The Trophy Case

AMERICANA / ROOTS / COUNTRY / ROCKABILLY
DUSTY 45s

True to their name, the 45s deliver a scrappy, devil-may-care country sound with a beat even city folk can dance to. Around since 1997, the five-piece band rallies behind the theatrical rockabilly style of frontman Billy Joe Huels, who leads the group in a high-spirited gallop through honky-tonk, blues, and rock without breaking a sweat. Their 2002 album, recorded at KEXP, won them plenty of new local fans, but their star is still rising—and somewhere Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Ray Condo are all tipping their hats. NEAL SCHINDLER

BEST NEW ARTIST
IDIOT PILOT

Alternate award: Best All-of-the-Above Artist. Or at least many of the above: Bellingham's Idiot Pilot engineer a detente between, as Urb put it when it included the band in its Next 100, "the blurry atmospherics of Radiohead, bleepy techno, and the throat-shredding emo-metal of Deftones, shifting back and forth with the loud/soft dynamics learned from Smashing Pumpkins albums." Even more impressive, they're young—none of 'em are 20 yet—which means they can, and will, probably just get better and broader as they soldier on. MICHAELANGELO MATOS

BLUES
CHARLES WHITE BAND

"Established 1987," according to their Web site, this blues juggernaut emerged when vocalist White moved to Seattle from Texas and hooked up with a handful of local natives, including alto saxophonist Bill Blackstone, guitarist Scott Lind, and keyboardist Rolf Larson. White is a veteran performer and has as much charisma as any local blues performer, while his six-piece backing band (which also features dynamic baritone saxophonist John Savage) nimbly shadows his every move. They play next at Doc Maynard's on Friday, May 20. MICHAELANGELO MATOS

COVER / TRIBUTE
HELL'S BELLES

"Hot! Loud! And sticky with sweat!" So screams their official Web site, yet Hell's Belles are no campy novelty act. An all-female AC/DC tribute band, the Belles formed in 2000 and recently replaced their original lead vocalist, Om Johari, with Jamie Nova ("grabbing both Bon Scott and Brian Johnson by the balls"). Their passion for the music is somehow both sly and sincere, and despite their globe-trotting ways— yes, they're big in Japan; Canada, too—they'd no sooner neglect their hometown than Angus Young et al. would leave Australia behind. Their next Seattle show is at Neumo's on Friday, May 20. NEAL SCHINDLER

DJ / TURNTABLIST
DJ FUCKING IN THE STREETS

We'd like to think our readers are cheeky enough to have picked this winner for his name alone. But no—the punk-reared artist called him Eric Grandy by his mom is actually a really good DJ, spinning a wide range that includes post-punk both old-school (Gang of Four) and new (the Rapture, Franz Ferdinand), laptop-based experimental stuff (Kid606), electro (Two Lone Swordsmen), neogoth (Interpol), Britpop, and plenty in between. And best of all, he will (and obviously does) make you dance to it all. MICHAELANGELO MATOS

ELECTRONICA
UNITED STATE OF ELECTRONICA

See related story.

EXPERIMENTAL
SEATTLE SCHOOL

Although the roster of artists, composers, musicians, performers, and pranksters involved in any given Seattle School happening is always in a wonderful state of flux (you might be onstage with them next), the core of the performance art experiment is occupied by Korby Sears, Ben Houge, Mike Min, and Guy Whitmore. Conceived in 2002 as a means of exploring music and sound and their relationships with just about everything else, Seattle School spawned, among other events and ideas, the wildly popular—and wildly wild—Iron Composer series, wherein two local musicians navigate an aural objective/obstacle course while an entire rock club cheers/jeers them on. If you haven't caught the real thing, keep your boob tube on; there's a good chance Iron Composer will be coming soon to a big-time network near you. LAURA CASSIDY

GUITARIST
ALICE STUART

Calling this local legend underappreciated would be an understatement. Following the release of 2002's Can't Find No Heaven, a mix of original songs and blues standards, Blues Review compared Stuart's guitar playing to that of B.B. King. Her recording career goes back to 1964's All the Good Times, yet Stuart rolls on, forming new bands—her latest is the Formerlys, composed of Steve Flynn (keyboards), Marc Willett (bass), and Rick Boice (drums)—and racking up accolades. (The Washington Blues Society recently inducted her into its Hall of Fame.) NEAL SCHINDLER

METAL / HARD ROCK
THE RUBY DOE

Math-rock? You're soaking in it. And you obviously want to—and when it comes to the Ruby Doe, whose bassist, Jesse Sea, and guitarist, Aaron Ellh, have been playing together for over a decade, who could blame you? We'll guess that the superb new Always With Wings, the band's third album, helped put them over the top this time around, but they've always been self-starters—two years ago, "Red Letters" garnered airplay on The End without an actual release. Anyone who can make herky-jerky time-signature changes sound like second nature, not to mention laden them with hooks, deserves your (and our) accolades. MICHAELANGELO MATOS

HIP HOP
BLUE SCHOLARS

When MC Geologic and DJ/producer Sabzi won 2004's Best Album write-in tally for their self-titled, self-issued debut, we wrote it up—and then they wrote us up on their Web site, where the duo rate their own reviews on a five-star scale. (The blurb was given three and a half—midway between "Near-classic" and "Fair, unbiased, objective . . . boring." Hey, thanks—we try.) They've since consolidated their gains, becoming the city's most reliable—and one of its busiest—hip-hop presences and hopefully working on a follow-up that'll have us inching toward www.bluescholars.com's designation for a five-star-worthy review: "We didn't pay you to write that, did we?" MICHAELANGELO MATOS