2012 HPMA Nominations Close This Evening

UPDATE: Looks like I spoke too soon; according to the HPMA Twitter feed, you can now vote up until midnight tonight, rather than, oh, a half-hour ago. Which makes more sense, really… Thanks to Rhonda for the heads-up!

I’ve been really, truly remiss in not mentioning this ’til now, but I just wanted to point to it before the time runs out: the nominations for the 2012 Houston Press Music Awards end today, Thurs., June 14th, at 5PMmidnight.

So if you haven’t already done so, go, go, go, and nominate the bands, labels, clubs, and whatever else you think rule this city, so H-town as a whole can come together and vote for said bands/labels/clubs/etc. to determine who the real icons are ’round these parts.

Honestly, I always, always get all flustered trying to do the damn nomination form, myself — I suddenly can’t remember a damn thing that’s been released so far this year, can’t remember the name of the guitarist in that band I really like, can’t decide what category Band X goes in (“Rock,” “Modern Rock”? WTF?), and so on. Despite the fact that I really should know this stuff and should be more thoughtful about it, I usually end up typing in whatever first pops into my brain.

So, I’ve been trying to think of some folks I really, truly like lately, in case anybody needs any ideas, so below (like we did last year) are my suggestions for bands/people/things you might want to nominate. Oh, and make sure you check out the list put up on Facebook by SCR‘s Jason Smith, too — that’s over here.

I feel compelled to mention, btw, that I haven’t yet had a chance to listen to three of this year’s most-anticipated (by me, anyway): {Linus Pauling Quartet}‘s Bag of Hammers, {Jody Seabody and The Whirls}‘ Summer Us, and {The Small Sounds}‘ 12. The first two haven’t yet been released, and the third I just got the other day & haven’t gotten to listen to yet. Dang.

Here goes (and apologies in advance if I forget any deserving band or musician…):

7. BEST LP/CD/EP
{Buxton}, Nothing Here Seems Strange
{Alkari}, Blackout Falls
{Blackmarket Syndicate}, And the Peasants Rejoiced
{Benjamin Wesley}, Think/Thoughts

8. BEST MIXTAPE
Alright, because I honestly have no clue what “real” mixtapes are floating around out there right now, I’m gonna take a page from Jason S. on this one and nominate, well, us. SCR‘s H-Town Mixtape for the win, woo!

9. BEST SONG
{Buxton}, “Broke From Bread”
{The Rebecca West}, “Lost And Found”
{Knights of the Fire Kingdom}, “Chinese Dragon”
{Alkari}, “Crazy Truck”

10. BEST LOCAL MUSIC VIDEO
{Peloton}, “Of Hoses and Horses”
{Venomous Maximus}, “The Mission”

11. BEST NEW ACT
{Knights of the Fire Kingdom}
{Day Sailor}
{The Suffers}
{New York City Queens}
Mikey and The Drags
{The Rebecca West}
{Vestibule}

12. BEST MALE VOCALS
{Tyagaraja}
Cory Sinclair ({The Manichean})
Evan Lecker ({Holy Fiction})
Paul Pelc ({AThousandColours})
Mason Lankford ({Folk Family Revival})
Justin Nava ({the last place you look})

13. BEST FEMALE VOCALS
{Sara Van Buskirk} (solo/{Finnegan})
Cameron Dezen Hammon ({The Rebecca West})
Sarah Hirsch ({Jealous Creatures})
Asli Omar ({The Tontons})
Amanda Tankersley ({Day Sailor})
{Clory Martin}

14. BEST SONGWRITER
Taylor Lee ({Finnegan})
{Robert Ellis}
Sergio Trevino ({Buxton})
Cory Sinclair & Justice Tirapelli-Jamail ({The Manichean})

15. BEST POP ARTIST
{The Wild Moccasins}
{New York City Queens}
{Harts of Oak}
{Bang Bangz}
{The Fox Derby}

16. BEST ROCK
{Alkari}
{Peloton}
Roky Moon & BOLT! (R.I.P.)
{Linus Pauling Quartet}
{Muhammad Ali}
{Jody Seabody and The Whirls}
{The Wheel Workers}

17. BEST MODERN ROCK
{The Manichean}
{football, etc.}
{Featherface}
{the last place you look}
{Square and Compass}
{A Sundae Drive}
{Adelaine}

18. BEST GARAGE/PUNK/HARDCORE
{Something Fierce}
{Blackmarket Syndicate}
{Art Institute}
{Latch Key Kids}
{Black Congress}
{Weird Party}
{Band of Mercy}
{Guilt Party} (R.I.P.)
{The Energy}

19. BEST METAL
{Co-Pilot}
{Omotai}
{Venomous Maximus}
{Scale The Summit}
{Cavernous}
{Defending the Kingdom}
{From Beyond}

20. BEST EXPERIMENTAL/NOISE
{The Ghost of Cliff Burton}
{Balaclavas}
{The Illegal Wiretaps}
{Giant Battle Monster}

21. BEST ELECTRONIC ACT
{LIMB}

22. BEST SOLO RAPPER
hasHBrown
{Fat Tony}
{Kyle Hubbard}
{Perseph One}

23. BEST RAP GROUP
{The Niceguys}
{H.I.S.D.}

24. BEST RAP DJ
Jett I. Masstyr

25. BEST CLUB DJ/DJ NIGHT
I got nothin’, sorry.

26. BEST LATIN ARTIST
{Los Skarnales}
{Tax the Wolf}

27. BEST JAZZ
{Free Radicals}
{Kris Becker}

28. BEST BLUES
{Little Joe Washington}

29. BEST SOUL/FUNK/R&B
{The Tontons}

30. BEST REGGAE/SKA/DUB
{The Suffers}
{The Suspects}

31. BEST ZYDECO

32. BEST FOLK
{Clory Martin}
{The Dead Rabbits}
{Shellee Coley}

33. BEST AMERICANA
{Bright Men of Learning} (R.I.P.)
{Finnegan}
{Folk Family Revival}
{Buxton}
{The Literary Greats}
{The Small Sounds}

34. BEST COVER/TRIBUTE ACT

35. BEST GUITARIST
Aaron Echegaray (Roky Moon & BOLT!)
Chris Letchford ({Scale The Summit})
Travis Levrier ({Scale The Summit})
Jason Willis ({Buxton})
Richard Sherwood ({the last place you look})
Ben Murphy ({Bright Men of Learning})

36. BEST BASSIST
Brian Harrison ({Balaclavas})
Melissa Lonchambon Ryan ({Omotai}/{Peloton})
Chris Wise ({Buxton})
Jordan Eberhardt ({Scale The Summit})
Jason Smith ({Alkari})

37. BEST DRUMMER
Jeoaf Johnson (Roky Moon & BOLT!/{Knights of the Fire Kingdom})
Anthony Vallejo ({Omotai})
Charlie Patranella ({Balaclavas})

38. BEST OTHER INSTRUMENT
Cassie Hargrove (organ, Roky Moon & BOLT!)
Sally Tawfik (violin, {Holy Fiction})
Jo Bird, Debra Brown, Margaret Lejeune, & Jerry Ochoa(viola, violin, cello, & violin, {Two Star Symphony})

39. BEST PRODUCER
Dan Workman

40. BEST RADIO STATION
{KTRU} for life, y’all. (Oh, and KPFT, too.)

41. BEST RADIO PROGRAM
“Sound Awake” (Jeffrey Thames is The Man.)

42. BEST LOCAL LABEL
ZenHill Records
HomeSkool Rekordz

43. BEST LIVE MUSIC VENUE
Fitzgerald’s
Warehouse Live

44. BEST RECORD STORE
Cactus Music
Vinyl Junkie
Sound Exchange

45. BEST INSTRUMENT/EQUIPMENT STORE
Rockin’ Robin
Guitar Center

That’s all I’ve got; go and nominate away, y’all.