Music >>

• Best Hip-Hop Artist (1 Comment)
  Butta Verses
  Raised in the Boogie Down Bronx, the MC born John Joseph Cullen left his gritty native borough for the sunnier climes of Coral Springs in 1993. To our benefit, he brought his hometown's reverence for true hip-hop culture and dove into the break-dancing scene at now-defunct spots like the Sugar... More >>
• Best Experimental Musician (1 Comment)
  Kenny Millions
  True musicians cannot be tethered. They can't be made to sit still on a stage and dutifully blend in. Besides, that's not what you're looking for with live music: You want danger and experimentation. You want Kenny Millions More >>
• Best Music Festival to Die in the Past 12 Months
  Langerado Music Festival
  The sudden cancellation of the Langerado Music Festival this year was one of the sadder events of the local scene. Critics, however, would say it was expected. Long ago (well, in 2003), Langerado began as the brainchild of hometown promoters Ethan Schwartz and Mark Brown. In its earliest form,... More >>
• Best Metal/Hardcore Band (1 Comment)
  Poison the Well
  Is Poison the Well a surprise pick by any means? No, but it's time to give credit where credit is long overdue. And while Miami usually claims this band (frontman Jeffrey Moreira reps Hialeah, hard), the rest of the members hail from towns across Broward and Palm Beach counties. Poison the Well... More >>
• Best Live Band (1 Comment)
  Jesse Jackson
  Born in rural Wyoming, ramblin' singer/songwriter Jesse Jackson got his start around Miami Beach, busking on the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall and charming the pants off anyone who crossed his path. Several years and more than a few one-night (musical) stands later, Jackson brought his show a... More >>
• Best New Electronica Artist
  Panic Bomber
  Playing live around town for less than a year, the shadowy character known as Panic Bomber has already developed some minor lore. Legend has it that once upon a time, Richard Haig was a local rock musician who got fed up with the grind of being hustled off stage in time for the night's main... More >>
• Best Band to Break Up in the Past 12 Months
  The Remnants
  Since its inception around 2004, the foursome known as the Remnants were live favorites across the South Florida rock-dive circuit. A grimy, swinging, rock 'n' roll outfit fronted by firecracker frontwoman Cynthia DuVall, the group described itself — quite appropriately — as "the Who... More >>
• Best Male Rock Vocalist
  Charlie Pickett of Charlie Pickett & the Eggs
  For a while there, Charlie Pickett's story was one of South Florida's greatest tales of almost-was. In the '80s, the Dania Beach native was a local powerhouse, playing all over South Florida as leader of his punky, roots-inflected outfit the Eggs. Eventually he and his merry band toured from... More >>
• Best Female Rock Vocalist (7 Comments)
  Alicia Olink of Kill Miss Pretty
  It's easy, when confronted with Boynton Beach-based electro-glam trio Kill Miss Pretty, to get wrapped up in the group's theatrics. Taking a page from the Bowie how-to book, the band makes each of its shows a costumed spectacle. The three have performed dressed as a ringleader with circus... More >>
• Best Tribute Act (3 Comments)
  Rockit to Russia
  Diehard Ramones fans will readily admit that it doesn't take a lot of technical skill to faithfully reproduce the New York punk rockers' power-chord assault. What it takes, though, is a kind of scrappy joy that revels in that simplicity and harnesses it into a slap-happy party. South Florida's... More >>
• Best Music Venue (14 Comments)
  The Talent Farm
  Look, everyone knows about the Broward/Palm Beach holy trinity of venues for mid-sized touring acts: Revolution, Culture Room, and Respectable Street. But what about hyper-local spots that nurture homegrown talent, especially the kind that can't legally get into most other venues? For the cream... More >>
• Best Country Band
  The Bikes
  The Bikes play country music that Gram Parsons would be proud to listen to. The Deerfield fourpiece started out as an indie-rock band, but after the 2006 album Get Stolen, the Bikes took a twangy turn. The group's music has an Americana vibe reminiscent of great alt-rock bands like R.E.M.,... More >>
• Best Club DJ
  Marvelous Kendall
  Precious few of the best indie-rock bands see fit to drive their vans south of Gainesville, which is why we're grateful for Marvelous Kendall, one of the resident DJs for href="http://respectablestreet.com/">Respectable Street's Thursday-night party, Flaunt. A whole range of sensational DJs pay... More >>
• Best Album
  Rachel Goodrich, Tinker Toys (Yellow Bear Records)
  It has been a good year for South Florida's quirky local indie darling Rachel Goodrich, what with a glowing shoutout from the New York Times this past December and her official debut appearance at SXSW this past spring. It was all well-deserved and timed with the October 2008 release of her... More >>