Dove Awards 2016 Predictions: Playing The Field

I believe this is my final Prediction Post for this years Dove Awards. I had originally planned to do a quick hits wrap, but I think otherwise now. This is enough.

The General Field is the area where bands and artists compete without regard to genre. It is almost a free for all, but there are some boundaries. We begin with New Artist of The Year, which sets boundaries of time. The nominees were:

• Hollyn
• Jordan Feliz
• Stars Go Dim
• Travis Green
• We Are Messengers

I have heard of all of these with the exception of Travis Green. However, of the ones that I have heard I was most impressed with Hollyn, so that will be MY PICK.

Moving on to Artist of The Year. Technically a New Artist could also win Artist of The Year, but that is usally not the case. This is primarily for established artists. The nominees:

• For King and Country
• Hillsong United
• Lauren Daigle
• Lecrae
• Toby Mac

MY PICK: Unlike New Artist, which had 4/of its 5 nominees in the #PlatVnyl7 pool, we had two nominees here in the past #PlatVnyl6. And those are the ones I couldn't decide on. I am going with TobyMac for the win with a back up of Lauren Daigle.

Song of The Year is the final group I will pick from. The Doves cast off all notions of editing. One year they had over twenty nominees. This year they kept it to ten. 

• Brothers, Needtobreathe
• First, Lauren Daigle
• Flawless, Mercy Me
• Good Good Father, Chris Tomlin
• Just Be Held, Casting Crowns
• No Longer Slaves, Bethel Music
• The River, Jordan Feliz
• Touch The Sky, Hillsong
• Trust In You, Lauren Daigle
• Worthy, Anthony Brown

A lot of good good songs on the list (sorry). However MY PICK is First by Lauren Daigle.

That does it for the prediction posts. Maybe now I can take small break from things so I can finally update the winners page on the blog. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Rot

Welcome back to Music Video Monday, where we play the best music videos in Christian Music. We are ready to rock. We begin with Paper Route, which is builing on The Peace of Wild Things and continuing their dominance of the Alternative genre. Here they tell you to live live and Laugh About It.

Next up we have Skillet, a favorite of The Night Beat from the early years. While I still can't get over Korey as a short haired blonde, that is nothing compared to John with a thick beard and mustache. At least we have Korey back on synths doing what makes Skillet sound best, and doing  Worship.  This is Stars.

And finally, we finally have a Music Video from Lacey Sturm's solo project Life Screams. Like I said when the album originally came out, we may miss her in Flyleaf, but this helps a whole lot. This is Rot.

That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. Until next week, when we will have more Music Videos for you, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Awards 2016 Predictions: Song Awards

We move on to the song portion of the Dove Prediction Posts. Once again I will do a representative sample, not all of them. I may do a quick hits for all the rest in the final post. Songs are more subjective than albums, so in some cases I have done a "backup pick" if I think more than one song deserves to win. I will only count one loss, however, because there is only one award per genre.

We begin with Inspiration Song of The Year. I double down that the Dove's need to sift better between Worship and Inspirational. There is too much overlap. Anyway, the nominees:

• Pieces, Bethel Music
• Let It Be Jesus, Christy Nockels
• Heavens Shore, David Phelps
• O Praise The Name (Anastasis), Hillsong
• Til I Met You, Laura Story

MY PICK: Even though I thought It was a Worship Song, not Inspirational (and it Won Modern Worship Song of The Year for #PlatVnyl6), my pick is Let It Be Jesus.

Worship Song of The Year is Next, and it had one #PlatVnyl6 Song Nominee. 

• No Longer Slaves, Bethel Music
• Good Good Father, Chris Tomlin
• Touch The Sky, Hillsong
• We Believe, Travis Ryan
• Even So Come, Chris Tomlin

MY PICK: The judges at Night Beat HQ have been impressed with Bethel Church for quite a while, and we are going with No Longer Slaves.

Contemporary Gospel/Urban Song of The Year is next. Only one song on the list was on my list as well. The others I had not noticed. The nominees:

• Wait On You, Janice Gaines
• The Way That You Love Me, Jonathan McReynolds
• Wanna Be Happy, Kirk Franklin
• One Way, Tamela Mann
• I'm Good, Tim Bowman, Jr.

MY PICK: I Wanna Be Happy, and I want Kirk Franklin to be as well. I am picking this for the win.

Finally, we shall end this post with Rock/Contemporary Song of The Year, which I am going to interpret as Rock Song. The Nominees:

• God Is On The Move, 7th Time Down
• Move, Audio Adrenaline
• Happiness, Needtobreathe
• Take Me Over, RED
• Live On Forever, The Afters

MY PICK: Even though I thought It was alternative, there is no song better on this list than the Afters Live On Forever. However, I also made a backup pick of God Is On the Move by 7eventh Time Down. 

That does it for this post. We take on the General Field next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Awards 2016 Predictions: Album Awards

We finally are getting down to our actual Dove Predictions due to #PlatVnyl6 issues. Fortunately for us the Dove's aren't until October 11, so we can still do this before it becomes a farce. We begin with the Album of The Year categories, which is proper, for an album is more involved than quite song. Inspirational Album of The Year  is first, and corresponds to our AC/Inspirational Album Award. Of the five nominees, only one came from the current awards. And that only made the initial pool. The other four nominees are in the #PlatVnyl7 pool. The nominees:

• Brave New World, Amanda Cook
• The Burning Edge of Dawn, Andrew Peterson
• Walls, Gateway Worship 
• Open Heaven/River Wild, Hillsong
• Hymns II; Shine On Us, Michael W. Smith

MY PICK: Hillsong. For those who know me this is a big surprise, since I have accused them of mailing it in for quite a while. However, I think the Australians have turned it around with this record and have rediscovered what made people love them.

Worship Album is next, and corresponds to our Modern Worship Album of The Year. Again of the five nominees, four are in the #PlatVnyl7 Pool which is still fluid and one was a Miss The Mark for #PlatVnyl6. The nominees: 

• Have It All, Bethel Music
• A Live Worship Experience, Casting Crowns
• Here As It Is In Heaven, Elevate Worship
• Empires, Hillsong United
• Let It Echo, Jesus Culture

MY PICK: Going with two similar groups of entries makes this tough. The Dove's should make a clearer line between worship and Inspirational. Though I will hedge myself in with Jesus Culture.

Contemporary Gospel/ Urban Album is next up and had two entries fro #PlatVnyl6, and three for the current eligibility year

• Masterpiece, Deitrick Haddon
• Life Music, Stage Two, Jonathan McReynolds
• Fearless, Jonathan Nelson
• Losing My Religion, Kirk Franklin
• You Shall Live, Marvin Sapp

MY PICK: I shall go with Kirk Franklin here. No tip off to who shall win next year.

Finally I shall take on the Pop/Contemporary Album category, which corresponds between Pop and AC/Insp. The Dove's exploded to 6 here:

• Beautiful Offering, Big Daddy Weave
• Empire, Hillsong United
• Be One, Natalie Grant
• How can It Be, Lauren Daigle
• Love Riot, Newsboys
• This Is Not A Test, Toby Mac

MY PICK: This is a tough one, with a lot of good choices, although some I would have had in other categories than this. I am going to go with Big Daddy Weave on this one.

I think that's representative enough. I shall tackle the Song Awards next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: August 2016

The Penultimate Month of #PlatVnyl7 is over. There is only one month remaining until we close the lid on the pool of eligible entries for the Platinum Vinyl Rewards, 2016 Edition. I guess musical instruments melt in the heat, because this was a sparse month. Hopefully now that September is upon us we go out with a bang and not a whimper.

The Singles Scene

• Color Theory - I Should Have Kissed You (Beyolie Remix) 4.75 Emeralds
• Abigail Duhon - Rise (Katy Perry Cover) 5 Emeralds
• Paper Route - Chariots 5 Emeralds 
• Jamie Rose - I Do 4.50 Emeralds
• Tunde - Never The Same 4.50 Emeralds

The wonders of the Remix. Color Theory came out with this song in 2008, yet Beyolie is able to take the track, Remix it, and make it eligible anew. No arguments regarding Abigail Duhon or the appropriateness of recognizing Katy Perry's Music in a Christian Blog please. On to the albums.

Missing The Mark

• Aaron Gillespie - Out of The Badlands (Covers Album) 3.50 Emeralds

So why did I give Abigail Duhon's Katy Perry Cover a Perfect 5 Emeralds and Poo-poo Aaron Gilliespie's album. Simply this: it takes more than singing a song to cover it. You have to make it yours. Abigail Makes you say "Katy Who?". Aaron makes you ask Why?

Pure Platinum Perfection

• NYVES - Pressure 5 Emeralds
• Michael Sweet - One Sided War 5 Emeralds

Leave it to Stryper to make things difficult. When You have two Perfect Albums (Band and Frontman's Solo Effort) in the Same Genre in The Same Eligibility Year, hard decisions will have to be made.

Semi-Precious Metal

• Housefires - Housefires III 4.50 Emeralds
• Lion of Judah - Buried at Sea EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Andrew Marcus - Constant 4.50 Emeralds
• Donnie McClurkin - The Journey (Live) 4.75 Emeralds
• Selah - Greatest Hymns Volume 2 4.25 Emeralds
• Skillet - Unleashed 4.75 Emeralds
• Unspoken - Follow Through 4.75 Emeralds
• Candy West - Candy West Live 4.50 Emeralds

That does it for August. Only a few weeks left in the eligibility pool and we close the lid on #PlatVnyl7 and move on to #PlatVnyl8. Never a dull moment here at Night Beat HQ. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Rise

We are back. The sixth Platinum Vinyl Awards caused havoc with a regular posting schedule, but that is over. However, personal issues laid me low for a week, creating further scheduling problems. We are back starting today. And due to notes I will pick up where I intended to last Monday. 

One of the biggest challenges for #PlatVnyl7 will be duplication. An example. Stryper has the Perfect Fallen album out in Hard Rock. And now Michael Sweet, Stryper's lead singer, puts out a solo perfect album in the same eligibility year, in the same genre. It makes it tough for us raised on the Radio. Making fun of Country. Love It.

One of the big hits from the past awards, which has yet to be updated on the blog, is the Demon Hunter/Project 86 Side Project (Now That sounds awesome right there) NYVES. Though they have recently released a new EP, this is from their #PlatVnyl6 nominated Anxiety. This is Just Give Up, something most assuredly that we will not do.

Finally, another of the #PlatVnyl6 nominees was Dance/Pop Star Abigail Duhon with the Dance Video Dance Up with Spencer Kane. This time out she does a Cover from Katy Perry entitled Rise that shows she really has some vocal chops to be a serious singer. Not perhaps a Lara Landon, but close. Check it out.
That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. We should be back to our regular weekly posting schedule now, so keep it tuned here. Until next time don't give up. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl6: The Year We Broke Facebook

The votes have been tabulated, the results made public, the winners notified. In short #PlatVnyl6 is in the bag. That doesn't mean there wasn't a few glitches. Most notably, our attempt to replicate and awards ceremony via posts fell afoul of Facebook posting limits. Who knew they weren't up to the challenge. We shall pursue other options for #PlatVnyl7. Perhaps we will do a video podcast. I wanted to do that this year but I could not find a proper place to record in silence.

In the near future we shall have the Platinum Vinyl Awards Page on the blog updated with this years results. We will be taking the page down until we finish the update.

#PlatVnyl6 was an awesome year, and I have every expectation that #PlatVnyl7 will exceed it. And that is a scary thought. I am definitely going to need some help one of these days. In terms of the number of award winners, I think we had a record in that single award winners totaled 25 and there were 35 different winners. Nobody ran away with the awards like before, so I guess parity is the word. The big winners were Toby Mac and Red with 4 awards apiece. 4 other artists had 3 awards each.

We have about a month to go until the lid closes on the #PlatVnyl7 entry pool. It will be the biggest yet. I should be greatly pleased. It has grown every year. As a seven year old, it is getting a bit to big to handle alone. Success has growing pains. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.