MIDi 2012 Nomination: Hanggai, Residence A, Black Head and more…

wow.. it’s already been 3 MIDI awards and the 4th one is less than a week away.. how about that? I still remember that first edition in 798 with electric performances by XTX and Muma. I also remember how short-sided the list of nominations was. Fast forward a few years and a lots of complaints later, we’re getting somewhere interesting.. or at least, i think so. Let’s take a look at the list of nominees before going any further:

1. 最佳年度摇滚专辑 (Album of the Year)

Gala “Music-mates are hard to find” (GALA《知音难觅》)
Black Head “The Xi’An Incident” (黑撒《西安事变》)
King LyChee “Time Will Prove” (荔枝王《时间证明》)
Escape Plan (ex-perdel) “The World” (逃跑计划《世界》)
Lure “Retrogade Kingdom” (诱导社《逆行王国》)

Wow.. we start things out with a bang here! I would have never expected bands like Black Head and King Lychee on a year where Muma and other Beijing based bands have all released records. Heck, Black Head is also more rap than rock as far as i know so the folks from MIDI have really gone outside the box on this one. King Lychee played what i still think is the best live performance i’ve seen in Beijing this year and I have no qualms about them being in the list. The album is solid.. overall, a surprising mix folks!

2. 最佳年度摇滚歌曲 (Song of the Year)

The Gar “Love, eventually will omit the youth ” (嘎调《爱，终将把青春遗漏》)
Black Head “—” (黑撒《流川枫与苍井空》)
King Ly Chee “Time Will Prove” (荔枝王《时间证明》)
Brain Failure “Perpetual Utopia” (脑浊《永远的乌托邦》)
Escape Plan “The Brightest Start in the Night Sky” (逃跑计划《夜空中最亮的星》)
Lure “Retrogade Kingdom” (诱导社《逆行王国》)

This are a bit more familiar with Song of the year and it’s the name we’re used to. Can’t really complain about it at this point

3. 最佳年度摇滚乐队 (Best Rock Performance by Group With Vocals)

Gala (GALA)
Hanggai (杭盖)
Muma & Third Party (木玛&Third Party)
Brain Failure (脑浊)
Escape Plan (逃跑计划)

interesting mix here… Hanggai getting some love finally.

4. 最佳年度摇滚男歌手 (Best Male Rock Vocal Performance)

Lei Lin – Lure (雷霖-诱导社)
Ma Tiao (马条)
Mao Chuan – Escape Plan (毛川-逃跑计划)
Xiao Rong – Brain Failure (肖容-脑浊)
Zuoxiao Zuzhou (左小祖咒)

I would never include Ma Tiao in such a list… his voice is just not all that. Some better candidates can be found but oh well… these are the folks touring and playing a lot.

5. 最佳年度摇滚女歌手 (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance)

Helen Feng – Nova Heart (冯海宁-Nova Heart)
Kang Mao – Subs (抗猫-Subs)
Suna – Gemini (苏娜-简迷离)
Wang Qing (Pupi) – The Bigger Bang! (汪婧-Da Bang)
Yingzi – F.I.S (樱子-秋天的虫子)

This category is probably the one least likely to change much over the years. Helen and Kang Mao have multiple nominations each and the list of good frontwomen is getting shorter. None of them deserves it this year in my book.. i’d give it to DH instead.

6. 最佳年度硬摇滚乐队 (Best Hard Rock Performance)

King LyChee (荔枝王)
Brain Failure(脑浊)
Twisted Machine (扭曲机器)
Iron Kite (铁风筝)
Liquid Oxygen Can (液氧罐头)

Jury needs to really get their categories straight on this. There is nothing Hard Rock about King lychee, Twisted Machine or L.O.C…one is Hardcore, the other two are Metal. I guess they had to fit them somewhere.

7. 最佳年度金属乐队 (Best Metal Performance)

Frosty Eve (霜冻前夜)
Four Five (肆伍)
Yaksa (夜叉)
Liquid Oxygen Can (液氧罐头)
Suffocated (窒息)

Now putting Yaksa on this list is almost an insult to bands mentioned above who are much heavier and speedier. Can’t argue with this unless i want to bring up some names that i’m gonna talk about later.

8. 最佳年度摇滚乐器演奏 (Best Rock Instrumental Performance)

Morin Khuur – Batubagen w/ Hanggai (巴图巴根-杭盖乐队马头琴)
Mamur – Bass & Vocals w/ Mamur & IZ (马木尔-马木尔与IZ主唱／贝斯)
Guan Wei – Guitar w/ Muma & Third Party (关伟-木玛&Third Party乐队吉他手)
Xie Yugang – Guitar w/ Wang Wen (谢玉岗-惘闻乐队吉他手)

Not much to say on this one.. I like seeing Mamer recognized.

9. 最佳年度摇滚现场 (Best Live Performance)

Nova Heart
Second Hand Rose 二手玫瑰
Hanggai 杭盖
Brain Failure 脑浊
Escape Plan 逃跑计划

oh boy… I could argue here all day and night! if Miserable Faith deserved at least a nomination this year, it would be for this category. They were beyong amazing!! I haven’t been able to catch Nova Heart over the past 6 months so I’m not sure what they sound like now. That said, they were not deserving of a nomination from what i remembered. Escape Plan managed to scare me away at MIDI with some nasty sound… can’t see how they fit in this list either. Hanggai all the way i guess

10. 最佳年度摇滚新人奖 (Best New Artist)

Residence A (A公馆)
CNdY
Twinkle Star (闪星)
Wang Shengnan (王胜男)
Perpetual Motion Machine (永动机)

man oh man… did they make Ruby happy! I’m a huge supported of Twinkle Star and of course, Ruby is groupie number one for Res A and Perpetual Motion Machine… both bands deserve the nominations. I would have liked to see LiDong on there somewhere… Their album was definitely more deserving.

11. 最佳年度专辑设计奖 (Best Album Art)

Black Head “The Xi’An Incident” (黑撒《西安事变》)
Four Five “No Leader” (肆伍《NO LEADER》)
Escape Plan “The World” (逃跑计划《世界》)
Iron Kite “Where urban and rural junction” (铁风筝《城乡结合处》)
Xiongxiong’s Homework “Morning Sun” (熊熊作业《八九点钟的太阳》)
Zhang Weiwei & Guo Long “White Silver Hotel” (张玮玮与郭龙《白银饭店》)
Zuoxiao Zuzhou “Going to Naizifang” (左小祖咒《去奶子房》)

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12. 最佳年度民谣音乐奖 (Best Folk Music)

Daqiao Xiaoqiao (大乔小乔)
Ma Tiao (马条)
TULIGER (Gangzi) 图利古尔（刚子）
Wutiaoren (五条人)
Yang Jiasong (杨嘉松)

Tuliger? really? I would hve put Ajinai in there instead. As I mentioned before, i also strongly beleive LiDong should be in the mix. Zhang Wei Wei deserved some accolades in my book as well.

In addition, there will be 2 other awards for which the nominees remain private: 中国摇滚贡献奖 (Award For Special Contribution to Chinese Rock) as well as 年度常委会奖 (Special Award by the Grand Jury)

Well well well…
should i even mention the lack of foreign bands from China in this list? we’ve been through this one too many time before but here we go again: It’s happened all over. Looking at the nominations, it really feels like they’ve looked at hashtags somehow or maybe Tango attendance figure in order to give the nominations. I’m sure i’ll have more to say about this in due time

They’re happening this sunday, December 16th, at M Space (Wukesong Arena)