The Vinyla music awards were presented for the twelfth time on Wednesday evening in Prague’s Lucerna Music Bar. The critics chose the album Bečvou by guitarist Tomáš Niesner as Record of the Year, which presents a sensitive universal message about climate grief. The discovery of the year is the digital singer-songwriter Mat213. The beginning of the year is the Pop Messe festival. The Jana “Apačka” Grygarová prize for journalism was won by two authors, Jiří Slabihoudek and David Laufer. As part of the Bastl Electronic Track challenge announced for the second time this year for young female producers under the age of 30, the jury chose the Mezi patry klid duo.
“The award-winning albums in the Record and Discovery categories could hardly have had more different starting points. On the Bečvová album, Tomáš Niesner urgently and painfully elaborated a true story from real life related to the landscape of his childhood. On the other hand, the work of digital singer-songwriter Matěj Čech alias Mat213 is characterized by lightness, naivety and a reflection of the scattered life of the young generation, which to a large extent takes place virtually on social networks,” says Pavel Uretšlégr, one of the coordinators of the Vinyla awards.
Without words
Bečvou’s award-winning album can do without words, there is only the sound of Niesner’s guitar, synthesizers or recordings from around the river itself. The guitarist, who was born in Přerov, went back to the region of his childhood after the ecological disaster. He completed a one-hundred-kilometer hike from the source of the Bečva to its confluence with the Moravia. Along the way, he made field recordings, which he then used on the new album.
The guitarist, who also works in the Šimanský&Niesner duo, was also noticed by the foreign press. “His music is made for total immersion,” wrote the American server in 2021 Pitchfork.
Niesner’s award-winning recording was also praised by the Seznam Zprávy website: “The Bečva album is so often filled with flowing water, the soft call of a river heron, but also electronic synthesizers that have such an organic sound that they resemble new animal species or give a person the feeling that he has found himself in some unknown biotope.’
Read the review of the Bečvou album
The album of the year was chosen by the Vinyly jury from three nominations. Tomáš Niesner was joined by bands Orient and Tamara and rapper Anki.
In the Discovery of the Year category, Mat213 was awarded ahead of singer-songwriter Anna Vaverková, producer and singer Pavla Bastlova alias Tokyo Drift and the feminist rap duo Lobbyboy&saab900turbo.
According to Vinyla, the best act is the Pop Messe festival. “Despite the unfavorable situation at the beginning of the decade, Pop Messe managed to rank among the most progressive new festivals in the Czech Republic,” columnist Vojtěch Tkáč explains the jury’s decision, according to which Pop Messe shows how sympathetic it is to build a large festival in the Czech Republic with a distinctive approach and a clear identity.
Pop Messe has already announced the performers for this year: alternative rap group Young Fathers, producer Hudson Mohawke, electronic experimenter Clark or resident Annet X and others.
Up-and-coming publicists
For the third time, Vinyla also honored young music columnists. The Jana “Apačka” Grygarová award was won by Jiří Slabihoudek and David Laufer. “He very engagingly bridges the boundaries between popular and classical music. And publicist David Laufer also eruditely builds bridges between older and younger listeners of independent music,” adds Tomáš Grombíř on behalf of the organizers.
In the Bastl Electronic Track challenge, the jury awarded the track Lojza Kotřábek from the duo Mezi patry klid, composed of Matouš Pospíšil and Šimon Pacek, out of a total of 39 submitted compositions.
As usual, the awards received a limited vinyl containing one song from each of the nominees. This year, it was prepared by the artist and performer Kateřina Konvalinová and the sculptor Erika Velická, who as Lobbyboy&saab900turbo were also part of the nominations.
Four of the nominated artists Anna Vaverková, Mat213, Lobbyboy&saab900turbo and band Tamara performed during the festive evening. The entire program was hosted by Zdeněk Lichnovský, head of Radio 1 and also a member of the Vinyl Music Awards Board.
“Vinyl doesn’t end at this point. We have been active on the domestic music scene all year round for several years, and during the year we are once again preparing a series of concerts, lectures and educational workshops across the whole country,” adds Pavel Uretšlégr on behalf of the organizers of Vinyly.