Music >>

• Best Local Album of the Past 12 Months
  Working in Love
  Rare is the band, in St. Louis or elsewhere, that can match the raw power of its live show with the sonic perfection and nuances of a really great record. Jon Hardy and the Public have achieved that balance with their second full-length, Working in Love. The album explores the ins and outs of... More >>
• Best Country Band (Traditional)
  The Missouri Valley Boys
  Stovall's Grove in Wildwood proclaims itself the "Home of Country Music since 1935," and the claim sticks in part because of the Missouri Valley Boys. In one form or another, the group has been the house band since at least the 1950s. The late, great John Hartford was a member, and founder... More >>
• Best Rock Band (1 Comment)
  The Feed
  Like most genre tags, "rock" is a tricky appellation. It's normally used as a catchall for guitar-based, straight-ahead pop music with an emphasis on speed and volume. Local trio the Feed has a few of those key components — speed and volume are just two of the tools in the band's arsenal... More >>
• Best Country Band (Alternative) (1 Comment)
  Theodore
  Theodore makes music, from a hush to a helter-skelter, that feels country but can't be. The sound is too eccentric, too impulsive, too illusory. That steel guitar you hear? That's the cry of a ghost. That high, broken twang in Justin Kinkel-Schuster's voice? That's the way the truth comes out.... More >>
• Best Folk Artist
  The Grass Pack
  Of all the terrors to chill the blood of a bluegrass band, being called "folk" ranks right up there with accordions and requests for "that O Brother, Where Art Thou? song." And so the Grass Pack is only folk in the loosest though not emptiest sense of the word. Composed of wily veterans and... More >>
• Best Bluegrass Band
  The Monads
  While the roots of the Monads' old-timey sound is firmly planted in the soil of traditional bluegrass music, the band's barnburning, desperately urgent songs combine an amalgam of styles, from traditional country blues to punk and rockabilly. The group's latest full-length album, Ornery, is one... More >>
• Best Jam Band (75 Comments)
  Messy Jiverson
  On the surface, Messy Jiverson seems like your average jam band. Dudes with beards? Check. Ridiculous band name? Check. Lots of wah-wah guitar? Check and mate. But appearances are deceiving, as the six-piece hits that sweet spot that so few jam bands manage to find: an allegiance to the groove... More >>
• Best HardcoreBand
  Civic Progress
  This year saw St. Louis' Civic Progress release its second EP, Disposable, and have its debut EP, Petroleum Man, re-released by hardcore-punk tastemaker No Way Records. Along the way, the four-piece grew angrier and its live shows more sweaty and intense. Civic Progress is backed by a muddy bass... More >>
• Best Noise Band
  Raglani
  Referring to Raglani's patient instrumentals as "ambient" demeans the complexity of his compositions in the same way that calling them "noise" downplays their overarching beauty. Dense, stacked layers of synthesized sound result in a vast sonic landscape that owes much more to Krautrock and... More >>
• Best Side Project
  Thor Axe
  By day the kids who compose So Many Dynamos are unassuming indie rockers with thick, black-framed glasses and tight vintage T-shirts. By night they are the metal-worshipping, guitar-shredding demons behind Thor Axe. With more than a touch of irony, they rock songs that are entirely instrumental... More >>
• Best Recording Studio Engineer (3 Comments)
  Jason McEntire
  As home recording becomes more and more accessible and affordable for musicians, it begins to become apparent that the value of hiring an experienced studio engineer has less to do with expensive gear and more to do with his or her ability to bring out the best in a band and offer an environment... More >>
• Best Local Single of the Past 12 Months
  "Ol' Girl"
  Since the dawn of time, pop music has celebrated sweet young things, the carefree beauties who tantalize their adoring prey with youthful nubility. But where's the musical love for women who bring experience and wisdom to the table? (Not only cougars, mind you, but pumas and MILFs, too.) That's... More >>
• Best Live Sound Engineer
  Jerry Boschert
  The impact of a quality sound system and competent live sound engineer is sometimes underestimated in small and mid-size music clubs. A good ear and knowledge of tendencies of certain frequencies in a room can make the difference between a good show and a mind-blowing, face-melting experience... More >>
• Best Producer
  Kenautis Smith
  Everything you need to know about Kenautis Smith you can learn from listening to his work on Rockwell Knuckles' 2008 release Northside Phenomenon. Lesson one: There is a beat for every occasion. Smith matches Knuckles' righteous braggadocio on tracks like "Live Wire" with futuristic swirls of... More >>
• Best Recording Studio
  Firebrand Recording
  If you think the phrase "Empirical Labs EL8X Distressor with British Mod Single Channel Rackmount Compressor/Limiter" sounds like a foreign language, you are not alone. Luckily, engineers/producers Brian Scheffer and Nelson Jones speak this language — fluently. The co-owners of Firebrand... More >>
• Best Local Label
  Big Muddy Records
  Big Muddy Records understands that there is a distinct musical identity hidden deep in the isolated back streets of south St. Louis. The records released by the small independent label are a microcosm of the type of music and attitude prevalent on these city streets. The label focuses on... More >>
• Best Record Label Packaging
  Pegasus Farms Records
  The advent of the CD killed album art — and yet nobody bothered to tell the mysterious life force behind Pegasus Farms Records. In the true spirit of the avant-garde, these CD-Rs are limited-run, handmade objects that are beautiful simply because — well, simply because they can be... More >>
• Best Elvis Impersonator
  Clownvis Presley
  When Clownvis Presley (alter ego of 7 Shot Screamers lead singer Mike Leahy) hosted the RFT Music Awards ceremony in June, one couldn't help but hope that when the Screamers went up to accept the award for Best Rock Band, Leahy would be with them and he and Clownvis would meet onstage in classic... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop DJ
  DJ Needles
  DJ Needles did more spinning in 2008 than Barack Obama's PR team. Needles (given name James Gates) hosted weekly hip-hop nights at the Gramophone and the 609 Lounge. He was one of the house DJs at Café Soul, the city's premier open-mic night at the Lucas School House. He backed up several... More >>
• Best Club DJ
  Scotty Mac
  If you're at Upstairs Lounge for one of the monthly FLY events and you see a broadly smiling guy with a trademark flat cap on his head — the kind the chimney sweeps wore in Mary Poppins — that's Scotty Mac. Say hi and bask in the same warmth he deftly packages into the house music he... More >>
• Best Jazz Artist
  Carolbeth True
  In sports the designation "MVP" commonly refers to "most valuable player." As applied to pianist and composer Carolbeth True and her relationship to the St. Louis jazz scene, "MVP" also might stand for "most versatile player." True thrives in variety of settings, whether she's working in a duo... More >>
• Best Blues Artist
  Rough Grooves
  Some say St. Louis has more working blues musicians than any other city in the USA. Others in places like Chicago or Austin might find such a claim statistically suspect, but there's no question the Gateway City has a wealth of blues talent on display every weekend in local clubs. With elder... More >>
• Best New Band
  The Blind Eyes
  With a lineup that consists of three-fourths of the late-great Sixties-pop revivalists the Gentlemen Callers, the Blind Eyes are no strangers to the St. Louis music scene. But the bouncy, stripped-down fervor of the trio's songs is a bit of a departure from its forebears' music. The Eyes' early... More >>
• Best Cover Band
  Swing Set
  Not only does this quintet play jazzy '40s-era swing tunes and cover well-known favorites like Rosemary Clooney's "Don't Fence Me In" and "Ragg Mopp," the combo explores a wide range of styles — like, from mambo to traditional Serbian tunes. They're danceable if you can keep up with the... More >>
• Best Tribute Band
  Mean Street
  The fact that Mean Street guitarist Chuck Reusnow can play Eddie Van Halen's shredderific masterpiece "Eruption" note for note is impressive enough, but when you take into account the fact that this is the first band he has ever played a proper show with it seems all the more impressive and... More >>
• Best R&B Artist
  MoTre
  The MoTre trio of Angelo Blakely, Santana Barnes and Jermaine Casey deploy mellow harmonies à la Nineties R&B, but they're not afraid to throw in some modern Midwest dirrty dirty, compliments of local hip-hop star Potzee, whom they feature on the racy track "Hot Spot" from their album... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Artist
  Vandalyzm
  Vandalyzm kicked off the year by releasing his debut full-length album Megatron Majorz. He then proceeded to drop "Ol' Girl," the catchiest local single of 2008, kick it with underground icons like 9th Wonder and Little Brother and pack nearly every venue in town from the Old Rock House to the... More >>
• Best Lounge Act (1 Comment)
  Sky West
  With set lists that can run the gamut from Radiohead to Motown jazz standards, Sky West brings a canny blend of lighthearted novelty and musicianship — a prerequisite for any entertaining lounge act worth its salt. Chris "Luppy" Swan heads up the trio on piano and vocals and deals out an... More >>
• Best Songwriter
  Caleb Travers
  With heart-on-his-sleeve, real-world honesty, a slightly gritty baritone and the ability to paint believable portraits of love gone wrong, Caleb Travers' brand of twang-tinged Americana calls to mind Beck's breakup masterpiece Sea Change — but with a fervor and style all his own.... More >>
• Best Vocalist (Female)
  Larissa Dalle
  In the '90s, Larissa Dalle shape-shifted across the St. Louis music scene, first as part of an electronic-rock duo called Collaborateur, then in the dream-pop band Crushed, then as a solo country-torch singer with punk instincts and a sixth sense for the blues. Now as lead singer with rock and... More >>
• Best Vocalist (Male)
  Kevin Butterfield
  By day Kevin Butterfield pursues his Ph.D. in history at Washington University. By night he revels in another kind of history with his band the Linemen, playing country music that sounds like it was plucked from a transistor radio in 1959. But the Linemen are no novelty throwback act, and... More >>
• Second Best Band Name
  Gangsta Gritz
  More >>
• Best Rock Radio Program
  New Music Sunday
  With its club-ready remixes of bangin' techno and electro, Les Aaron's early-Thursday-morning Love Mix show on KDHX (88.1 FM) appeals to a niche market. But Aaron's venerable New Music Sunday, which airs at 7 p.m. on "The Point" (105.7 FM), has a little something for everyone. In a crisp, jaunty... More >>
• Best Old Band
  Riddle of Steel
  Gather 'round, children, and let Grandpa tell you a story about the way music used to be played back in the good old days before all of this indie nonsense and blogs and death cabs and such. See, way back in the late '90s when bands like Riddle of Steel were starting up, they didn't need two... More >>
• Best Jazz Radio Program
  All Soul, No Borders
  For all of the dedication and discipline required to play jazz, it's discouraging that even the genre's most expertly executed music seems doomed to be digested as background music, as a white noise to drown out life's other white noises. Few seem more hip to this struggle than Joshua Weinstein.... More >>
• Best Local Music Website
  New Tune of the Week
  Perhaps the most endearing thing about Kurt Kerns' website New Tune of the Week (www.newtuneoftheweek.com) is his notice to music critics: "Unless you have sold over a million records and have played around a thousand shows...shut your hole." Kerns would know; he's best known as the drummer from... More >>
• Best Music Blog
  Toe Taps and Spastic Claps
  A good music blog entertains and enlightens. A great music blog entertains, enlightens and posts free 'n legal MP3s for download — which is why Toe Taps and Spastic Claps stands above its competition. Co-run by Saint Louis University students (and Billiken Club co-bookers) Alison Arida and... More >>
• Best Song Under One Minute
  "Raid Your Fridge"
  Andrew W.K. parties hard, but Cross Examination parties harder. In the time it takes most college freshmen to choke down a Bartles & Jaymes, the members of Cross Examination can finish a 30- pack of Keystone Light and lose track of their tally of bong rips. Witness the brief "Raid Your... More >>
• Best Music Festival
  KDHX's Midwest Mayhem at the City Museum
  Civic pride is a funny thing — you can be down on this town one day and then have a twelve-car pileup of love for the Lou the next. The latter was the case at this year's Midwest Mayhem, the early-summer party thrown by community radio station KDHX (88.1 FM) at the City Museum. A dozen... More >>
• Best Local Act Gone National
  Black Spade
  In 2008 Black Spade released To Serve With Love, an eclectic, futuristic fusion of hip-hop, soul and R&B. The disc put him on the national map. He signed to the chic San Francisco label Om Records (home to underground hip-hop icons People Under the Stairs) and received a glowing review from... More >>
• Best Concert of the Past 12 Months
  Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
  Despite a late beginning — more than an hour past the scheduled start time — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed a show for the ages at the Scottrade Center this past summer. For three-plus hours, the Jersey homeboys performed 29 songs spanning the Boss' entire catalog,... More >>
• Best Homecoming
  Wilco
  Although Wilco released Sky Blue Sky in May 2007 the band's subsequent (and multiple) U.S. tours never hit St. Louis. The grumbling increased earlier this year after Jeff Tweedy and Co. announced a five-night stand in Chicago — a slap in the face to those in town who most remember the... More >>
• Best Band to Die in the Past 12 Months
  Ghost in Light
  Ghost in Light never followed prevailing musical trends — or really even cared (or knew) what those trends were. What the band brought to the St. Louis music scene was honesty, a staunch commitment to emotional authenticity and musical experimentation. 2007's After Fox Meadow (and the... More >>
• Best Band Name
  Dude Nukem
  More >>
• Third Best Band Name
  Red Ass Jones and the Gold Bondsmen
  More >>
• Best Pop Band
  Say Panther
  All who've experienced Say Panther's triumphant choruses and trumpet blasts need no explanation for how the group has transcended its status as the town's most promising young ensemble to become the city's best pop band. Formed in 2005 with Strokes-y ambitions, the group has spent the better... More >>
• Best Punk Band
  The Humanoids
  Given that the Humanoids attack guitar strings and drumheads with the fury of a thousand pubescent teenagers, it's refreshing that their tunes are so damn singable. The five hardcore scene veterans in the band cut their teeth in local thrashy outfits such as Step On It! and Kill Me Kate before... More >>
• Best Metal Band
  Cross Examination
  In the very front row at Cross Examination's shows — whether there's a stage or not — you'll encounter fist-banging idiots. And the band would have it no other way, because those idiots up front are partying. As hard. As they can. Cross Examination inspires that kind of Awesome... More >>
• Best Garage Band
  Left Arm
  Left Arm's raucous, sweaty frenzy of garage-punk rock & roll sounds unabashedly south-city St. Louis but (gasp!) this power trio hails from the east side of the river, where bands have historically tended toward the more artsy end of the rock spectrum and songs with only a single time... More >>