Hey everyone! It has been a while since I put something out, but I thought that as it’s almost time for 2015, I should dish out my awards for 2014! Thank you for all the great responses to the 2013 awards, hopefully you’ll enjoy this year’s selection too! So, without further ado, here are this year’s winners…

***Disclaimer: music is subjective, these are just my opinions. When looking at who I’ve given the awards to, please remember that success in the music industry is hard to define as it comes in lots of different shapes and sizes e.g. going from unknown to 10,000 fans, or becoming a regular on UKF etc.***

Let’s kick things off with the more serious awards:

Best Producer- Haywyre. Now, I was tempted to give this to Koven, but I felt that Haywyre’s contribution to 2014 needed to be recognised. He has really delivered, and I’m sure anyone who has heard the Two Fold EP or seen his cover of Smooth Criminal will agree. Not only has he proven he can produce to the highest quality expected, but he has shown his talent across the electronic spectrum with tracks like ‘Everchanging’ and ‘The Schism’. I can’t wait to see what he does in 2015!

Best Track- Koven – Final Call. There were a lot of worthy contenders for this, and it seemed like I’d have to give this to ZHU for his track Faded, however I know that I’d personally rather see this track receive some more recognition instead. It really is something special and it certainly delivers something that not a lot of songs can- major goosebumps.

Best Newcomer- Rootkit. Whilst he may not strictly be a “newcomer”, it feels like he is, seeing as he has come out of nowhere to “RKO” the music scene by delivering quality track after quality track this year. Showing his versatility with hits like ‘Too Late’ and ‘Real Love’, Rootkit certainly deserves recognition for an outstanding year of releases.

Best EP/LP- This was a tough call for sure, but Culprate’s ‘Deliverance’ is truly a masterpiece and deserves the recognition. It would be remiss of me not to also acknowledge some of the other amazing contributions we’ve had this year such as: Porter Robinson – Worlds (obviously), Moody Good – Moody Good, Eptic – The End, Koven – Hereinafter Pt I & II, Knife Party – Abandon Ship (and fuck everyone who hated on it because it seemed like the cool thing to do), Dillon Francis – Money Sucks: Friends Rule, Haywyre – Two Fold Pt. 1 and of course, Skrillex – Recess. (Yes there are others I could mention but I want to keep this relatively short and sweet!)

Worst Track- Tiga – Bugatti. I mean, are you kidding me? If you take off your hipster beanie for 2 minutes and actually listen to the song… there is simply nothing positive to say about this track. The fact it got the mainstream exposure it did is, in my opinion, damaging to the electronic music community- it’s like sending Justin Bieber to an interplanetary conference to represent humanity.

Best Remix- ZHU – Faded (ODESZA Remix). Another very tough call, but this track made such a huge impression on me the first time I heard it, and still sounds amazing even after listening to it countless times. This track shone brightest out of the horde of Faded Remixes and rightly so.

Best Label- Inspected/OWSLA. I genuinely couldn’t decide between these 2. Inspected has released quality track after quality track in 2014 (particular shoutout to their Movember release: ‘Mosaic’), however OWSLA have been responsible for releasing some of the best tracks of 2014. Therefore they earned the right to share the honours here. Honourable mention to Monstercat for really stepping up the releases this year too.

Best DJ- Porter Robinson. He performed his heart out on his Worlds tour and I’m sure anyone who attended his shows will agree that he earned this.

Worst BJ- Paris Hilton. Typo deliberate.

Best YouTube Promo Channel- MrSuicideSheep. He has had a very strong 2014 and has often gone slightly out of his comfort zone to deliver top quality tracks that you wouldn’t usually expect to hear on there such as Zeds Dead – Collapse. That, combined with the fact he seems to have taken on-board my criticism from a previous post makes him a winner in 2014.

Best Vocalist- Mammals. They absolutely slayed me with their performance on LVTHER’s track ‘One Look’ and have a truly unique sound that is a breath of fresh air on the “EDM” world. Honourable mention to Danyka Nadeau who has also had a killer 2014.

Best Blog- Whichever one managed to post about Deadmau5 the least.

Most Underrated Track- Apashe – No Twerk Ft. Panther x Odalisk. This track is absolute FIRE, yet it largely went unnoticed on release. Some viral videos have since helped raise its popularity, however I still feel this absolute monster of a track passed a lot of people by. Go listen now if you haven’t yet!

Most Underrated Artist- DISKORD. These guys have released a string of MAD tracks in 2014 and I definitely expected them to get more of a following as a result. Tracks like ‘Go Hard’ and ‘Freak’ prove they are capable of delivering blistering tracks and I expect them to continue doing so next year.

Smashed It 2014 Award- Mefjus. He has raised both the bar and eyebrows alike by releasing consistently ridiculous tracks. If there’s one man I want to see live as soon as possible, it’s Mefjus.

Most Likely To Smash 2015- Aiden Jude.

… Just kidding, but seriously, did he die? I haven’t seen any attention-seeking blogs mention him at all lately. Back to the awards though, the Most Likely To Smash 2015 Award ACTUALLY goes to….. Tchami. Those of you with your “ear on the pulse” will have heard his ‘Take U There’ remix that he released recently and you will know what a monster this guy is. It caps off a year in which he has been truly dominant- from destroying festival stages to co-producing and co-writing one of the biggest tracks of the year- ‘Turn Down For What’. This guy is destined to do big things in 2015.

And now for some more dubious honours…

Most Likely To Not Make It To The End of Year Awards 2015- Anyone who uploads a video of an early WIP of their track and tags everyone on their friends list in it. STAHP.

Sexiest Male- Direct. He has defended his title for another year with those tantalising curly locks of hair that whisper sweet nothings to me.

Sexiest Female- Danyka Nadeau. I would let her husband the shit out of me.

Best Hair- Andy C. He must be hiding something under that cap. I’m pretty sure it’s his majestic hair.

Culture Code Consistency Award For Releasing Songs That All Sound The Same- I guess this has to go to Kygo, although to be fair, he has released some great tracks in my opinion.

The “Jared Has AIDS” Award For Impressive Weight Loss- Sadhu. Well done mate.

The Most Social Media Rants Award (Sponsored by Deadmau5)- Clark Robinson (Twine). For someone who has had such a successful year, you sure have found a lot to complain about along the way. Sending tampons for 2015 brah. Yes, it’s hypocritical of me to award this, but fuck it- I’ve actually barely posted all year! Honourable mention to Curtis “Angriest Man In The World” Dashper.

Best troll- The guy who dressed up as Steve Aoki for Stereosonic Festival and convinced people he was Aoki, despite not actually looking anything like Steve Aoki.

The “Making Professor Quirrell Faint In The Hogwarts Great Hall Since Before You Were Born” Award For Lifetime Achievement in Trolling- Wunderground. There have been some exceptionally hilarious satirical articles from Wunderground this year and they thoroughly deserve this award.

The “These Are Not The Droids You’re Looking For Award” For Shamelessly Using Bots Without Realising How Obvious It Is To Everyone Else- Sergal Soundwaves (for “botting” in the best EDM label poll on EDM Sauce- don’t get me started on that poll though…)

The “Sheer Brilliance & Unique Production” Award- all the sheeproducers who made “This Much Power”/Terror Squad rip-offs this year.

The “Wait, They Make Music?!” Award- Stanton Warriors, whose Facebook page would have you believe they are in fact a meme agency.

Most Baguettes Consumed/Abused- Jack Haigh.

Most Homoerotic Band Name- Jack Ü

The Derek Zoolander Award For Kids Who Can’t Read Good- Anyone who has ever said ‘EDM Music’.

The “Electronic Drama Machine” Award For, well it’s pretty self-explanatory- Krewella (and can everyone please chill the fuck out about this and just leave them to sort it out now please?)

The “Treat Them Mean Keep Them Keen” Award For Releasing Virtually Nothing All Year- Tristam & Nero. Granted, ‘Satisfy’ was an absolute BANGER, and ‘My Friend’ is awesome, but I definitely wanted to hear more from these 2 this year.

That concludes the awards for 2014. Congratulations to everyone who won an award! If you want to have your say on who should have won, let me know in the comments or on my page.

I hope you’ve all bought a greenhouse ready for the inevitable “Tropical House” takeover in 2015. Seriously though, I can’t wait to hear what 2015 brings, and big thanks to all the artists who made 2014 another landmark year for electronic music.

Stay awesome.

The Phantom