Muzak >>

• BEST CONCERT OF THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS
  Elvis Costello , Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts
  In 1977 Elvis Costello burst onto the musical scene, earning a well-deserved reputation as an angry, guitar-wielding young man. Penning punk-rock songs that were both literary and lacerating, he was pretty surly himself. Twenty-five years later it seemed only appropriate that the rocker's latest... More >>
• BEST VOCALIST (MALE)
  Julio Iglesias
  Forget, for a moment, the clichéd MOR ballads ("To All the Girls I've Loved Before") and think about that famously memorable voice. Julio Iglesias is the sound of romance. Soft and mellifluous, his voice seems to lilt instead of sing, fluttering into our ears like vowels falling into... More >>
• BEST HIP-HOP RADIO PROGRAM
  The Hip-Hop Shop, Thursdays, 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., WVUM-FM (90.5)
  You have to get past the awkward hip-hop lingo of the University of Miami's collegiate disc jockeys, but once you do, The Hip-Hop Shop is good listening. Songs range from classics to new (and occasionally self-indulgent) indie hip-hop, but even when the going gets goofy, it's always fun, and... More >>
• BEST NEW MUSIC TREND
  Electroclash
  Those who forget the Eighties are doomed to repeat them: How else to explain the surge of local interest in electroclash, that much-hyped remodeling of European New Wave music and its accompanying oh-so-kitschy fashions? Shoulder pads and leg warmers have yet to be spotted, but just about every... More >>
• BEST LATIN SINGER
  Roberto Poveda
  Entertaining and experimental, handsome and talented, Roberto Poveda has always been a musical Miami gem, but he hasn't always been easy to hear. Gigs come and go in this dismal live-music town. But now Poveda can be heard pretty regularly at One Ninety, the funk-hip joint just north of the... More >>
• BEST JAZZ ARTIST
  Sammy Figueroa
  Beginning his love affair with percussion at the seemingly late age of eighteen didn't set Sammy Figueroa back one bit. His unshakable sense of tempo and astounding ability to improvise clearly indicated that playing percussive instruments was his destiny. He would go on to perform with an... More >>
• BEST INDIE-ROCK BAND
  Bling Bling
  Rekindling indie-pop fun is what Bling Bling is all about. The four members of this group, formed in the summer of 2001, threaten to have fun and take the whole world with them. Ivan Choo Baby is electricity on the mike, Kiki La Rocca slaps the bass silly, Jonathan Sensitivity trumps zigzagging... More >>
• BEST BAND TO BREAK UP IN THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS
  Machete
  At Machete's final gig last June at Churchill's Hideaway, Spy-fi Records founder Ed Artigas quickly sold out 100 CDs of its Untitled Music before the band had even finished its second set. Machete had grown a significant following in the local indie-rock scene. Its engaging brand of folk-pop... More >>
• BEST ACOUSTIC PERFORMER
  Grant Livingston
  Like an unstoned Buffett or maybe Leon Redbone by way of Sesame Street, long-time Miami performer Grant Livingston mixes country and ragtime shuffle with Florida history and tale-telling. Armed with an acoustic guitar and an incisive wit that lends an edge to his kid-friendly material,... More >>
• BEST BAND NAME
  Spam Allstars
  There had to be a way to get these guys in Best of Miami without committing overkill. And their band name is the only thing they haven't been lauded for yet. They've got to have the best name because everyone's heard of them. Miami's own Latin/funk/jazz infusion is never mistaken for any other... More >>
• BEST LOCAL RECORD LABEL
  Botanica del Jibaro
  The latest spinoff from the Beta Bodega Coalition's growing empire, Botanica del Jibaro has released a series of astonishingly high-quality twelve-inch singles in the past twelve months from local stalwarts like Algorithm and Cyne. As always with this ever-provocative crew, most of Botanica's... More >>
• BEST SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA
  New World Symphony
  What's the matter with kids today? Nothing. At least not with the ones loitering outside the Lincoln Theater during a New World Symphony intermission. The NWS's artistic director, Michael Tilson Thomas, calls classical music "a rare and wonderful thing." The same can be said of the NWS, the baby... More >>
• SECOND-BEST CONCERT OF THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS
  Erykah Badu at Level

  February 9, 2003

  Who else could bring the house down simply by doffing her oversized Afro wig? Erykah Badu's albums have carefully laid out her persona as a diva for the post-millennium, and thankfully, her live performance at Level proved she has not only the playful über-attitude of Motown's finest, but... More >>
• BEST Local album of the past twelve months
  Iron & Wine

  The Creek Drank the Cradle

  It's easy to imagine the plucked banjos, gently strummed acoustic guitars, and eerily hushed vibe of The Creek Drank the Cradle as originating from deep within the Appalachian mountain range. Or, as Iron & Wine -- a.k.a. Sam Beam -- lets his voice rise plaintively above his careful... More >>
• BEST SONGWRITER
  Jim Camacho
  Camacho has been on the Miami scene for more than a decade, first as one of the voices behind the Goods, and more recently fronting his own band. He wears his allegiance to melody (Beatles comparisons are inevitable) on his sleeve, and while the Goods' songwriting prowess fluctuated, Camacho's... More >>
• BEST CARIBBEAN BAND (1 Comment)
  21st Century Steel Orchestra
  Michael Kernahan's 21st Century Steel Orchestra is Miami's strongest link to the steel pan music of Trinidad and Tobago. Kernahan, a Trinidad native who builds the pans (more commonly known as steel drums) he plays, has put together an ensemble that numbers as many as 40, though he plays with... More >>
• BEST LOCAL ELECTRONICA RELEASE OF THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS
  Otto Von Schirach, Chopped Zombie Fungus
  Most electronic music doesn't say much, literally. If there are lyrics involved, the vocals treatment has more to do with melody and tone than the meaning of the actual words. But Miami's Cuban/German "beat molester" likes to add some say to his sway. In Chopped Zombie Fungus, released on local... More >>
• BEST VENUE FOR LIVE MUSIC
  Manuel Artime Theater
  Standing around a smoke-filled dive for hours on end as a band blasts away is great when you're twentysomething. But as anyone who's caught shows at the Jackie Gleason or the Gusman can attest, there comes a time in a hipster's life when he just wants to, well, sit down. So how can an, ahem,... More >>
• BEST VOCALIST (FEMALE)
  Rose Max
  Speaking of love, it's hard not to amour Rose Max when she sings, for example, "Speaking of Love" ("Falando de Amor") or any of those Brazilian jazz standards that make us so happy we could cry. One night she woos you with her bossa nova and samba amid the couches and candlelight of the Van Dyke... More >>
• BEST SOLO MUSICIAN
  Sam Beam
  Sam Beam is fast becoming all the rage. Earlier this spring his album as Iron & Wine, The Creek Drank the Cradle, charted at number 81 in the Village Voice's prestigious "Pazz and Jop" poll for the best of 2002, and his subsequent national tour engendered even more praise from fans and critics.... More >>
• BEST CONCERT SERIES
  Concert Association of Florida
  Amazing to think that what began 36 years ago as the Great Artists Series at Miami Beach's Temple Beth Sholom has evolved into one of South Florida's premier purveyors of classical music and dance. Founded and led by impresaria and onetime opera singer Judy Drucker, the Concert Association of... More >>
• BEST ELECTRONICA ARTIST
  Stryke
  One of the cornerstones of Miami's electronic music scene is Greg Chin, a.k.a. Stryke. He is an original among a sea of new jacks and biters. The classically trained pianist pioneered electronic music shows for college radio (at UM and FIU stations) in the early Nineties. He crafted some of the... More >>
• BEST PRODUCER
  Omar Clemetson
  Unlike many a hip-hop producer, Clemetson, a.k.a. Supersoul, can't be categorized. He can make anything from a murky bass homage to Magic Mike to a dub track reminiscent of Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound. For him hip-hop is a state of mind, even though he's been laboring under the "downtempo"... More >>
• BEST LOUNGE ACT
  and
  Chances are you've never seen a drag queen dive into a crowd and "surf" her audience. Less likely is the chance of seeing female impersonators yank each other's wigs off during performances, pull out their falsies, and riff off one another in wickedly hilarious comedy that skewers racial,... More >>
• BEST HAITIAN BAND
  DZine
  What do you get when you put jumpy African rhythm with juicy reggae and Haitian soul? One of the few Haitian bands that Miami can still call its own. This compas band has kept the Creole flavor pumping through a steady bass, conga, and keyboards for years now and has gained a level of... More >>
• BEST RAP ARTIST
  Pitbull
  Armando Christian Perez reflects Miami in a way no rapper ever has, because the ones who've made names for themselves on these city streets were usually black, not Cuban. But Perez, a.k.a. Pitbull, is not about to go Cuban retro. He's all about today's hard knocks. Pitbull spits quick-witted,... More >>
• BEST LOCAL BAND OF ALL TIME (1 Comment)
  The Eat
  There have been any number of local rock outfits that have graced Miami's stages in search of national glory or just the heart of Saturday night. But few caused as much of a ruckus -- and then promptly disappeared -- as the Eat. Its debut single, 1979's "Communist Radio," still has die-hard fans... More >>
• BEST POP BAND
  Volumen Cero
  Last year Volumen Cero won Best Local Rock Band. So why is it pop this year? Musically the quartet, whose name translates to Zero Volume, tries on everything from power pop (the hit single "Hollywood") to Sixties-influenced Brit-pop. Frontman Luis Tamblay's voice is moody and evocative and... More >>
• BEST BLAST FROM THE PAST
  The Holy Terrors

  This Is What It Sounds Like When Youre Dead

  One of the Nineties' more beloved Miami underground rock outfits returns with a vault-scraping collection: previously unreleased studio sessions from 1997, a live-on-WLRN-FM set from 1992 (yes, Virginia, WLRN once aired rock and roll amid the NPR gabbing), and from that same year, a raucous live... More >>
• BEST PIANO MAN
  and
  With a golden tenor and fabulous hair, Walter Lino has gracefully worked a multitude of piano joints in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. He's developed a cult following of drunks, sweater queens, and off-key beer-belters who take refuge around his baby grand for a dose of piano-and-bourbon therapy.... More >>
• BEST LATIN BAND
  Bacilos
  JJ. Andre. Jorge. They've put together a "Latin" sound all their own, a slinky-violined, smoothly percussioned, poply tropical sound that sets them apart from the rest. And though the world knows them through their two outstanding CDs (the last, Caraluna, got them serious airtime) and tours,... More >>
• BEST ROCK EN ESPAOL BAND
  Council of the Sun
  With the ever-evolving form of rock, it's not a stretch to say a band that combines hard guitar with house beats and rap lyrics falls into this category. This band's not afraid to try that mix of hip-hop and drum and bass and then kick in a few guitar riffs to back it up. The new technology age... More >>
• BEST ROCK BAND
  The Heatseekers
  They aren't from Miami. They hail from Fort Lauderdale. And they may not be innovative, plying a brand of sleazy garage punk (à la the Queers circa Grow Up) that's been bandied about for years. But it doesn't matter. The Heatseekers have that elusive quality, that totally unquantifiable... More >>
• BEST RECORDING STUDIO
  The Hit Factory Criteria
  The recent passing of legendary producer Tom Dowd returned the Hit Factory Criteria to the media spotlight, reminding us all that the North Miami studio was the creative birthing spot for so many seminal albums, from Derek and the Dominos' 1970 Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs to the Bee... More >>
• BEST JAZZ RADIO PROGRAM
  88 Jazz Place/Morning

  Frank Consola

  WDNA-FM (88.9)

  Frank Consola is the hardest-working man in Miami radio. At least nonprofit radio. He's on the air twenty hours a week at community-supported WDNA-FM, Miami's "jazz and rhythm station." Monday through Friday Consola is at the console hosting 88 Jazz Place from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. He does this as... More >>
• BEST CLASSICAL RADIO PROGRAM
  Symphony at Seven

  WKAT-AM (1360), 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

  January 2002 saw Miami's only full-time classical station, WTMI (93.1 FM), convert to modern dance music. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and for a time the occasional hour of classical programming on public radio was the only place to get a taste of Brahms. In September 2002,... More >>
• BEST ROCK RADIO PROGRAM
  Wednesday night on WVUM-FM (90.5)
  If you can get past the self-conscious college-kid precociousness of the VUM DJs, Wednesday night features two rock programs worth listening to. First up: From 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. distort your speakers with the mono stylings of It Came From the Garage. This fuzzed-out blast of garage rock is... More >>
• BEST LATIN MUSIC RADIO PROGRAM
  El Show de Alvarez Guedes

  Weekdays noon to 2:00 p.m.

  WCMQ-FM Clsica 92 (92.3)

  Cuba's controversial comedian Alvarez Guedes takes the lunchtime air weekdays to mix dirty jokes, political discourse, and poetry with some of the best Cuban music from the golden age of the big band. The whiskey-voiced Guedes comes across as everyone's favorite foul-mouthed uncle as he spoofs... More >>
• BEST REGGAE RADIO PROGRAM
  Sounds of the Caribbean

  WLRN-FM (91.3)

  Whether it's twenty-year veteran Clint O'Neil or DJ Ital-K spinning discs on this late-night gem, reggae lovers are bound to be sated with the best variety of dancehall, soca, calypso, and roots music in Miami. Deep rhythms keep you whining, free of commercials. The knowledgeable Godfather and... More >>
• Personal Best
  Sergio Sigala
  CASA TUA 1700 James Avenue Miami Beach 305-673-1010 In the few months it's been operating, Casa Tua in Miami Beach has cultivated a mystique that has made a weekend dinner reservation the most sought-after ticket in town. The understated refinement of its home (a former private... More >>