Music >>

• Best Local Album of the Past 12 Months
  Got This Feelin'
  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that the same group who took home this year's "Best Rock Band" honors should logically also win "Best Local Album" -- especially when said honoree is Riddle of Steel. Often cited as one of the loudest live bands in town, the trio shows dynamic range... More >>
• Best Local Single of the Past 12 Months
  "In Ya Face"
  Although "In Ya Face" has a spectacularly raunchy chorus -- "Now would you let me put my ass in ya face?/If I let ya bend me over by the waist?" -- "Ebony Eyez" Williams is quick to point out that it's a sarcastic response to a dude who decided to work his sleaze mojo on her at a club. But even... More >>
• Best CD Mixtape
  DJ Trackstar
  DJ Trackstar's mixtapes are actually CDs, and he sells them for a buck a pop at a few area merchants. His mixes feature a combination of local and national artists rapping over hit tracks. The whole thing is illegal, actually. Major record labels, however, turn a blind eye to the lawlessness... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Artist
  Spaide R.I.P.P.E.R.
  With his big braids and big smile, Spaide is everywhere -- car shows, clubs, picnics, even orphanages. His ubiquitous street team is composed of eight women, ages seventeen to twenty-one, and their daughters, and they hand out swag galore at these events -- everything from Spaide CDs to Spaide... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop DJ
  DJ Crucial
  DJ Crucial founded F5 Records in 1999 and currently runs it with Andrew "Roo" Yawitz. The label has had great years -- like 2001, when it released Crucial and Hi-Fidel's seminal Traveling Between St. Louis and Chicago, and 2002, when it put out Serengeti's Dirty Flamingo. But Crucial and Roo... More >>
• Best Club DJ
  Rob Lemon
  After years of watching the DJ scene around the world -- the RFT is omnipresent, you know -- one conclusion can be drawn: Half the road to fame is paved on a good DJ name. Sure, the music's important, but if your DJ name is something that's hard to pronounce, confusing or makes people feel dumb... More >>
• Best New Artist
  Berry
  Berry ain't soul-flattening bombastic insanity rock, which is what lead singer Joey Lemon probably meant when he told the RFT a little while back that some people might find the indie rockers "boring." Berry is not dull, just soft and fuzzy as an old sweater. A little bit of Radiohead , a little... More >>
• Best Local Act Gone National
  Erin Bode
  Story of the Year may have continued to win the hearts of Warped Tour denizens this past summer, but chanteuse Erin Bode is our true breakout star. Nine months after she released Don't Take Your Time -- a jazzed-up mix of pop songs, musical numbers and standards -- an article in the Wall Street... More >>
• Best Lounge Act
  Alex Failoni Jr.
  If you go to Failoni's around 9 p.m. on a Friday, you'll arrive on the cusp of a transformation. It's crowded but worth it. Hey, if wedging yourself in up at the bar doesn't sound appealing, then you should have planned on coming for dinner and staying for when the music kicks up, smart guy. At... More >>
• Best Vocalist (Female)
  Kim Massie
  Although the word "diva" is so overused it's almost a useless descriptor, Kim Massie is one vocalist who deserves the honor. With its brash, gospel-influenced strains of vibrato, Massie's voice can be as big and broad as Aretha Franklin's, but it contains just enough Etta James-ian blues to... More >>
• Best Vocalist (Male)
  Danny Kathriner
  The songwriter and singer behind a recondite, semi-Americana outfit called the Half-Knots, Danny Kathriner is a dark horse of a different shade. He never sang in his previous band, the Rockhouse Ramblers, and he never fully cut loose with the semi-retired alt-country band Wagon. If you've never... More >>
• Best Producer
  Kenautis Smith
  Forget the larger-than-life rhythms of the TrackBoyz. In St. Louis rap and hip-hop circles, the man producing the hottest beats is Kenautis Smith. The list of local artists the gifted producer has worked with is staggering: Tucker Booth, Marko-V, Coultrain, Black Spade and Jia Davis -- to name... More >>
• Best Rock Band
  Riddle of Steel
  They took their name from the film Conan the Barbarian and the riddle of steel he must solve to avenge the death of his family. It doesn't get any more hard-rock than that. In the studio they're comfortable pimping their stoner-rock influences (most notably Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age);... More >>
• Best R&B Band
  The Bel Airs
  Though based out of Columbia, the Bel Airs are virtually locals. For years they held a regular residency at Off Broadway, and they now perform nearly every month in Soulard. Brothers Dick and David Pruitt and drummer Mike Cherry keep their recordings as stripped-down and muscular as their live... More >>
• Best Cover Band
  That '80s Band
  Who cares if the 1990s are the new hip decade everyone's mining for nostalgia's sake? Not That '80s Band, that's for sure; their high-energy live concerts/dance parties feel like the Aqua Net era never ended. Vocalist Valerie Girl and the rest of her decade-appropriate bandmates -- our personal... More >>
• Best Country Band
  The Round-Ups
  If the Round-Ups stare down country music with a distorted tunnel vision, they stagger far enough through the underground to reach the light -- a drunk-blind flash, but a light all the same. Booze and bullets, cigarettes and insanity, musical saw and mutilated harmonies, yee-haws and yelps -- by... More >>
• Best Jazz Artist
  Reggie Thomas
  Other jazz musicians in town may perform more often, but Reggie Thomas makes each club gig or concert appearance count for the maximum. Whether he's providing sensitive accompaniment for his vocalist wife Mardra, playing driving, bluesy soul-jazz with his organ trio OGD or running the musical... More >>
• Best Jam Band
  Madahoochi
  Ask anyone who regularly sees music at Cicero's or Magee's or Pop's Blue Moon, and with few exceptions they'll tell you the same thing about Scott Rockwood: He's the best guitarist in town. Within the insular regional jam-band scene, no one can match him, and it is under his lead that Madahoochi... More >>
• Best Blues Artist
  Bennie Smith
  Recent losses in the St. Louis blues community are a reminder that the music's elder statesmen won't be with us forever, so we'd better appreciate them while we can. Guitarist and vocalist Bennie Smith has been a mainstay in St. Louis for decades, developing a unique musical identity based on... More >>
• Best World Music Band
  Farshid Etniko
  The definition of "world music" may vary greatly depending on whom you ask, but by bringing together influences from four different continents, Farshid Etniko surely qualifies. Guitarist Farshid Soltanshahi and percussionist Ali Soltanshahi were born in Iran and educated in Paris before coming... More >>
• Best Bluegrass Band
  The Sawmill Band
  After jumping around in the big ball pit, the Sawmill Band is the next best thing about being outside at the City Museum on a Thursday night. With no amplification, and frankly none necessary, five men stand under a tree's worth of art and with mandolin, guitar, banjo and upright bass in hand,... More >>
• Best Noise Band
  Raglani
  To paraphrase -- well, to paraphrase somebody, "Noise is in the ear of the beholder." Ringtones, the sound of forced laughter and the entire recorded oeuvre of Creed all qualify as noise to certain listeners. To these discerning ears, the sounds of electronic waves compressed and extruded as... More >>
• Best Punk Band
  The Pubes
  Neither particularly short nor curly, the Pubes earn their name by frequently becoming hot and sweaty. And they get around, too, not only freely sharing their members with such significant others as the Sex Robots and Butt, but also exposing themselves at the Creepy Crawl, the Hi-Pointe and... More >>
• Best Electronic Band
  Femme Fatality
  If Soft Cell had emerged during the electroclash age instead of in the new-wave era, it might have sounded something like Femme Fatality. The black-clad duo of Monanani Palermo and Octavia Leito spews robotic rhymes with the precision of a metronome, over throbbing beats cobbled together from... More >>
• Best Pop Band
  The Mega Hurts
  They will hurt you. They will break your heart. They will trample your feelings with three chords and dump you via text message just to see your eyeliner run. Maybe you missed them when they opened for Holly Golightly at the Creepy Crawl in August. Maybe you're crazy. The pop is so sweet you'll... More >>
• Best Garage Band
  The Gentleman Callers
  Sometimes we feel like we ought to toss out all these genre categories and just give bands awards for "Best Ass-Kicking Music" and "Now That's What We Call Hair." It's always a bit of a bummer to lump the bands together, and we're afraid that someday we'll have categories like "Best Fourth Wave... More >>
• Best Metal Band
  Harkonin
  A Sunday evening at 6:30 is not the coveted slot on a bill for a metal band, especially at the Duck Room. No offense to the Duck, but cheerful mallard decoys and tasteful lithographs don't provide the optimum ambiance for blasphemous war metal. Factor in that Lael Clark, guitarist and founding... More >>
• Best Folk Artist
  Margaret Bianchetta and Mary Dee Brown
  Margaret Bianchetta and Mary Dee Brown have known each other for years, but familiarity and friendship can't explain their sound. They share a bond of talent and skill. Whether at a clanky Soulard dive or an upper-crust café, Bianchetta and Brown play music folks want to hear, even if... More >>
• Best Gospel Artist
  The Lofties Sisters
  Gospel remains the secret sonic foundation upon which St. Louis has always staked its musical reputation. R&B, blues, rockabilly, country and even hip-hop and rap artists -- the original MCs were preachers testifying in church -- owe their souls to sacred sounds. The Lofties Sisters (who sing... More >>
• Best Songwriter
  Joe Stickley
  Dividing his time between Columbia and St. Louis doesn't make Joe Stickley any less our native son. His album, Friendship's Quiet, arrived in 2003 as quietly as its name suggested it might, but it made faithful followers of those lucky enough to nab a copy at a live show or online. Stickley... More >>
• Best Duet
  Barbara and Bernie McDonald
  Good things come in pairs, and the partnership of a duet can be eternal. When in tune, one half may anticipate the other's next impulse and adjust accordingly. Then again, those pesky creative differences can split a duo's once-harmonious relationship like a chisel through sheetrock. But Bernie... More >>
• Best Local Record Label
  Maplehood Rekkids
  The party line about St. Louis is that we have no local record labels -- and, by extension, no good local record labels. Well, somebody forgot to tell Maplehood Rekkids, a -- where else? -- Maplewood-based label that's quietly doing its part to support the scene. Despite the demise of angular... More >>
• Best Music Web Site
  stlpunk
  Long before MySpace helped misfits unite in shared suburban ennui, stlpunk.com was electronically bringing together local fans of independent music. Although its bells and whistles resemble other networking sites -- namely in the generous amount of musical and video content and the emphasis on... More >>
• Best Music Festival
  Twangfest
  This annual celebration has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a two-day affair in 1997. This year, like every other year, organizers doggedly set out to spotlight lesser-known talent and celebrate established acts with equal gusto. The difference in 2005 was in scope: Expanded into a... More >>
• Best Concert of the Past 12 Months
  Wilco at the Fox Theatre
  "This is really weird," frontman Jeff Tweedy exclaimed more than once when Wilco played the Fabulous Fox last September. In spite of all the critical acclaim his band had received in the past few years, Tweedy still couldn't believe that he, a kid from Belleville, was playing a show where, as he... More >>
• Best Place for Band Practice
  Utopia Studios
  Most bands are broke and lazy, but even those that aren't, like Perth, Australia's Dream Catcha, love Utopia Studios. "I just like the whole feel of the place, mate," says vocalist Jeremy Harris, speaking by phone during Dream Catcha's latest stateside spin. "It was made very, very easy for us... More >>
• Best Jazz Radio Program
  Jazz Unlimited
  Like most human endeavors, jazz tends to be needlessly sectarian. You've got your No-Proper-Stuff-Was-Made-After-1960! camp, and your cadres of free blowers and honkers who're into, well, a whole lotta blowin' and honkin'. That's what makes Jazz Unlimited host Dennis Owsley so refreshing. He's... More >>
• Best Rock Radio Program
  Coin-Operated Radio
  A quick algebraic theory: The kickass-itude of a radio program is inversely proportional to the buckage in our bank account. The theory in practice: Coin-Operated Radio is the rockingest show on the airwaves, and we're totally broke. Each Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m., as we spritz Chanel No. 5 on... More >>
• Best Dancehall-Mix Radio Program
  Reggae Mix
  A lot of music freaks fall prey to the grass-is-always-greener syndrome. We listen online to exotic London pirate radio broadcasts, scan the Web for the best Indian bhangra-beat stations, long for the shock-of-the-new epiphany that undoubtedly exists in another radio universe. But heard with... More >>
• Best Band Name
  Bill McClellan Motherfucker
  Readers' Choice: The Well Hungarians More >>
• Best Artist to Die in the Past 12 Months
  Johnnie Johnson
  Calling Johnnie Johnson a piano player is like calling a 1988 Chateau D'Yquem an alcoholic beverage: accurate but woefully inadequate. The man's left-hand riffs helped to create rock & roll, while Keith freakin' Richards calls Johnson a rock god and Chuck Berry reportedly even named "Johnny B.... More >>