LiveWire Music Awards 2021
12 Months ago we did our first music awards, and we started the article with the following words…. “2020 has been a year to forget in so many ways….”
Hard to believe that 12 months later, we’re here again and it feels a bit like déjà vu ! 2021 has been another tough year for the music industry, with lockdowns and cancelled shows, but it hasn’t been as tough as 2020, with the return, late summer of live shows at indoor venues, and we’re hopefully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and a better more stable future in 2022.
For me, it’s been a much better year musically. 2020 felt like the year of ‘inward reflection’. Many artists writing in lockdown about their experiences, the pandemic and so on, but 2021 has seen a move away from this.
We’ve continued with four awards again in 2021, for song and album of the year, alongside best live performance, and one to watch in 2022. It’s been incredibly tough this year with so much fantastic music to choose from and because of this, we’ve moved away from final placings to have 3 or 5 finalists with one overall winner in each category. Congratulations to all our finalists, and to the many other excellent artists who don’t get a mention in this piece.
Without delay, let’s dive in to our first award.
First up, we have the Live Performance of the Year, won in 2020 by the amazing The Murder Capital, this was perhaps the hardest award to decide on a winner because it’s felt like every live show has been amazing, as bands are so full of energy and bursting to perform live once again. Where to start…. We’ve seen stand out performances this year from Finnish bluegrass farmers Steve’n’Seagull, a 40th anniversary 6 hour show from New Model Army, brilliant vintage performances from Kirk Brandon with Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny, and amazing sets from the likes of Fontaines D.C. and IST IST.
We finally narrowed it down to our three favourite shows. All three finalists selected because of the amazing energy at the shows, that really felt like a release of all that pent up Covid energy and anger !
We had our first taste of Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes live in 2021 and boy was it worth the wait ! The Rattlesnakes new album “Sticky” was released this year and we awarded it a max 10. The album is full of energy and attitude and it certainly comes over live ! Frank surfs the crowd and climbs the railings giving security nightmares.
If you’ve never seen Skinny Lister live, you’re missing out, the London folk punk shanty band are one of the best live. We saw them with support from The Longest Johns at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms, and the atmosphere was electric from start to finish. With their new 2021 album “A Matter of Life & Love” to showcase, they the new material worked a treat for the fans with highlights being “Bavaria Area” and the title track “A Matter of Life & Love”.
A late addition to the list was the mighty Terrorvision who brought their Christmas Party to Nottingham’s icon Rock City only this week. With 24 songs on offer, including their full back catalogue of hits, including “Oblivion”, “Tequila” and “Perseverance” to name but three. With outfits ranging from silver trousers to skin tight white suits and 80’s hair metal glam, they Bradford rockers put on quite the performance. The party atmosphere was amazing and the crowd were bouncing all night.
All three were amazing and had such energy, but the top award of live performance 2021 goes to Skinny Lister. The energy from the band was incredible from start to finish, the crowd singing along with the lyrics and the small packed venue all added to the sense of occasion.
Next up we have Song of the Year which in 2020 was won by “Mork ‘n Mindy” by the Sleaford Mods w/Billy Nomates. Again, there has been far too much good music this year, but we have a very diverse top three, as you’ll see lol.
First we have the excellent track “Witches Don’t Fall In Love” by Me and That Man from their 2021 album “New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol.2. MATM is the project of Behemoth frontman Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski. The track features Kristoff Rygg, metal vocalist with Ulver, Arcturus, and most recently Borknagar. It tells the tale of a guy seduced by a witch and ultimately sacrificed ! The vocals are amazing and the lyrical story well constructed.
Next up, we have Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, with the track “Go Get a Tattoo” from 2021’s “Sticky” featuring Lynks. Like many on the album, the track is an irreverent one of someone outside a club at 2am, drunk, looking for excitement and making bad choices. The lyrics made me laugh with the line “Are you sure, you don’t look sure and we’ve been in this mess before”. A song about letting go, sod it…. Lets do it !
Finally, and somewhat different, the final song is “A Beautiful Place” from Beans on Toast. From the 2021 album of the same name, it’s a song about hope for the world, about what an amazing place it is to live in and how lucky we are to be alive. It’s happy and bright and fills you with joy. I challenge you to put this one on and not smile.
The title of best song of 2021 though goes to Frank Carter the Rattlesnakes. The song is just high energy from first note to last and after so many lockdowns and periods of isolation, the release of pent up energy is fantastic. The track has a sing along addictive style, and sums up all those bad decisions we’ve all made on a night out. The vocal elements from Lynks are fantastic too and add a greater depth to the track
There have been so many amazing albums and EPs this year and Album of the Year has been the hardest award to decide on. All five finalists have been regular listens ever since they were released. It really feels that as 2021 has gone on, we’ve moved away from the introverted covid lockdown releases, and have found a new lease of creativity.
First finalist is “New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol.2” from Me and That Man. A stunning blues rock / metal project from Behemoth’s Nergal, with guest appearances from a number of metal legends, such as Michale Graves, and Alissa White-Gluz. Not what you’d expect from the Satanic one Nergal, but incredible form start to finish. Highlights include the aforementioned “Witches Don’t Fall in Love”, “Blues and Cocaine” (Michale Graves) and “Black Hearse Cadillac” (Hank von Hell & Anders Odden).
Up next we have “Sticky” from Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes. “Sticky” really works well as a whole album with guest appearances from Cassyette and Lynks (who supported on the recent tour as well) and the whole album does a brilliant job of channelling all the frustrations from Covid, and the grittiness of the city into 10 eviscerating tracks. As Frank himself said, it’s not a lockdown record (thank God)….. but a freedom record !
Here at LiveWire, we review what we like and are not fixed to any set genre. Many sites stick to one thing such as metal or punk, but we cover what we like, and it’s great to bring new styles to people that wouldn’t normally listen to them. For our next finalist we have an album we didn’t actually review “Forget Me Not” by Red Hot Riot. Red Hot Riot are Brisith Rockabilly at it’s finest. We saw RHR in Leicester a couple of months ago and they didn’t disappoint. Already enjoying Horror Punk and Psychobilly, a step back into Rockabilly seemed natural. This is an album that doesn’t disappoint. The album has a maturity to it that defies their age. Solid, well written tracks from start to finish highlights include “Down the Rabbit Hole”, “I Wanna Be Yours”, “Masquerade” and “Life You Get” I could go on…..
“The Art of Lying” from IST IST is a sensational follow up to 2020’s “Architecture” We awarded “The Art of Lying” a 9.5, missing out on the perfect 10 due to the lack of cowbell (Twitter joke lol). The album whispers tales of crumbling societies and corrupt governments; of truth and lies, love and death, oppression and resistance and uses hard loud guitar sections, wonderful dirty bass and soft emotive synth driven sections, all joined together with the unique vocal baritone sound of Adam Houghton to deliver an outstanding final product.. They introduced some new elements for this album such as the use of subtle backing female vocals which really some of the tracks an added dimension (for example in Fat Cats Drown in Milk, and even more subtly in the chorus of Watching You Watching Me).
Finally we have IDLES. 2021 saw the release of their fifth studio album “Crawler”. This one seemed to divide some fans. Some weren’t taken by it, but many, like us really loved it. For me, their best album, up their with the debut “Brutalism”. The band describe the album saying “We want people who’ve gone through trauma, heartbreak, and loss to feel like they’re not alone. This album shows the ugly side of where those things come from, but also how it is possible to reclaim joy from those experiences.”
This one, takes a large step out of their comfort zone, and brings in a whole load of new flavours. I think Joe’s observation about being more poetic, and more of a storyteller works exceptionally well, and for me, the new elements really add to the IDLES experience.
For me, the album of 2021 is “Forget Me Not” by Red Hot Riot. There isn’t a weak track on it and the writing is exceptional throughout. It’s an album I have returned to time after time. Released early in 2021, it remains a regular listen. Rockabilly is not everyone’s cuppa, but this one is a brilliant listen and well worth investing the time in.
I’m really excited to see what 2022 brings from the guys !
Finally we come to our final award, the Band/artist to watch in 2021. This is my favourite award. One thing hat has opened our eyes this year, has been the amount of amazing bands out there that are producing some great material, but still trying to break through t a more mainstream audience.
In the world of metal, one band we experienced for the first time live, is Florence Black. From Wales, they produce amazing heavy metal. But, what was brilliant live was the clarity. It isn’t just heavy, but clear and delicate too. Their debut album “Weight of the World” is outstanding.
Another band worthy of wider acclaim are Green Lung. Their incredible debut album “Woodland Rites” was followed up in 2021 with “Black Harvest”. Their style reminds me of earlier 70’s metal such as Sabbath and has a ritual styling. It’s simply incredible.
But our award goes to a local band from Derby…. Ladies and gents, we’d like to introduce you to MuddiBrooke. The Alt-Rock Grunge trio released their debut EP “Lunacy” in 2021. Consisting of Brooke (Lead guitar & Vocals), Anna Meladone (Bass & Vocals) and Mary Prince (Drums), they have had some great exposure on mainstream rock radio, including Kerrang and featuring as 'Track of the Week' on BBC Introducing. No strangers to us at LiveWire, we have previously reviewed the singles Devil (October 2020 score 9.0) and Straight Jacket (April 2021 score 9.5).
What I love about MuddiBrooke, is how they write about their own experiences, and don’t shy away from some tough subject matters, covering things such as love, anxiety and betrayal. The lyrics are so powerful and descriptive and pull you in to the emotion of the subject matter, and the grunge like, dynamic styling emphasizes the situation even further. But despite some of the difficult subjects covered, fundamentally it’s about learning, growth and moving on. As Brooke put it “By looking at the human condition, from an emotional perspective this gives us permission to move on; to move forward and hopefully never look back.” Wise words indeed.
Congratulations to MuddiBrooke, LiveWire’s One to Watch in 2021 !
