NYC Scene Report – The Best of 2015


This week’s NYC Scene Report is a little bit different. With the end of the year here, I felt I should do a year in review of some kind. Of course, I couldn’t just do a traditional year in review, because nothing about this column has been traditional. With that mind, I decided an award show would be the route to go.

Arranging everything into the categories of Rock, Pop, and Hip-Hop, I selected three to four nominees, and one winner, for the best full length album, and EP, for each genre. Narrowing the nominees down was a challenge, a there was a lot of music to choose from.

So welcome to the first ever ... umm ... damn, I really should have thought up a name for this. Ah, well, check out the very best NYC's indie music scene had to offer in 2015.

Rock

NYC is not only a haven for indie rock, it’s a haven for creativity within the genre, which makes this category such an interesting one. While all the nominees here can be defined as rock, no two are alike.

The nominees for best indie rock album are...

* Blue & Gold – In My Head
* Born Cages – I’m Glad I’m Not Me
* Parlour Tricks – Broken Hearts/Bones

And the winner is...


The nominees for best indie rock EP are...

* herMajesty – My Body Your Mind
* Jocelyn Arndt – Strangers In Fairyland
* Vomitface – Another Bad Year

And the winner is...


Pop

How do you define “pop?” I think if you ask ten people that question you’ll get ten different answers. For the purposes of this award show, I included electronic music, and some pop leaning R&B, to go with the more traditional fare. Interestingly, there’s very little traditional pop in NYC’s indie music scene, as most of the artists here go the experimental route. I decided the winner by taking both the quality of the music, and the concept of pop, into consideration.

The nominees for best indie pop album are...

* Danielle Parente – Dark Eyes
* HoneyChrome – Daylight Animal
* Stranger Cat – In The Wilderness

And the winner is...


The nominees for best indie pop EP are...

* baeb rxxth – omw
* Hayley Coupon – Do the Right Thing, Like You Said You Would
* Stef Lang – ARROWS Part 1
* The Mast – 1

And the winner is...


Hip-Hop

New York City was the birthplace of hip-hop, and it still holds true that if you throw a rock in the city you’re bound to hit someone who claims to be a rapper. You know what that means? It means this category was, by far, the most overflowing with potential nominees.

Aside from the three albums, and four EPs, nominated, I want to make special mention of Super King Armor, Top $ Raz, Creature, Hired Gun, and Bryant Dope, who all released great full length efforts this year, and Jimmy ValenTime, who absolutely killed it on Soundcloud, with over 12k listens to one of the songs off of his latest LP. Heck, I’ll be completely honest, I’m still trying to listen to all of the albums that have been sent my way (some releases were so late they’ll qualify next year). You emcees are incredible!

The nominees for best hip-hop album are...

* Black Jew (Coole High & Black Sparx) – Black Jew
* M-TRI & DJ Leecy T – Monday Morning Music
* Notar – L.A.R.R.Y.

And the winner is...


The nominees for best hip-hop EP are...

* Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman – Lice
* G.T.P. – State Of Emergency
* PremRock – Who Art in Nada
* Silent Knight – Weaknd

And the winner is...


Congrats to all the nominees, winners, and every artist in NYC who made this year such a great one. For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.

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