January’s podcast episode is now live! Join myself, James and Alex as we share what upcoming releases we’re looking forward too as well as:
All that and more here:
Welcome to 2021, a year that is shaping up to be a great one for new music. Here’s a short list of some of my most anticipated albums coming in the next month or so.
Release Date: January 15th
Release Date: February 5th
Release Date: February 12th
Release Date: February 19th
Release Date: February 26th
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2020 has been far from the year anyone had wanted or expected with things being very tough for most, including those in the music industry. Live music as we knew it was forbidden but artists continued to release music and keep us going through a number of lockdowns and they should surely be commended for their efforts. So without further ado, here are my picks for the inaugural Birdbox awards.
Nominees:
Beartooth Slipknot While She Sleeps
It feels like another life now that we were able to be in a room with thousands of others to watch live music but we managed to squeeze a small handful of shows in before ‘it’ all kicked off at the start of March including a weekend of While She Sleeps and Slipknot back to back in January. However it was a Beartooth show in March that stands out most for me. Of course it was incredible to see Sleeps, one of my favourite bands for years, headline the iconic Brixton Academy and Slipknot are Slipknot but the passion and emotion Caleb Shomo put into his performance in a packed Roundhouse gave that show a very special feel. To have back up in the form of The Amity Affliction always helps too.
Winner – Beartooth (The Roundhouse)
Nominees:
2000 Screens (2000 Trees Festival) Download Tv (Download Festival) Five 4 Five Fest (Tom Pullen)
This year saw the complete cancellation of live events including the whole of festival season. Some ‘did a Bear Grylls’, adapting to an online streaming format to at least provide a small amount of entertainment. Download Festival did ‘Download TV’ which featured interviews, archive footage and specially recorded live sessions from some of the bands that were due to play. 2000 Trees did the same with ‘2000 screens’ including some great interviews with the festival organisers who gave an insight into how the festival is run and the people behind it. This award, I think, has to go to Five 4 Five Fest though. Some of us spent our free time in lockdown finding new hobbies, perhaps baking some banana bread but photographer, Tom Pullen, decided to organise a whole virtual festival. He was very quick to call on everyone he needed to create a fantastic 2 day online event featuring special home performances from the likes of Enter Shikari, Don Broco, Trash Boat, Yonaka, Holding Absence and so many more. The event in May was so successful that a follow up was justified in December in aid of the Music Venue Trust and Save Our Venues. Tom and everyone else involved certainly deserve some recognition for their efforts.
Winner – Five 4 Five fest (Tom Pullen)
Hardcore is a genre that can be perceived as being very aggressive and perhaps violent at times and it takes true talent to unlock the hidden beauty and the stories behind the music that only the best around are capable of possessing. This very special award goes to The Hell for telling the inspirational tale of ‘Joris’, a relatable character from close to London who makes a small contribution to overthrowing capitalism by standing up to his boss, Cliff, and attempting to follow his dreams.
Winner – The Hell (Joris, A Hardcore Opera, Pt. 1)
Nominees:
Dogleg Sleep Token Spanish Love Songs Tallah
The Discovery award is for artists that are new to me this year but have ended up being played on repeat. It doesn’t matter if they haven’t released any new material just as long as I only gave them a first listen this year, they qualify. Both Dogleg and Spanish Love Songs have released fantastic albums this year and were among my most played artists this year. Tallah also released a ridiculous album in the form of their debut full-length ‘Matriphagy’. They’re sure to go far and certainly would have won this award had I not heard about Sleep Token this year. I became obsessed with their mysterious aesthetic and the way they blend their songs to sound as dark as they do beautiful is awesome.
Winner – Sleep Token
Nominees:
Jack Garratt Machine Gun Kelly Nothing, Nowhere Phoebe Bridgers
While assembling shortlists for these awards, I couldn’t help but notice that bands dominated and so I felt it was only right to give solo artists some recognition of their own. I was thoroughly impressed by Jack Garratt’s latest album and MGK surprised many of us with a solid venture into pop-punk. Nothing, Nowhere’s workrate this year was inspiring with constant new music, livestreams and his series of ‘one takes’. Despite this, I just cant ignore the prowess of Phoebe Bridgers who, for me, just beats N,N to this award thanks to her sensational second album ‘Punisher’. Who needs a Grammy when you’ve won a Birdbox award ay!?
Winner – Phoebe Bridgers
Nominees:
Architects – Animals. Biffy Clyro – End Of Bring Me The Horizon – Parasite Eve Machine Gun Kelly – Forget Me Too (Feat. Halsey)
Fact: there have been over 27 songs released this year so deciding on the best one was very difficult but someone had to do it. After hearing Bring Me tease a particular song during it’s recording process I, along with many others were failing to contain their hype. Needless to say, Parasite Eve was well worth the wait and wins them the banger award for 2020 mainly because of THAT chorus.
Winner – Bring Me The Horizon (Parasite Eve)
Nominees:
Biffy Clyro – A Celebration Of Endings Enter Shikari – Nothing is True & Everything is Possible Spanish Love Songs – Brave Faces Everyone
Last and certainly not least, here are the top 3 albums of year. 2020 has been a pretty horrible year and no album summarises having a bad time like ‘Brave Faces Everyone’. With songs addressing themes such as drugs, poverty and depression, it’s a tough listen but every story is told perfectly.
It wouldn’t have taken much to top their previous Album ‘Ellipsis’ but Biffy Clyro still smashed it out of the park with ‘A Celebration Of Endings’. They’re back to their best here with Biff Riffs galore and a couple of classic Biffy Ballads thrown in for good measure.
Enter Shikari’s latest masterpiece, ‘Nothing is True & Everything is Possible is certainly a difinitive feather in their cap. There are call backs to every era of the bands career with aspects of each album borrowed and mashed together like a pick n’ mix. As a long time Shikari fan, Reprise 3 into T.I.N.A left me agasp and gives it the edge to take the award
Winner – Enter Shikari (Nothing is True & Everything is Possible)
So that concludes 2020 and the first year of The Birdbox. Thanks to everyone that has read these little ramblings of mine this year and hopefully I’ll have a bit more to write about next year. If you’ve missed anything, or want to read something again, you can find every post from this year below.
Hear more as Alex, James and I have a look back at 2020 in episode one of The Ragamuffin Music Podcast:
The Birdbox