There you have it, folks. Yet another Dallas Observer Music Awards has come and gone, and hopefully it was a memorable one. We laughed, we cried, we even had a prom. Between the crowning of our prom king and queen and the ambush performance of the End of the World Parade marching band, Tuesday night's DOMA ceremony was as over-the-top as we could manage.
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But let's not lose sight of all the wonderful musical happenings that have taken place over the past several days. On Saturday, we were treated to the DOMA showcase in Deep Ellum, which was the biggest one we've ever hosted: More than 60 bands showed up to play over seven hours of music at nine different venues. (We still have the bruises to show for it.) At the ceremony we got to enjoy a few encore performances from Sudie, Blue, the Misfit, Sealion, Goodnight Ned and Party Static.
Then there were the awards, the reason we do this whole crazy thing in the first place. This year we polled 150 local music experts to build the ballot, and more than 45,000 votes were received. As always, the DOMAs only tell part of the story; there will always be deserving bands whom we'd love to give awards to, but only a few of them -- this year there were 43 categories -- can be recognized. But the DOMAs aren't so much the be-all, end-all of North Texas music as they are an excuse to celebrate and reflect on some of the things we love most.
As a reflection of the local scene and the tastes of local fans, this year's winners are more than fitting. It was no surprise to see Sarah Jaffe come away with three awards this year, including "Best Song," as she's been a perennial winner in Dallas circles. Likewise with the Old 97's, who edged out Jaffe for "Best Album" honors and nabbed "Best Alt-Country Act" as well as "Best Male Vocalist" for frontman Rhett Miller. A.Dd+ also continued to reign supreme as both an essential hip-hop act and a must-see live show with approval from the voting public.
Even the most cynical of observers would have to agree that the voters got things right. Take the González family, who have only continued to build their stellar reputation in 2014, and who picked up three awards. Or DJ Sober, the DJ who's every other DJ's favorite DJ, who won two awards. And of course there's Party Static, who on Tuesday proved once again why their wild, calamitous music is so refreshing: it's just plain fun.
Which is the point of it all. We can only live (and relive) prom so often. But DOMA rolls around every year, and the best part is its ability to surprise us -- and our ability to surprise ourselves.
Best Album
Winner: Old 97's Most Messed Up Blue, the Misfit Child in the Wild Buffalo Black REDPILLwondrland Goodnight Ned Goodnight Ned Sarah Jaffe Don't Disconnect
Best Alt-Country Act
Winner: Old 97's Madison King Quaker City Night Hawks Somebody's Darling The O's
Best Bassist
Winner: Aaron González Danny Balis Emsy Robinson Nigel Rivers Zack Busby
Best Blues Act
Winner: Jonathan Tyler Jason Elmore Lance Lopez Miss Marcy Steve James Trio
Best Country Act
Winner: Somebody's Darling Eleven Hundred Springs J. Charles & the Trainrobbers King Bucks Madison King
Best Cover Band
Winner: The Rich Girls Dallas Uber Alles Panic Raised Right Men The Gorehounds
Best DJ
Winner: Sober Blake Ward Inzo TX Connect/Gavin Guthrie Wanz Dover
Best Drummer
Winner: Stefan González Grady Sandlin John Teague Jordan Richardson Matt Mabe
Best Electronic Act
Winner: Ishi Blackstone Rangers Cutter Datahowler Zhora
Best EP
Winner: A.Dd+ NAWF Bad Mountain Bad Mountain Bootyfade Bootyfade Buffalo Black REDPILLwondrland Moonbather Out of the Start
Best Experimental/Noise Act
Winner: Unconscious Collective Bludded Head Cutter Def Rain Orgullo Primitivo
Best Female Vocalist
Winner: Sarah Jaffe Amber Farris Lily Taylor Madison King Sam Lao
Best Festival
Winner: Homegrown Music & Art Festival Elm Street Music & Tattoo Festival Index Festival JMBLYA Spillover
Best Folk Act
Winner: Whiskey Folk Ramblers Bad Mountain Fox & the Bird Hares on the Mountain Jacob Furr
Best Funk/R&B Act
Winner: Larry g(EE) Bobby Patterson C2 (C Squared) Dezi 5 Sam Lao
Best Group Act
Winner: Goodnight Ned A.Dd+ Dark Rooms Grey Matter Sealion
Best Guitarist
Winner: Ryan Thomas Becker Chase Jowell Lance Lopez Nick Earl Stephen Ketner
Best Hardcore Act
Winner: Power Trip Drug Mountain In Memory of Man Modern Pain Wiccans
Best Jazz Act
Winner: Snarky Puppy One O'Clock Lab Band Shelley Carrol Unconscious Collective Yells at Eels
Best Latin/Tejano Band
Winner: Dustin Cavazos Mariachi Quetzal Mayta Revolucion Oi Supersonic Lips
Best Live Act
Winner: A.Dd+ Black Dotz George Quartz Party Static Sealion
Best Live Music Venue
Winner: Granada Theater Club Dada The Kessler Theater Three Links Trees
Best Local Music Compilation
Winner: I Love Ft. Worth Dreamy Soundz Group Therapy Vol. 2 Dreamy Soundz Jazz Confusion Hand Drawn Records Comp. Vol. 3 Pour Le Corps Compilations
Best Male Vocalist
Winner: Rhett Miller Brent Best Daniel Hart Larry g(EE) Sam Anderson
Best Metal Act
Winner: Mothership Baring Teeth Pinkish Black Power Trip Terminator 2
Best Mixtape
Winner: DJ Sober "Fly High" Grey Matter "Grey Matter Project" Snow Tha Product "Good Nights and Bad Mornings" Track Meet "Ynfynty Scoll Summer '14" Tunk "No Meal No Deal"
Best Music Blog
Winner: Central Track Chan-Lo Gorilla Vs. Bear THRWD TooFresh Productions
Best Music Video
Winner: Blue, the Misfit "Trillionaire" Buffalo Black "War Paint" Home By Hovercraft "Lie in Your Bed" Son of Stan "Noxeema" War Party "Every Day I Bit the Hook"
Best New Act
Winner: Party Static CashMir C2 (C Squared) Moonbather Sudie
Best New Music Venue
Winner: Gas Monkey Bar & Grill RBC Two Bronze Doors Vagabond Vice Palace
Best Pianist/Keyboardist
Winner: Paul Slavens Chad Stockslager Daniel Creamer Scott Danborn Sean Kirkpatrick
Best Pop Act
Winner: Ishi Charlie B Larry g(EE) Son of Stan The Orbans
Best Producer
Winner: Blue, the Misfit Beau Bedford John Congleton Picnictyme Salim Nourallah
Best Punk Act
Winner: The Phuss Bad Sports Hex Cult Sealion Street Arabs
Best Radio Show/Podcast
Winner: "The Paul Slavens Show" on KKXT 91.7 "Cindy Scull Mornings" on KEGL 97.1 "Live from the Underground" on DeepEllumOnAir.com "Local Edge" on KDGE 102.1 "The Hardline" on KTCK 96.7
Best Rap/Hip-Hop Act
Winner: A.Dd+ Blue, the Misfit Buffalo Black Sam Lao The Outfit, TX
Best Record Label
Winner: Dallas Distortion Music CMG Gutterth Kirtland Pour Le Cours
Best Record Store
Winner: Good Records Bill's Records Dead Wax Mad World Records Off the Record
Best Rock Act
Winner: Quaker City Night Hawks Goodnight Ned The Phuss The Roomsounds True Widow
Best Song
Winner: Sarah Jaffe "Lover Girl" Blue, the Misfit "Alive" Buffalo Black "War Paint" Old 97's "Longer Than You've Been Alive" Somebody's Darling "Bad Bad"
Best Songwriter
Winner: Sarah Jaffe C2 (C Squared) Daniel Hart Jordan Richardson Rhett Miller
Best Talent Buyer
Winner: Spune Intelligent Grind Moody Fuqua Parade of Flesh Tactics Productions
Best DJ Night
Winner: "Fresh 45's" at Crown & Harp "Big Bang" at The Basement "Cool Out" at Crown & Harp "Glamorama" at Beauty Bar "Trillwave" at Beauty Bar
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