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• BEST CONCERT SERIES

  New World Symphony's Sounds of the Times

  The Lincoln Theatre is intimate enough that everyone in the audience can watch artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas's expressions -- they tell the story. His enthusiasm and excitement about music are written all over his face, as when he introduced an evening of works by Soviet-era composers, part of the contemporary-music series he has put together for his youthful orchestra… More >>

• SECOND-BEST CONCERT SERIES

  Rhythm Foundation

  It seems shortsighted to begrudge the rain in a year following such a serious drought, but if the rain had to fall so infrequently, why did it always seem to pour on the Rhythm Foundation's outdoor summer concerts? Colombia's vallenato king, accordionist Alvaro Meza, was completely washed out of the 73rd Street bandshell and showers kept crowds away from a… More >>

• BEST LOCAL SOLO MUSICIAN

  Nicole Henry

  She first dazzled the world, or at least her fifth-grade class, with her rendition of "Be a Lion" in an elementary school production of The Wiz. That might explain her courage. After scoring as a dance diva with "Miracle" in 1998, Henry has opted for a much more challenging career built not on the beat but on the shades of… More >>

• BEST VENUE FOR LIVE MUSIC

  Lincoln Theatre - CLOSED

  The Lincoln Theatre is best known as the home of the New World Symphony (NWS), Michael Tilson Thomas's "training" outfit, who regularly blow their older Philharmonic peers out of the water. But as anyone knows who's caught a concert here when musicians of the NWS have hung their strings up for the night, the Lincoln is one of Miami's premier… More >>

• BEST LOCAL ROCK BAND

  Moxi

  Guitarist Josh Sonntag and singer-songwriter Catty Tasso make for the perfect rock-and-roll marriage -- literally. When Tasso advertised for an axe man on a Guitar Center bulletin board in 1999, Sonntag offered her not only a pair of the best plucking hands in town but also his hand in matrimony. The happy ending is Moxi, a band that weds Tasso's… More >>

• BEST NEW MUSIC TREND

  The return of house music

  Spend enough time on the Beach and it can seem as if every sound system marches in lockstep. In 1999 it appeared that the music police were practically forcing every restaurant in town to play the Gipsy Kings -- and nothing else. Meanwhile the clubs were filled with trance's aural whitewash, leaving dancers searching for more soulful fare. Things only… More >>

• BEST CLASSICAL RADIO PROGRAM

  The Classical Hour on WVUM-FM (90.5)

  What better source for the ethereal strains of orchestral music than an institution of higher learning? And with the recent death of the commercial classical format at the former WTMI-FM (93.1), but for the grace of University of Miami administrators there went any classical music on the Miami-Dade dial. Now we can tune in to "The Voice" (the station's handle)… More >>

• BEST LOCAL POP BAND

  Shufly

  In a pop world where satisfaction is measured by how long a song sticks in listeners' brains, nothing is stickier than a Shufly hook. That's due to the songwriting duo of Scott Smith, whose short, sharp lyrics always seem truthful without every word being troublingly profound, and lead guitarist Mike Sharpe, whose melodies stroke rather than tax the brain. Smith… More >>

• BEST WE-GOT-THE-FUNK COLLECTIVE

  The Square Egg

  People sometimes wonder just how New Times selects "Best of Miami" winners. It is a highly scientific process devised long ago by a select committee of experts and requires the participation of more than 100 judges from around the world who take up residence in the Magic City for the entire year and do nothing but eat, drink, and listen… More >>

• BEST LOCAL INDIE BAND

  See Venus

  Think of sound as a galaxy, a shimmering play of lights. Think of guitars, horns, and keyboards as so many sparkling arrows, so many zodiac signs, pointing to the glowing nebula of Rocky Ordoñez's and Erica Boynton's angelic voices. That is how you would see the sound that Christopher Moll, the band's big bang, has created. The six-piece ensemble is… More >>

• BEST PIANO MAN

  Eddie Higgins

  Heartily pounding out the rousing "St. Louis Blues" or gently improvising on the tranquil bossa nova melodies of Antonio Carlos Jobim, eminent pianist Eddie Higgins always puts his indelible stamp on the keys. The Massachusetts-born and raised musician gravitated to Chicago to study at Northwestern University and stayed twenty years. Countless Windy City club dates together with a long list… More >>

• BEST LOCAL ALBUM OF THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS

  Strokes Is For Dopes

  Curious Hair

  Okay, so it's not an album, it's a three-song EP, but then, as they say, it's not the length that matters, it's what you do with it. And this little disc is more an act of protest than a digital artifact. Dismayed by the faux-phenomenon surrounding Brit crit darlings the Strokes, the Hair did what any angry underemployed all-too-inventive band… More >>

• BEST RAP ALBUM YOU NEVER HEARD

  Dirty Life

  X-Con

  Most of Miami's rap hopefuls dream of the day their big break arrives in the form of a major-label record contract. Once they've signed on the dotted line, so their thinking goes, everything else is automatic: fame and fortune, groupies and gold teeth. Right? Not always. Take local emcee X-Con, whose independently issued single "Whoa! Lil' Mama" generated enough of… More >>

• BEST LOCAL ELECTRONICA RELEASE

  Live at Fuácata

  Spam Allstars

  You'll have to provide your own sweat, smoke, and spilled mojitos, but this live document of the Allstars residency at Hoy Como Ayer's Fuácata party (edited and spliced together in dizzying Miles Davis Bitches Brew fashion) is still one of the slinkiest set of grooves around. DJ Le Spam (that's still Andrew Yeomanson to his mother) drops salsa turntable samples… More >>

• BEST REGGAE RADIO PROGRAM

  Jamusa

  WAVS-AM (1170)

  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday evening drive time

  A newcomer arrived in Miami. He drove from the airport through the jungle breeze and sharp metallic colors. He switched the radio on and heard: "Lift up your leg! You must!" in a froggy, urgent roar from an artist he'd never heard. The station, he discovered, was WAVS-AM ("The Heartbeat of the Caribbean") and the DJ was Jamusa, who went… More >>

• BEST CONCERT OF THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS

  The Strokes at Billboardlive

  Critics have been proclaiming the death of rock and roll for so long now, the genre's aesthetic demise is almost taken as a given. Buzzsaw guitars? Crashing drums? A lovesick singer whipping his microphone through the air? Uh, what else ya got, grandpa? So why the Strokes were able to take those three familiar fuzzed-out chords and whip up so… More >>

• SECOND BEST CONCERT OF THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS

  Jay-Z at Billboardlive

  Whatever alternate moniker he's going by at the moment -- Hova, Jiggaman, or simply Shawn Carter -- New York City's Jay-Z remains one of hip-hop's most talented rappers. And while his paeans to all that glitters (preferably if it's wrapped around somebody that glitters) aren't going to win too many fans from the backpacker contingent, even Jay-Z's harshest critics have… More >>

• BEST BAND NAME

  Moxi

  If there's one thing you want coursing through a rock band, besides electricity, it's moxie. Singer Catty Tasso hit upon the name in Maine. She saw a bottle of Moxie, the weird old gentian-root soft drink that still has a cult-like following. "That's us!" she exclaimed, according to husband-guitarist Josh Sonntag. In the 1880s the beverage was touted as a… More >>

• BEST ROCK RADIO PROGRAM

  ¡Boom! Radio

  If Latin alternative music never triumphs in South Florida, don't blame Kike Posada. This tireless crusader for la causa is determined to get the word and rock out by any means necessary: promoting events, publishing ¡Boom! magazine, and in July 2001 convincing the Anglo owners of AM station Radio Uno to allow him a few hours for programming Latin rock.… More >>

• BEST JAZZ RADIO PROGRAM

  Weekend Jazz Saturday with Tracy Fields

  A reformed journalist who wisely joined our NPR affiliate in 1995, Fields takes the honor this year not because she's done something different but rather because she's been consistent -- consistently good. Her playlist spans decades but is selective and smart. No pop jazz or smooth jazz or acid jazz or faux jazz of any sort. Whether it's bebop, hard… More >>

• BEST LOCAL NOISE BAND

  Rat Bastard and the Laundry Room Squelchers

  (c)(r)~E(c)(r)~EG1/2?(r)g/~C&!:ê¯(c)(r)~E??y??????????O????f?????f(c)(r)~E(c)(r)~E(c)&!:ê¯?y????(c)&!:ê¯?y??f(c)(r)?????(c)(r)(r)g?f(c)(r)~??(c)&!:ê¯(c)(r)~E??y??????????O????f?????f(c)(r)~E(c)(r)~E(c)&!:ê¯?y????(c)&!:ê¯?y??fE(c)(r)????O????f?????f(c)(r)~E(c)(r)~E(c)&!:ê¯?y????(c)&!:ê¯?y??fE(c)(r)~EG1/2?(r)g/~C&!:ê -- most Thursdays at Churchill's. … More >>

• BEST RECORD LABEL

  Substance

  Ever since Chocolate Industries pulled out of town a year or so ago we've been jonesing for a new sonic substance. Luckily local DJ turned entrepreneur Greg Chin, a.k.a. Stryke, has been happy to oblige with his ambitious new Substance Recordings. In addition to his own delicately textured take on techno, Stryke is now imprinting and distributing electronic delights from… More >>

• BEST LOCAL SONGWRITERS

  Elsten Torres and Juan Carlos Perez Soto

  New York City had Simon and Garfunkel, so it's only fitting that Miami's most dynamic songwriting duo should have come together in a tribute to our city. Before September 11 Elsten Torres and Juan Carlos Perez Soto had been writing songs separately for years. They had even been writing songs together, off and on, for about two years prior. But… More >>

• BEST LOCAL LATIN SINGER

  Jorge Moreno

  Who knew Desi Arnaz would come back as a Brit-pop-loving hipster with a penchant for vintage clothes? Only a kid who grew up in Miami could bring such left-field treatment to classics "Babalú" and "Como Fue." Moreno may have a face that teenyboppers love, but his voice is for the ages. Whether in the studio with avant-Latino producer Andres Levin… More >>

• BEST LOCAL ACOUSTIC PERFORMER

  Dean Fields

  Love, like everything else, has imitations, but Dean Fields is the real deal. We just hope we can keep him here, at least for a little while. The curly-topped Virginian has stopped off in Miami for a little booklearnin', but his heart is in his music and it shows. Fields conveys the deepest feeling with the sparest of arrangements, his… More >>

• BEST LOCAL HAITIAN BAND

  Saima

  R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to these three. R-E-S-P-E-C-T so rare for women in the compas industry. Saima, sisters Sabine, Yves, and Martine Francoeur, got tired of serving as back-up singers to a slew of male stars, so they struck out in search of their own spotlight. You'll still hear their roof-off-the-house voices on T-Vice tracks, but the North… More >>

• BEST LOCAL ELECTRONICA ARTIST

  Funky Green Dogs

  DJs Oscar G (Space) and Ralph Falcon (Billboardlive) first hit the scene in 1997 with the club classic "Fired Up." In 1999 they avoided the sophomore slump by releasing "Body," a smash hit that swept across dance floors worldwide. Now the duo, along with singer Tamara, have scored again with their latest album Super California, which promises to continue their… More >>

• BEST ROCKABILLY BAND

  Lil' Jake and the Boss Tones

  Frankly, Jake ain't that little, but given the scarcity of old-fashioned bass-slappin' rock and roll outfits in these parts, we're not going to nit-pick. And when this slickly coifed, tattooed, and sideburned band gets a good head of steam going, there's no time for semantics; best to just grab your partner and hit the dance floor. True, there's nothing particularly… More >>

• BEST LOCAL RAP GROUP

  Trick Daddy

  For too long, rap in Miami was synonymous in the nation-at-large's mind with Luke's 2 Live Crew. And given that ol' Uncle Luke has been little more than an embarrassing punch line for nigh on a decade now, the ascension of Trick Daddy's gleaming gold smile to MTV is more than welcome. But besides putting Miami back on the hip-hop… More >>

• BEST LOCAL CARIBBEAN BAND

  Afro-Polyphonic World Orchestra

  The Caribbean, claims Cuban writer Antonio Benitez-Rojo, is a meta-archipelago: a giant sponge spiraling out from the Caribbean Sea to Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, the universe, endlessly repeating. The Caribbean, in short, is the rhythmic center of the world. And so the Afro-Polyphonic World Orchestra, an ambitious sixteen-piece multicultural mélange, is a Caribbean band in the… More >>

• BEST LOCAL JAZZ ARTIST

  Spam Allstars

  For the purist, Miami has a wealth of fine jazz musicians who know their way around an Ellington composition or conserve the stylistic touches of Dizzy, Miles, or Coltrane. Jesse Jones, Jr., Melton Mustafa, Randy Gerber, and Paquito Hechavarria are just a few of the virtuosos who keep the flame of jazz alive in the city. Enter the young Turks… More >>

• BEST INDIE NIGHT

  PopLife

  Saturday nights at Piccadilly Garden

  Oh, happy dilemma. More than one indie night to choose from. More than two! More than three! This past year has been a great one for the local indie pop scene, with long-brewing enthusiasm finally coming to a boil. But savvy disc-curating sets PopLife above the rest, mixing deep, dark retro with the most daring volleys at the vanguard of… More >>

• BEST LOCAL LATIN BAND

  Manolin

  You left/and since you left, Castro lost/Miami, no/we hope you'll stay/(Making beautiful salsa/Showing us how it's done)/You left/and since you left CANF is lost/what does it mean?/we hope you'll stay/And now you are the king/of the Hialeah festival in the spring/And now you are the king/of the Hialeah festival in the spring/You've got to be/on top of the ball/on top… More >>

• BEST LATIN ROCK BAND

  Volumen Cero

  There isn't much competition for this category in a majority Latin county, but that's not Volumen Cero's fault. It's been doing all it can to give us a good name. These hard-working boys, with their emo-gothy-hard-rock-en-español (except-often-in-English) sound, have been playing seriously, recording seriously, touring seriously, showing up on time seriously enough to warrant them some serious national attention. Maybe… More >>