2011 Westword Music Showcase Ballot

Seventeen years! It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing the Westword Music Showcase for that long. I can still remember being at the first one in LoDo nearly two decades ago. And when I think back, it seems like that cold, rainy Sunday night was just a few years ago.

But then I get to thinking of all the summers that have passed since and all the great headliners who have performed at the Showcase over the years — Guided by Voices, Violent Femmes, Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr., Superchunk, A Place to Bury Strangers, Ghostland Observatory, Drive-By Truckers, Lucero, Dirty Projectors, Neon Indian, Ra Ra Riot — and I marvel at how far it’s come since then.

And that’s just a short list of the acts I can remember headlining since I’ve been at Westword, a list that doesn’t include all of the homegrown outfits that have performed at the Showcase. From the Fray and the Flobots to Nathaniel Rateliff and the Rouge to Pictureplane and Chain Gang of 1974, we’ve had the privilege of hosting some of Denver’s best up-and-coming acts over the years — and then elevating them to our unofficial hall of fame when they reach a certain level of success.

And that, after all, is what the Showcase is all about, the whole reason the festival was created: to showcase the best locals, and help them along. That’s where the Music Showcase Ballot comes in. Arriving at this list every year is a painstaking process. Having helped curate the festival for nearly a decade, I can tell you that the job gets more challenging every year, thanks to the staggering number of new acts that keep emerging.

If you’re just joining us, here’s how the process works: After we’ve hand-picked the main-stage performers, we reach out to our nominating committee — people from every part of the scene — for their input and ask them simply to list the twenty bands who made the biggest impression on them in the past year. (We also ask that they refrain from nominating their friends, relatives, collaborators, colleagues, business associates or anybody else they might have ties to.)

After determining that some acts, like Rateliff this year, have grown too big for the ballot, we basically match the committee’s picks against ours and formulate the list, doing our best to put the artists in the appropriate categories. This is probably the most hand-wringing part of the process, since — and this is certainly a testament to the diversity of our scene — many of the acts in Denver don’t fit neatly into a single category. Just the same, we do our best.

This year, based upon feedback we received last year, we added some new categories, eliminated some old ones and simplified and/or altered others. In the end, we ended up with a ballot that consists of 235 acts in forty categories. We had to make some tough decisions and, as a result, we may have left off some acts that you feel are deserving. Unfortunately, this is an unavoidable part of the process.

But you don’t have to suffer in silence. If you think something’s missing, don’t be shy. Let us know which acts were overlooked by adding their names on the write-in portion of the ballot in the category that makes sense. And if you think we blew it with the categories, let us know that, too. We’re listening, and your feedback could make a difference next year.

Important: if your act is listed on the following pages, please drop us a line as soon as possible so that we can get your current contact info and ensure you’re included in our Showcase coverage this year.

Click through for the list of acts appearing on this Westword Music Showcase Ballot and then be sure to cast your vote!

POP – TRADITIONAL
Boys
Della
The Heyday
The Northern Way
Regret Night

POP – ALTERNATIVE
The Centennial
The Congress
The Epilogues
Flashbulb Fires
Monroe Monroe
My Body Sings Electric
Take to the Oars
Traitors to the Queen
Vices I Admire
Young Cities

POP – INDIE
Fingers of the Sun
Kissing Party
Lil’ Slugger
Port Au Prince
SAUNA

ROCK – TRADITIONAL
The Big Motif
The Foot.
Kinetix
Musketeer Gripweed
Something Underground

ROCK – ALTERNATIVE
The Knew
Bad Weather California
Houses
Overcasters
The Swayback

ROCK – INDIE
Achille Lauro
Amazing Twin
FaceMan
Fierce Bad Rabbit
Hearts In Space
Hindershot
Jim McTurnan & the Kids that Killed the Man
Le Divorce
Pacific Pride
Snake Rattle Rattle Snake

ROCK – HEAVY
The Mighty 18 Wheeler
Holley 750
Kingdom of Magic
Lords of Fuzz
Space In Time

ROCK – PROGRESSIVE
Eolian
The Inactivists
I Sank Molly Brown
Panal S.A. DE C.V.
Yerkish

ROCK – PSYCH ROCK/SHOEGAZE
A Shoreline Dream
Gauntlet Hair
Tjutjuna
Vitamins
Woodsman

ROCK – ROOTS
4H-Royalty
Arliss Nancy
Surplus Cheaper Hands
The Gromet
Tin Horn Prayer

ROCK – JAM/IMPROV
Frogs Gone Fishin’
Jet Edison
Mountain Standard Time
Whiskey Tango
Yamn

HIP-HOP – MC (MALE)
Cavem Moetavation
Haven
Innerstate Ike
King FOE
Mane Rok
Midas
Rockie
SP Double
Spoke In Wordz
Whygee

HIP-HOP – MC (FEMALE)
Bianca Mikahn
D’Girl
Isis Speaks
Kalyn Heffernan (Wheelchair Sports Camp)
Rie Rie

HIP-HOP – GROUP
BLKHRTS
Diamond Boiz
Fresh Breath Committee
The Pirate Signal
Prime Element

HIP-HOP – BAND
Air Dubai
Big Wheel Electrosoul
The Food Chain
MTHDS
Whiskey Blanket

HIP-HOP – PRODUCER
Boonie Mayfield
Davey Boy
Es-Nine
GirlGrabbers
Kid Hum

PUNK
Boldtype
Elway
Frontside Five
Thee Goochi Boiz
King Rat
Lola Black
Lyin’ Bitch and the Restraining Orders
Reno Divorce
Synthetic Elements
St. Fall Apart

POST-PUNK
Accordion Crimes
Gangcharger
Ideal Fathers
Lion Sized
Lust-Cats of the Gutters
Night of Joy
The Photo Atlas
The Uncertain Sea
Vicious Women
Wire Faces

HARDCORE/POST-HARDCORE
Git Some
Glass Hits
Il Cattivo
Joy Subtraction
Solar Bear

METAL
Adai
Arcanium
Black Sleep of Kali
Cannons
Havok
Horse
Lost Point
Novus Folium
Spools of Dark Thread
Trees

METAL – EXTREME
Allegaeon
Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire
Enemy Reign
Ploy for Extinction
To Be Eaten

AMERICANA
Boulder Acoustic Society
Elephant Revival
Paper Bird
Safe Boating Is No Accident
The Raven and the Writing Desk

FOLK/ACOUSTIC
Churchill
Dovekins
Glowing House
Radical Knitting Circle
Sunshine House

BLUEGRASS
Head for the Hills
Long Road Home
Oakhurst
Spring Creek

SINGER-SONGWRITER
A. Tom Collins
Kal Cahoone
John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light
Ian Cooke
Danielle Ate the Sandwich
Patrick Dethlefs
Rob Drabkin
Katey Laurel
Mike Marchant’s Outer Space Party Unit
Caleb Slade

COUNTRY
Casey James Prestwood & the Burning Angels
Halden Wofford & the High Beams
The Hollyfelds
Marty Jones & the Great Unknowns
The New Ben Franklins

ELECTRONIC
ALERT
CacheFlowe
Big Gigantic
Paper Diamond
Signal Path

ELECTRONIC – EXPERIMENTAL
Alphabets
Candy Claws
Nervesandgel
Modern Witch
Pictureplane

AMBIENT/NOISE
Married In Berdichev
Iuengliss
Kevin Costner Suicide Pact
Page 27
Novasak

ELECTRO POP
Flashlights
Force Publique
Hideous Men
ManCub
King Mob

JAZZ
Aakash Mittal Group
Convergence
Greg Harris Vibe Quintet
Ninth + Lincoln Orchestra
SuperCollider

BLUES
The Informants
Lionel Young
Boa and the Constrictors
John Alex Mason
Reckless Red

FUNK
Bop Skizzum
Demon Funkies
Filthy Children
Funkiphino
Juno What

SOUL/R&B
Dae Dai
Adam Duncan
Will Guice
The Love Royale
Sista Soul

REGGAE/DUB
Apex Vibe
Desciples
Dubskin
Judge Roughneck
Slaughterhouse Rootz

GOTHIC
Beryl Beloved
Choke the Word
The Siren Project
The Silver Chord
The Widow’s Bane

WORLD
Colcannon
Euforquestra
The Indulgers
Pink Hawks
Potcheen

DJ – DANCE
Dragon
Ishe
Kostas K
Manufactured Superstars
Trajikk

DJ -HIP-HOP
Cysko Rokwel
KTone
Lowkey
Sounds Supreme
Vajra

DJ – PROGRESSIVE
Peter Black
boyhollow
Ginger Perry
Klaw
MU$A

Nominating Committee: Dominic Atencio, David Barber, John Baxter, Kim Baxter, Cassidy Bednark, Morris Beegle, Mark Bliesener, Jonathan Bitz, Christian Blochinger, Hillary Bonner, Chris Callaway, Britt Chester, Sean Choi, Ryan Chrys, Gretta Cornett, Bree Davies, Virgil Dickerson, Daniel Ericson, Guy Errickson, Tyler Gillmore, Pete Gurule, Eric Halborg, Sam Hanson, Dave Herrera, Jamie Hillyer, Leonard Jackson, Angelica Jimenez, Lucas Johannes, Ru Johnson, Thorin Klosowski, Chris Kresge, Scott LaBarbera, John Le, Sarah Levin, Kamau Martinez, Chris Meehan, Dave Meyer, Ryan McRyhew, Evan Mellichampe, Tom Murphy, Paul Padilla, Adam Perry, Sid Pink, Nathan Reid, Rob Rodgers, Rachael Romero, Quibian Salazar-Moreno, Dutch Seyfarth, Sarah Slater, Jon Solomon, Chase Squires, Angie Stevens, Mark Sundermeier, Doug Tackett, Amber Taufen, Billy Thieme, Andy Thomas, Chris Thomas, Michael Trundle, Tim Weilert, D. Williams, John Wenzel