2006 Dallas Observer Music Awards

But that doesn't mean the local legend has been unproductive. In the past year, Merritt has produced releases on U.K. and U.S. labels, written and produced music for television soundtracks (including a couple of HBO pilots), had his mixes played on XM and Sirius and worked with his latest production group, Datguy. Oh, and he still cranks out Edgeclub from midnight to 3 a.m. every Saturday night on 102.1 The Edge, his sets progressing from "song-based electronic music" (Royskopp, Goldfrapp) into his inimitable dance mixes.

For more than two decades, he's been known for his guru-like mastery of the turntables, but Merritt has recently branched out into the (more) electronic world. "I've been incorporating my trusty Mac--doing stuff on the fly," Merritt says. "It's a new dimension to DJing. Do the same thing for 20 years, it gets old. [The laptop] is a breath of fresh air." And that ability to evolve, to keep his sets and mixes fresh, is what keeps DJ Merritt a fixture in the DOMAs year after year. He's energetic, ever-changing and, most important, always looking for new sounds. Get ready for your remix, Ricki. --Merritt Martin

The pAper chAse
Best Experimental/Electronic

"We're not the friendliest band,"

vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/producer John Congleton says, explaining how his band, the pAper chAse, differs from the typical sell-yourselves pop-rock outfit. "We try to be entertainers. But we're also not the kind of artists that say that the art speaks for itself and just buy the album--we actually like to play for people."

For each concert and album, the pAper chAse proves this devotion with a level of energy--and perfection--that's incomparable to many bands. They leave it all onstage, from Congleton's one-armed guitar assaults to bassist Bobby Weaver's possessed (and very bearded) stage prowl during "plugged-in" shows to the orchestral sound that comes from the trio of pianist Sean Kirkpatrick, cellist Kris Youmans and Congleton during intense acoustic sets. "There's pretty much never a show we play that I don't feel completely annihilated afterward," Congleton says.

For the last year, the pAper chAse has been working on yet another effort to scare the shit out of their fans--Now You Are One of Us, set for release from national label Kill Rock Stars in June. "We're always focused on our sound and trying to do something that sounds interesting to us, so last year was no different in that regard," Kirkpatrick says. "We spent the first half of the year working out the arrangements for the songs that would wind up being on the album. Then we spent the fall driving around the country, going to different studios for the sounds we wanted." The pAper chAse then continued to offer up live shows last year when most bands would hole up in studios satisfied to just be recording...proving that indeed, these unfriendly bastards actually like to play for you people. --M.M.

Fishing for Comets >br>Best Folk/Acoustic

Though Fishing for Comets isn't in the same category as Fair to Midland, Mugzu or even the Deathray Davies, folk or acoustic it ain't either. The band does, however, have a mandolin player and an accordion player, so you know how that goes. Add lead singer Camille Cortinas' easy vocal melodies and Sam Romero's subtle electric guitar work and it's clear why Fishing for Comets has captured the Folk/Acoustic award every year the band's been in existence (that'd be twice). The eclectic instrumentation and matter-of-fact vocals at times recall 10,000 Maniacs, but Fishing for Comets' songs are smaller, cuter and less worldly--and that's a good thing.

Started by best friends Cortinas and Romero, who also write the majority of the songs, the band's whimsical name came from a "stupid thing" Cortinas once said to her mother to explain away what she'd been doing out late the night before. Cortinas' creativity also extends to personal touches like the homemade refrigerator magnets available for sale at shows and her quirky MySpace postings. The band's only official recording, an eight-song, self-titled EP released more than a year ago, is now somewhat out of date, but with a bit of luck and a new CD due for release in August there's no reason why Fishing for Comets can't make next year a three-peat. --Sander Wolf

Woodbelly
Best Funk/R&B

You people really screwed this category up. Do you even bother to read these ballots anymore? Dallas is and always has been about style over substance, form over function, the cover of the book being the only thing we read in this town. Now you've gone and blindly cast your votes awarding Woodbelly, a trio of panda-shaped crackas, as Best Funk/R&B Group. While they may look like rotund Best Buy employees and their reggae riffage may initially smack of a ska band that couldn't even scrape together a horn section, Woodbelly has the performance mileage, college credits and well-weathered chops to tackle a seemingly disingenuous formula with mastery and respect. Cas Haley, Ben Drake and Brandon Morris combine two decades' worth of formal education and tireless in-the-trenches gigging to produce music that is firmly rooted in an encyclopedic knowledge of their sonic ancestry without forgetting how to craft a hook that pop radio can't deny.