I've been doing something like this for years now, and I just can't seem to get away from it. With the advent of streaming, there's just so many ways to take in music these days, so limiting my year-end writing to just albums that came out doesn't quite do the year justice. I'll be attempting to fill in the cracks here, with music I really enjoyed, and some things that you should definitely check out if you missed them. Let's do this!
Best EP: Bring Me the Horizon - Post-Human: Survival Horror Loaded with riffs, present-minded lyrics, and some truly absurd collaborations (that's Amy freakin' Lee from Evanessence on the closer), Bring Me the Horizon made the most out of their free time, even with 2019's amo still making waves. Recorded with each of the ba
nd members in isolation in different areas, the common thread of Oli Sykes's songwriting and Jordan Fish's production shine through, and the EP feels very cohesive despite its unusual recording circumstances. Perceived to be the first in a series of EPs if an earlier interview with Sykes is to be believed, there's simply no stopping Bring Me the Horizon right now, and I don't even think you should bother trying to slow them down.
Band You Don't Want to Miss the Boat On: Holy Fawn I slept on this band's debut full-length Death Spells so you don't have to sleep on what's coming next from them. Holy Fawn were dealt a fortunate hand this year, as they released their Death Spells EP just before they embarked on tour with Thrice for their Vheissu Anniversary Tour, and got the full tour in before COVID shut down the live music industry. The band have used their social media to hint at the recording process of LP2 (due out on Triple Crown Records), and also found some time to record a haunting cover of Manchester Orchestra's "The Maze." The band describe their sound as "loud, heavy, pretty noises," and I don't think a band has described their music more perfectly than that, except for when The 1975 called thier music "Music for Cars." Whether you're looking for something that can provide ambiance in the background or something to head-bang in your home, Holy Fawn bring you plenty of both. I can't wait to see what this band does next.
Cover Song of the Year: Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers - "Iris" (Originally Performed by The Goo Goo Dolls) Like most great things in this world, it all started with a tweet: Phoebe Bridgers, one of the undoubted breakout artists of the year, said she'd cover "Iris" if Joe Biden won the election. Proclamations like this tend to garner attention, and in this case, it's great that Bridgers did, as fellow phenomenal songwriter Maggie Rogers offered to provide vocals on the cover. The cover is great, of course, but the fact that its existence is proof that Donald Trump is no longer the President makes this an important cover for so many reasons. In most other years, this would have been my Collaboration of the Year, but...
Collaboration of the Year: MGK and Halsey - "Forget Me Too" Machine Gun Kelly had his best year as an artist by far this year, as he went for a bleach-blonde look to deliver his pop-punk album Tickets to My Downfall. It's not an album that's going to be remembered as a classic for the genre, but it did give us easily the best pop-punk song in years. Recruiting noted emo enthusiast Halsey, MGK's "Forget Me Too" sounds like it could have been written by Sum 41 or Fall Out Boy and featured Hayley Williams in 2005. It's got that timeless pop-punk energy, and Halsey's vocals are stunningly fitting for the mood of the song. I know it's strange to be heaping this much praise on a song written by the only dude stupid enough to make a diss track about Eminem, but you have to give credit where it's due, and MGK pulled this off against all odds.
Best Pre-Album Hype: Every Time I Die Every Time I Die was quiet for a while, but they really put their foot to the pedal towards the end of the year. Releasing two songs with seemingly no build-up or hype, ETID dropped "Desperate Pleasures" and "A Colossal Wreck," which found them bringing their patented chaos to our ears once again. Both songs sound like they were written during these uncertain times, although Keith Buckley's lyrics have been known to scrape the bottom so often, you'll never know for sure. During the band's wild Tid-A-Thon, they also performed a new song called "AWOL", and sent the song out to anyone who attended the virtual event. It was a unique, no-frills strategy, and the songs were great, and I am sufficiently stoked for anything we get from Every Time I Die in 2021.
Music Video of the Year: Touche Amore - "Reminders" Look, we just needed this, okay? We went through a lot this year, and what better way to forget about the unending catastrophe of existence than by looking at some of the members of our favorite bands and their pets? Can that just be enough?
To add a serious note for a moment, I thought it was really cool to see how many different bands from different corners of the emo scene were in this video. It's a cool subtle way to show how much of an impression Touche Amore's music has made on so many different people.
Guilty Pleasure of the Year: Nick Lutsko He's got brains, and a good sense of humor. He wants Dan Bongigno to be his dad. He thinks Jeff Bezos murdered Sears. Oh yeah, he's also one of the most creative songwriters I discovered this year. Nick Lutsko's music is catchy, and his lyrics are absurd. I always laugh the hardest at comedians when I feel like I never know what's going to come out of their mouth next, and that's exactly what he brings to the table. And if you're still on the fence, don't worry: he voted early.
Album Artwork of the Year: Juice WRLD - Legends Never Die It's still tough for me to think that we won't see Juice WRLD performing his music, or releasing any more of it. Thankfully, his carefully-crafted post-humous album Legends Never Die is a proper sendoff to the multi-faceted prodigy from any perspective. The music shows off all of his many talents perfectly, and the artwork provided for it is a striking portrait that could be showing Juice in heaven, putting on a hell of a show for all we've lost up there. It's an image that can live on and withstand the test of time, just like the artist's music, and stays true to its subject matter.
And so, weird, terrible year is finally laid to rest. I'm looking forward to get out to a few more concerts this year, once it's safe enough to do so, and to have even more awards to give out in 2022. Let me know who won your meaningless awards in the comments section below!
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