2006 Dallas Observer Music Awards

Recently signed to Serjical Strike Records, the label headed by System of a Down's Serj Tankanian, Fair to Midland appear, despite their innocuous name, pretty close to hitting the doom-metal big-time. Their sound has been described as a "mutant offspring of Rush, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Gary Numan, The Mars Volta and Pantera," but it's not nearly as gruesome as all that. More in line with old-school progressive rock masters King Crimson with maybe a little classic Deep Purple thrown in for comic head-banging relief, vocalist Andrew Sudderth and guitarist Cliff Campbell go for the proverbial throat with enough steadfast seriousness to frighten even the most jaded among us.

Inter Funda Stifle, the band's ponderously titled sophomore release, embraces just enough of metal's legitimate power to make all the stage theatrics and Sudderth's unique wailing surprisingly manageable. Any guy who can manage to keep tongue firmly planted in cheek while going overboard on tracks such as "Dance of the Manatee" and "Kyla Cries Cologne" has got some major cajones. Like Queen and Iron Maiden before them, Fair to Midland is aware of the value of showmanship and the role performance plays within the genre in which they gleefully ply their craft. --D.S.

Burden Brothers
Best Hard Rock

Says on the Bros.' Web site and MySpace page and 20-percent-off bulk-mail circular there's a new disc coming down the pike in the summer called Mercy, which we'll believe when we hear it. (What is it with Vaden Todd Lewis bands and second records? Twelve presidents came and left before Rubberneck got a little brother.) Actually, turns out we did hear pieces of it a while back; some of the thing snuck out of the studio earlier in the year, and while we learned our lesson many, many years ago about too strongly judging a Lewis project whilst it was still fomenting in the shell, we weren't wrong in thinking it needed a little more time to get its leather-pants-and-black-nail-polish act together. Those tracks were likely from the Joe Chicarelli sessions from February; since last month the Bros. have been painting on the eyeliner in the studio with local fave David Castell, putting the kick back into the kick-ass the earlier stuff was lacking jes' a little bit. Fact is, Lewis and Taz Bentley and the rest of the burdensome Burdens can take all the time they want. They've earned it, Lord knows; the last thing they want to be associated with is arena rock that wouldn't fill a high-school auditorium. So we'll wait and wait some more, till they do what they gotta do; it's their time and money, not ours. Besides, they deserve the slack; these guys know from sophomore slumps and how to avoid them. Anyone who says Hell Below/Stars Above and The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of Reverend Horton Heat weren't better than their predecessors don't know dick about keeping it hard. --R.W.

The Deathray Davies
>Best Indie Rock, Best Male Singer (John Dufilho)

A guy like John Dufilho can make you feel like the laziest person on earth. In the past year alone he's released two full-length LPs of original songs (The Deathray Davies' The Kick and the Snare and his first official solo album, I Remain, as Always, a Rabble Rouser From the Mountains), and just last weekend he entered the studio with the rest of the Davies to begin recording the 30-odd songs he's written for possible inclusion on the next DRD album. And that's not even counting the second album by his other band, I Love Math, which sits finished and awaiting release, as well as an as-yet-untitled project featuring Dufilho originals sung by an impressive line-up of guest singers including Ben Kweller, Will Johnson and Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo. "I tend to be a little overambitious sometimes," Dufilho says. His main interest is still the Davies, however, and he's excited about the progress the band's made since releasing The Kick and the Snare, which has sold better than any DRD release to date. The band's wheels-off live show has been no secret to local music fans for the past few years, but now it seems it's finally catching on elsewhere as well. "We just got back from a little over two weeks out with a Chicago band called the M's," Dufilho says. "Every night people were calling out the names of our songs, and they weren't calling out for 'Freebird' or anything...so that was very encouraging."

Despite the growing buzz surrounding Dufilho and his band, the humble winner of the best male singer award still can't believe he was nominated for it in the first place. "Honestly, it cracks me up," he says. "There's people in town that are certainly great singers. I wouldn't put myself as one of them, but I'm totally flattered that other people like my non-style or whatever you want to call it." --N.W.B.

Kristy Kruger

Best Female Singer

Forget the voice--Kristy Kruger is one hell of a kazoo player. When she lets loose live with the most underrated of all instruments on "Little Pollyanna," a standout track from her new album Songs From a Dead Man's Couch, she never ceases to impress. Her songwriting and production skills aren't too shabby, either...not to mention the fact that she also plays guitar, mandolin, keyboards, water glasses and harmonica. But it's her voice--a sweet, twangy coo combining equal parts Aimee Mann and Patty Griffin--that's the most impressive thing of all. Though she might have started out as an Ani DiFranco wannabe, the newly released Couch sees her adopting a sound much truer to her Texas roots, with a stellar cast of our city's finest (Salim Nourallah, Doug Burr, pedal steel player Todd Pertll, etc.) pitching in to help bring her music back home. Well-crafted songs like "Blackhole" and "Never Let Me Down Again" are far more likely to appeal to fans of Kathleen Edwards than fans of aggro-feminist folk music, and it's likely the new set of tunes might finally win her the attention she deserves--so don't be surprised if we're writing about how great she is again this time next year. And Kristy, if you ever need some back-up kazoo, you know where to find us. --N.W.B.

The Adventure Club, 102.1 The Edge

Best Radio Show That Plays Local Music

It's a miracle the Adventure Club is still airing on 102.1 The Edge, a station whose format has otherwise dumbed down so steadily you'd think it had been eating paint chips since birth. Josh Venable has made a 12-year career of playing good music and saying whatever's on his mind, even holding his own in playlist cool-factor against his fellow music snobs on college, public and community radio. His DOMA competitors are all great tastemakers but without the broadcast radius and Josh's mixture of enthusiasm and ironic detachment that somehow never fails to entertain. Perhaps nostalgic voters see it as the last vestige of The Edge's alternative roots. Or maybe local music supporters see the value of a Clear Channel employee with good taste in their corner. Whatever the case, it's still fun to listen to Josh. He's still the perennial smartass older brother riding along with you on a Sunday night controlling your stereo. He's just as happy turning you onto good bands, making fun of bad ones (and we agree, Josh, Four Day Hombre's a terrible band name) or recounting his most recent meal--usually Dr Pepper and Muchacos. Local bands from Hagfish to the Happy Bullets, from Radish to Radiant, can thank him for some of their earliest Dallas airplay sandwiched between hip indie and not-so-indie national acts. The rest of us can thank him for making Sunday nights less depressing. --Jesse Hughey

Texas Gigs (www.texasgigs.com)
Best Web Site/Blog

Feel like bitching about how your work in a local band is tiring and thankless? You might want to make sure Cindy Chaffin isn't within earshot...then again, you might want to clue her in. On one hand, Chaffin's years of labor at texasgigs.com would shame any whiny kid with a guitar. This music-loving mom's countless posts about concerts, albums and news are unpaid labors of love, as are the many concert bootlegs and interviews she puts on her site for all to download for free. But Chaffin's a sympathetic one as well, giving voice and advertising to more bands and genres than any Web site around town. It's a stance that has drawn criticism from other local sites, but that trait is part of what helps Texas Gigs rack up the hits--all are welcome on Chaffin's turf, which means even the whiny, tired, thankless rocker can get a little attention as he/she trudges along in the metroplex. In the past year, the site has seen a huge overhaul after merging with Pegasus News, and the added content is already grabbing headlines with big-deal promotions like the Dallas Mavericks Playoff Anthem competition. The site's breadth and scope make it a nominee, but Chaffin's dedication makes it a lock for the first-ever DOMA for Best Web Site. --S.M.

Idol Records
Best Record Label

Over the past year, Idol Records' competition has gotten feistier. Labels like Undeniable and Spune have stepped up to battle for the chance to say, "We have more headliners than you." Or, "Our bands are more indie than yours." Quantity and oddity of acts is all well and good, but it's what Erv Karwelis and his little-label-that-can provides for bands that keeps Idol winning votes year after year.

Take distribution. "Most of the stuff that comes out on Idol comes out worldwide," Karvelis says, as Idol has licensing deals in Europe, Australia and Japan. That's basic business, though--Karvelis has better proven himself on the up-and-up. "Idol was one of the first indie labels to sign with iTunes," he says, explaining that much of last year was spent forming close relationships with digital distributors and building an online presence for Idol bands. The plan seems to be working; according to Karvelis, when Flickerstick and Black Tie Dynasty songs were iTunes' "Free Single of the Week" last year, the bands received 150,000 to 250,000 hits.

Then there are the little things. Looking out from the stage and seeing Papa Erv in the audience more often than not. Knowing that he sends out mail orders twice a day even if only one order came in, because it bugs him that some kid in Oklahoma City is waiting to rock out to [DARYL]'s Ohio. Hearing your song on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Entourage or Room Raiders, or between bands on that little thing last year called Live 8. All of those things take time, effort and care. "There's a lot of people that come and go in the record business," Karvelis says. "You have to have a passion first and foremost. And you have to love music." It helps, then, that people love Idol right back. --M.M.

Gypsy Tea Room
Best Live Music Venue

Despite recent hand-wringing over the health of Deep Ellum, it's no surprise the Gypsy Tea Room won its category yet again by a comfortable margin. The club continues to draw crowds with its admirably eclectic booking, spacious ballroom and cozier-but-still-roomy tea room. A high stage, solid acoustics, competent sound engineers and bathrooms that are palatial compared to those in other Dallas clubs (and have you met those bathroom guys who sell mouthwash and gum? Nice touch!) help the Gypsy avoid the fate of its sister club, Trees, because it still books artists with fans willing to drive into Ellum and pay cover and parking any night of the week. Non-Ellum venues like the Granada and the Cavern are thriving in the decentralization of Dallas music culture and will likely make it a tighter race next year, but the Gypsy's booking clout (courtesy of Charles Attal Presents, the company behind Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Music Festival) should keep it in the competition for years to come.

Hip-hop, jam bands, scenester indie rock, folk, whatever--it's all here, and the club doesn't cater to any one genre at the local level, either. A wide array of name-brand local talent can frequently be seen onstage in both rooms (often opening for big-name headliners, as April Gypsy guests Salim Nourallah and the Drams can attest to), and the club has been the host of the best monthly DFW hip-hop showcase in town, Final Friday, for a long damn time as well. Dallas' music scene may not need Deep Ellum at its heart the way it once did, but it still needs the Gypsy Tea Room. --J.H.

Lizard Lounge
Best Dance Club

The black box on Swiss Avenue, standing tall since the days when people actually called dance music "techno," still pounds with electro-beats, halter tops and the occasional glow-in-the-dark accessory Thursday through Saturday. DJs of local and national notoriety (DJ Icey, Kelly Reverb, Paul Oakenfold, Mix Master Mike, DJ Merritt and others) still grace its darkly painted and intermittently lit interior. And the goths still come out on Sunday nights when the lounge becomes the Church (and 10 bucks says Shriekback's "Nemesis" is still the big crowd pleaser). Every now and then Ché Liz mixes it up with a Dita Von Teese cabaret show, a Fetish Ball or a Girls Gone Wild appearance, but basically, nothing really changes at the Lizard Lounge--which has to be the appeal. It's a multi-level dance club. It's consistently booked with popular DJs. It has under-21 admission and after-hours options. Oh, and the bathrooms, though we need an adventure guide and a machete to find them, are still quite tidy. --M.M.