Best Band to Break Up or Leave Town in the Past 12 Months

It's only fitting that we'd have tons of tears to shed for the group we named Best Rock Band only this time last year. Suppose it was expecting too much for Bobby Baker's beloved Boca-based Baby Robots (say that five times fast) to hang around much longer. After all, as Bobby would say, this is the place where "you stick to yourself twice a day." The 'Bots went through several permutations since their 1997 inception, beginning with acoustic guitars and pretty female vocals, ending up as a terrifying psychedelic combo along the lines of Medicine or Bardo Pond. Baker always claimed a frontman without an instrument was a waste, and it's true, he wasn't much of a singer. But his Black Sabbath-cum-Spaceman 3 guitar work always sprawled, stretched, and screamed into the right shadows. At New Times' Best Of concert last December, the Baby Robots trafficked in richly sensual swirls of feedback, contorted melodies, and songs that careened around the room for upward of 15 minutes before resting. With girlfriend and fellow guitarist Tamara Engle, Baker (who could also be found playing guitar with Cactus Eye Relief, Mr. Entertainment and the Pookie Smackers, Game 4, and Wolfboy and the Fantods) split for Austin, Texas, around the first of this year. He'll rebuild the Robots there, so Boca's loss is Austin's gain. As if they need it.