2006 Dallas Observer Music Awards

With hormonally challenged, middle school-influenced fare such as "Pinche Guey" and "Puro Chingasos," along with a Web site that sells thongs along with the requisite T-shirts and CDs, Mad Mexicans are a parent's worst nightmare. In their immature insanity, however, there are glimmers of smirking intelligence and even social activism. "En Mi Barrio," one of the best cuts from The Revolution Has Begun, their 2005 debut, is a downright thoughtful examination of life in the Hispanic community. By embracing all aspects of their culture, Mad Mexicans just might have stumbled upon a raucous reality that transcends the politically correct straitjacket they so cleverly avoid. --Darryl Smyers

Fair to Midland
Best Metal

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 RockSays 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 Rubberneckgot a little brother.) Actually, turns out we didhear 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 Aboveand The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of Reverend Horton Heatweren'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."