Lowell-bred “St. Patrick” rockers PVRIS, Allston alt-rock act Palehound, and rising Boston rapper Cousin Stizz are among the wide-ranging crop of nominees for this year’s Boston Music Awards, announced Friday morning.
The annual awards, which were inaugurated in 1987, are always a reliable metric by which to measure the success of local talent, and this year’s set of nominees drives home the breadth of genres Boston-area musicians are operating within. Rock is most prominently featured in the major categories, with indie-rock outlets like Animal Flag, Palehound, Pile, and Weakened Friends represented in the paramount Artist of the Year section; hip-hop/rap acts also had a strong showing between Cousin Stizz, Joyner Lucas, and STL GLD’s presence there.
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But across the myriad categories open for voting this year are nestled Americana-folk idols (Hayley Thompson-King, who just released experimental disc “Psychedelic Melancholia”), lo-fi Bandcamp-bred singer-songwriters (Sidney Gish, who opens for Margaret Glaspy at The Sinclair Thursday), and neo-folk pioneers (the Ballroom Thieves, playing at Canton’s Festival at the Farm this weekend alongside fellow nominees Julie Rhodes, Matthew Stubbs, and Session Americana). With the huge swath of genre-traversing talent on display, consider these awards (as usual) the ultimate rejoinder to that cousin at the Thanksgiving table who thinks Boston music starts and stops at Dropkick Murphys.
The Boston Music Awards changed hands last year, with Redefined CEO Paul Armstrong stepping up to help showcase local talent by honoring a variety of performers, producers, venues, and even photographers. This year’s awards mark the event’s 30th anniversary, so the 30 greatest Boston artists of the last 30 years will also be chosen; both committee members and the general public will be allowed to contribute nominees starting today, with a shortlist due to be announced for voting Oct. 2. Additionally, voting will take place on two outside-the-box categories — Music Photo of the Year and Music Artwork of the Year — once nominees for those categories are revealed on Oct. 2.
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Voting is open to the public at www.bostonmusicawards.com/vote/ and ends Oct 30. Those over 18 who want to attend the ceremony at the House of Blues on Dec. 7, which traditionally features performances by nominated artists, can snag tickets for $25 here.
Artist of the Year
Animal Flag
Cousin Stizz
Julie Rhodes
Joyner Lucas
Palehound
Pile
PVRIS
STL GLD
The Ballroom Thieves
Weakened Friends
New Artist of the Year
Ali McGuirk
Baby!
Bat House
Carissa Johnson
Lilith
Mint Green
no hope / no harm
Oompa
Sidney Gish
Vintage Lee
Unsigned Artist of the Year
Animal Flag
Avenue
Beeef
Carissa Johnson
Julie Rhodes
Lady Pills
Latrell James
Ripe
Vundabar
Weakened Friends
Album of the Year
Avenue, “Mass Ave & Lenox”
Bad Rabbits, “American Nightmare”
Cousin Stizz, “One Night Only”
Eddie Japan, “Golden Age”
Joyner Lucas, “508-507-2209”
Palehound, “A Place I’ll Always Go”
Pile, “A Hairshirt of Purpose”
PVRIS, “All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell”
STL GLD, “Torch Song”
The Ballroom Thieves, “Deadeye”
Song of the Year
Avenue, “Ain’t [Expletive] Funny”
Cousin Stizz feat. Offset, “Headlock”
Millyz, “Lessons”
Palehound, “If You Met Her”
Pile, “Texas”
PVRIS, “Heaven”
Ruby Rose Fox, “Rainbow Sufragette”
STL GLD, “Good”
The Rationales, “Ready to Go”
Weakened Friends feat. J Mascis, “Hate Mail”
Music Video of the Year
Converge, “I Can Tell You About Pain”
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Cousin Stizz feat. Ofset, “Headlock”
Joyner Lucas, “Just Like You”
Palehound, “If You Met Her”
PVRIS, “Heaven”
Token, “Exception”
Music Video of the Year (Unsigned Artist)
Avenue, “Ain’t [Expletive] Funny”
STL GLD feat. Dutch ReBelle, Tigerman WOAH, Julie Rhodes, “Feels Like Home”
Bat House, “Alright, Spaceboy”
The Devil’s Twins feat. Slaine, “Satan Stone”
Megan Tracy & the Missed Connections, “Color the Air”
Dutch ReBelle & Marcela Cruz, “Don’t Know Why / Mophizzy”
Live Artist of the Year
Converge
Cousin Stizz
Julie Rhodes
Latrell James
Pile
Ripe
STL GLD
The Ballroom Thieves
Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys
Weakened Friends
Alternative/Indie Artist of the Year
Bent Knee
Future Teens
Lady Pills
Palehound
Vundabar
Weakened Friends
Americana Artist of the Year
Honeysuckle
Julie Rhodes
Session Americana
The Rationales
These Wild Plains
Tigerman WOAH
Blues Artist of the Year
Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Matthew Stubbs & The Antiguas
Monster Mike Welch
Peter Parcek
Shor’ty Billups
The Silks
Country Artist of the Year
Annie Brobst
Ashley Jordan
Girls Guns and Glory
Hayley Thompson-King
Houston Bernard Band
Jessie Chris
DJ of the Year
BREK.ONE
DJ Knife
Frank White
Leah V
SuperSmashBroz
YVNG PAVL
Electronic Artist of the Year
Bearstronaut
Camino 84
CONTACT
ORCHIDS
Photocomfort
Radclyfe Hall
Folk Artist of the Year
Dan Blakeslee and the Calabash Club
Darlingside
Honeysuckle
Tall Heights
The Ballroom Thieves
Town Meeting
Hip-Hop Artist of the Year
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Avenue
Cousin Stizz
Dutch ReBelle
Latrell James
Michael Christmas
STL GLD
International Artist of the Year
Debo Band
Dub Apocalypse
Jireh Calo
Shun Ng
Ubuntu Band
Yoko Miwa
Jazz Artist of the Year
Alison Keslow
Esperanza Spalding
Grace Kelly
Jireh Calo
People Like You
Yoko Miwa
Metal Artist of the Year
Converge
Elder
Gozu
Lunglust
Protean Collective
Worshipper
Pop Artist of the Year
Bearstronaut
CONTACT
Jenna Lotti
JoJo
PVRIS
Ruby Rose Fox
Punk/Hardcore Artist of the Year
Ascend/Descend
Choke Up
Nice Guys
Rebuilder
The Hotelier
The Kominas
R&B Artist of the Year
Bad Rabbits
Haasan Barclay
Marcela Cruz
Rebecca Zama
Rey Royale
TeaMarrr
Rock Artist of the Year
Animal Flag
Black Beach
Carissa Johnson
Pile
Salem Wolves
The Devil’s Twins
Singer-Songwriter of the Year
Abbie Barrett
Hayley Thompson-King
Lori McKenna
Marissa Nadler
Ruby Rose Fox
Will Dailey
Female Vocalist of the Year
Courtney Swain (Bent Knee)
Ellen Kempner (Palehound)
Julie Rhodes
Lyndsey Gunnulfsen (PVRIS)
Ruby Rose Fox
TeaMarrr
Male Vocalist of the Year
Evan Kenney (Dirty Bangs)
Fredua Boakye (Bad Rabbits)
Martin Earley (The Ballroom Thieves)
Tad McKitterick (Sidewalk Driver)
Walter Sickert (Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys)
Will Dailey
Session Musician of the Year
Dave Brophy
Duke Levine
Jonathan Ulman
Matthew Girard
Mike Levesque
Paul Ahlstrand
Live Production Engineer of the Year
Benjamin Stoppelman
Brendon Downey
Chris Johnson
Dan Gonzales
Ian Nault
Reid Calkin
Studio Engineer of the Year
Benny Grotto
Brian Charles
Dave Minehan
Ed Valauskas
Janos Fulop (The Arcitype)
Sean McLaughlin
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Music Photographer of the Year
Ben Stas
Cara DiFabio
Eddy Leiva
Greg Gaffney
Jen Vesp
Jonathan Beckley
Matthew Shelter
Natasha Moustache
Richard Knowles
Tim Bugbee
Music Promoter of the Year
Aaron Gray, Grayskull Booking
Alyssa Spector, Lysten Boston
Jason Trefts, Illegally Blind
Lisa Finelli, Xperience Creative
Ned Wellbery, Leedz Edutainment
Ryan Agate, RTT Presents
Live Music Venue of the Year
Brighton Music Hall
House of Blues
Paradise Rock Club
Royale
The Middle East Downstairs
The Sinclair
Intimate Live Music Venue of the Year
Atwood’s Tavern
Great Scott
Lizard Lounge
O’Brien’s Pub
ONCE
TOAD
Music Night of the Year
Emo Night at The Sinclair
Heroes at Middle East
Make It New at Middlesex Lounge
PVRPLE at Good Life
Soulelujah at Zuzu
The Wave by CLLCTV Boston at Middlesex Lounge
Live Ongoing Residency of the Year
Bearly Dead at Thunder Road
Country Club at State Park with These Wild Plains
Downbeat Mondays at The Sinclair with Matthew Stubbs and The Antiguas
Gospel Brunch with The Revelations at Atwood’s Tavern
OldJack Last Saturdays at Lizard Lounge
Tim Gearan Band at Atwood’s Tavern
Music Blog of the Year
Allston Pudding
Boston Hassle
KillerBoomBox
Red Line Roots
Sound of Boston
Vanyaland
Isaac Feldberg can be reached at isaac.feldberg@globe.com, or on Twitter at @isaacfeldberg.