Not Tonight and The Headaches, The St. Pierre Snake Invasion, Templeton Pek, California X, Guantanamo Baywatch, Bottle Breakers, Dischord, Brain Ape.
WINNER – Brain Ape // Runners Up – Not Tonight and The Headaches, The David J Edgar Hoovers & Guantanamo Baywatch.
The only band we know that has an Alien, from Siberia (for some reason) in their line-up, Brain Ape are upstarts from London. Their debut, Dara O’ was released back when the band were four-piece and showcases nine tracks of darkly-grooved Stoner Rock, (un)lovingly mixed with Grunge, Punk and even Post-Rock at one point. It’s an album that you want to hurt your neck too.
Despite the rest of the running being very much neck & neck, Brain Ape really stole the show with this one, the MFer’s have spoken.
One Too Look Out For In 2016
Last Year’s Winner (2015) – CapeFox.
Nominees – Jeremy Edwards, Volatile Idea, Northwood, Black Hearts, A Twisted Carnival, Newschooled, Brain Ape, Postscript, Louis J Walker, Modern Tribes, Blackhole.
WINNER – Black Hearts // Runners Up – Brain Ape, Volatile Idea.
This award was tough in the nomination process, as so many of our features are on new bands or those on the back of an amazing year and/or with new plans on the horizon. Metalcore had it’s hey-day a few years ago and still remains popular, but often with a lack of originality.
Enter, Black Hearts. The band dropped a debut in 2015, which although had it’s kinks, expanded on what was the “given sound” in the genre. With influence from Punk & Hardcore, Post-Hardcore and quite surprisingly Post-Metal, the four-track EP was not what we were expecting and with that genre variation, and a recent edition addition of two new members, they are definitely one to watch.
Band Of The Year
Last Year’s Winner – Riskee & The Ridicule.
Nominees – Ghost Of The Avalanche, Skaciety, Bobby Funk, Not Tonight and The Headaches, United Defiance.
WINNER – Skaciety // Runners Up – Bobby Funk, Ghost Of The Avalanche.
Every single one of the bands that were nominated for this award, easily deserved the top spot. Each band has a list of accomplishments, both direct and in the eye of a critic and fans, they are all bands of the year. However, that’s not how it work sadly and it’s all about our now second double award winner, Skaciety.
Their sound stands them apart from other Ska-Punks bands of the genre, their tour schedule is relentless and as people, they are some of the most approachable. What really clinched it for us personally, as well as those who knew the band prior these awards and not forgetting those new to Skaciety, was their rigorous and continued support of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. The Charity supports those receiving abuse due to their social-subculture and appearance, the foundation also raises awareness against Hate Crime in general and is active many UK schools.
Over the past year, Skaciety have worked hard and campaigned for the foundation, which includes donating merchandise sales and their appearance fees from their sets at many of the UK’s Alternative festivals, including 3 Chords Festival, Rebellion and Undercover.
The Cameron Rawson Award
Last Year’s Winner – Polar Maps.
WINNER – GutterLIFE
The Cameron Rawson Award is given each year to a band or artist that has all the values that Cameron Rawson, who was one of the co-founders of Musically Fresh, sought out for in music, through his love and passion for the medium and dedication to the world it creates.
Long Island’s GutterLife were the first of our Fresh Picks article series. Discovered through one of the staff, the band instantly impressed us at Musically Fresh.
One of more diverse of contemporary Punk-Rock band’s, GutterLIFE’s sound incorporates wide stylistic characteristics from the Punk music gene-pool. From break-neck old-school Hardcore, to the crunch of the modern-take, onward to smooth Skate Punk and Pop-Punk vocal and guitar melodies rolling along via classic Punk rhythms and tempos.
Their sound is one thing but their ideology of fiery honesty, assertiveness, will to question and above all humbling acceptance and sense of community carry them even higher in our books.
Commitment to craft is another reason why the band have won our small-time, but well earned award. Their trek across the US from east-to-west in order to spread their message and love of music speaks for itself, as does their support of those suffering with Depression, Anxiety and Addiction in charity single, ‘Strung Island’, which is where we shall leave you.
That was 2015, and what a year it was! Here’s to 2016 and all that is to come!
From the entire Musically Fresh team – #StayFresh
