For this year’s edition of our annual music awards, to be held at the Henry Fonda Theater on Thursday, June 26, 30 local music writers were given the task of selecting the best L.A.-based musicians. Our nominees were chosen on the basis of quality, regardless of commercial success or relative obscurity, with an eye toward emerging artists we feel deserve praise and encouragement for their efforts. Thus in several categories we have higher-profile, internationally prominent artists competing against worthy artists working at a more grassroots level. Once again, the categories are rough descriptions of the nominees’ skills; many or most of these artists could easily be slotted into several different divisions. Each nominee was chosen for high achievement in music this year or for the great music they’ve given Los Angeles over the years. As usual, the superb abundance of musicians in L.A. made it a hard job to narrow the field down. As always, every nominee is a winner.


BEST NEW ARTIST


Midnight Movies


Minibar


Moving Units


Jennifer Nash


The Sharp Ease


 


BEST ROCK BAND


Alaska


Earlimart


Fatso Jetson


Radio Vago


The Warlocks


 


BEST HARD ROCK/METAL BAND


Audioslave


Black Label Society


Otep


Queens of the Stone Age


System of a Down


 


BEST POP/ROCK BAND


The Dagons


The 88


Metric


Rooney


The Tyde


 


BEST PUNK/HARDCORE BAND


The Distillers


400 Blows


Go Betty Go


The Stitches


The SuperBees


 


BEST RAP/HIP-HOP ARTIST


Abstract Rude


Aceyalone


Busdriver


Jurassic 5


Kool Keith


 


BEST JAZZ ARTIST


Billy Childs


Alex Cline


Henry Grimes


Charlie Haden


The Stacy Rowles Sextet


 


BEST COUNTRY ARTIST


Dave Alvin


The Idaho Falls


I See Hawks in L.A.


Garrison Starr


Mike Stinson


 


BEST CONTEMPORARY BLUES/
R&B ARTIST


Blue Shadows


Café R&B


Cody Chesnutt


Kim Hill


The Soul of John Black


 


BEST SALSA/LATIN ARTIST


Francisco Aguabella


Conjunto Jardin


Cumbeley


Ricardo Lemvo


Bobby Matos


 


BEST INSTRUMENTAL BAND


Future Pigeon


Insect Surfers


Languis


Orchestra Superstring


Planet X


 


BEST NEW-GENRE/ UNCATEGORIZABLE ARTIST


Books on Tape


Kraig Grady


Gwendolyn


Akira Rabelais


Phthalocyanine


 


JAZZ EMINENCE AWARD


Bobby Bradford


Benny Carter


Teddy Edwards


Anita O’Day


Gerald Wilson


 


POP/ROCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS will be awarded to


Hal Blaine


Los Lobos


Sparks


 


BEST WORLD MUSIC/
RECOMBINANT ARTIST


Blay Ambolley


Rocky Dawuni


Pejman Hadadi


Najite Olokun Prophecy


Adam Rudolph Go: Organic Orchestra


 


BEST ELECTRONIC DANCE ARTIST


Dntel


Mount Sims


Ray Makers


Seksu Roba


Supreme Beings of Leisure


 


BEST DJ — MIXMEISTER


John Kelley


Cut Chemist


Daedelus


Madlib


Nobody


 


BEST DJ — SELECTOR


The Bud Bros.


Frosty


DJ Haul


DJ Logic


Marques Wyatt


 


BEST RADIO SHOW


Rodney Bingenheimer,

Rodney on the Roq (KROQ);


Rev. Dan’s Music for Nimrods (KXLU);


Nic Harcourt,

Morning Becomes Eclectic (KCRW);


Doug MacLeod,

Nothin’ But the Blues (KKJZ);


Derek Rath, Cosmic Barrio (KPFK)


 


BEST ROCK/POP SONGWRITER/COMPOSER


Damon Aaron


Jon Brion


Eleni Mandell


Elliott Smith


Simon Stokes


 


OUTSTANDING CLASSICAL ENSEMBLE/ARTIST


California EAR Unit


Martin Chalifour (Principal Concertmaster, L.A. Philharmonic)


Robin Cox Ensemble


Los Angeles Master Chorale


Los Angeles Philharmonic

New Music Group

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