2008 Best Music Poll: Our Picks

For the last couple weeks, I've been listing the nominees for the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll and linking to the bands' MySpace.com pages. But now we're providing links to all the categories and our preferences in each category. So, without further ado, here are our picks for the various categories:

Best New Act
Honey Clouds

Best Singer-Songwriter
Rev. Paul S. Cunnynghame

Best Hip-Hop Act
Brzowski

Best DJ/Dance Act
Graymatter

Best Electronic Act
None

Best World-Music Act
Okbari

Best Male Vocalist
Jonny Balzano-Brooks (Phantom Buffalo)

Best Female Vocalist
Emilia Dahlin

Best R&B/Soul/Blues Act
Samuel James

Best Indie Act
Phantom Buffalo

Best Roots Act
King Memphis

Best Heavy Music/Metal Act
Dead Season

Best Punk Act
The Pubcrawlers

Best Category-Defying Act
Big Blood

Best Rock Act
Hiss & Chambers

Best Local Act
Samuel James

You can vote in 2008 Best Music Poll by clicking here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

Nominees for Best Local Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Cambiata
• Covered in Bees
• Cult Maze
• Fire on Fire
• Samuel James
• Rustic Overtones

You can vote for Best Local Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominess for Best Rock Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Cambiata
• Dead End Armory
• Dominic & the Lucid
• Hiss & Chambers
• Rustic Overtones
• Sparks the Rescue

You can vote for Best Rock Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Category-Defying Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Big Blood
• By Blood Alone
• Confusatron
• Over a Cardboard Sea
• Vince Nez
• Visitations

You can vote for Best Category-Defying Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Punk Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Big Meat Hammer
• Covered in Bees
• Leftovers
• Outsiders
• Pubcrawlers
• RattleSnakes

You can vote for Best Punk Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Heavy Music/Metal Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Civil Disturbance
• Conifer
• Dead Season
• Ocean
• Ogre
• Twisted Roots

You can vote for Best Heavy Music/Metal Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Root Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Coming Grass
• Jerks of Grass
• King Memphis
• Poor Valley Salvation Society
• Sean Mencher
• Toughcats

You can vote for Best Root Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Indie Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Brown Bird
• Cult Maze
• Cursillistas
• Fire on Fire
• Phantom Buffalo
• Satellite Lot

To vote for Best Indie Act, vote here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

Here are the nominees for the Best R&B/Soul/Blues Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll:

• Boombazi
• Samuel James
• Meantone
• Miss Fairchild
• Sly-Chi
• Tonekings

You can vote for the Best R&B/Soul/Blues Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Female Vocalist in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Cruella (By Blood Alone)
• Emilia Dahlin
• dilly dilly
• Jaye Drew (Jaye Drew and a Moving Train)
• Colleen Kinsella (Fire on Fire)
• Sontiago

You can vote for Best Female Vocalist here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Male Vocalist in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Jonny Balzano-Brookes (Phantom Buffalo)
• Dave Gutter (Paranoid Social Club)
• Pete Kilpatrick (Pete Kilpatrick Band)
• Dominic Lavoie (Dominic & the Lucid)
• Micah Blue Smaldone
• Chriss Sutherland

You can vote for Best Male Vocalist here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

Here are the nominees for the Best World-Music Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll:

• Boreal Tordu
• Grupo Esperanza
• Okbari
• Primo Cubano
• Tango Mucha Labia
• Zhok Therapy

You can vote for Best World-Music Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best Electronic Act in the 2008 Portland Phoenix's Best Music Poll are:

• Dereloid
• Dreamosaic
• j.hjort
• Tempera
• Vik44
• Whitehouse on Trial

You can vote for Best Electronic Act here:

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The nominees for Best DJ/Dance Act for the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll are:

• Boondocks
• Gabe FM
• Graymatter
• H++L
• Jason Keith & Matty T
• Shade

You can vote for Best DJ/Dance Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

Here are the nominees for Best Hip Hop Act in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll:

• Mike Blast
• Brzowski
• Ill By Instinct
• Labseven
• Project Dark
• Saylove

Vote for Best Hip Hop Act here.

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

Here are the nominees for Best Singer-Songwriter in the Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll:

• Sara Cox
• Roy Davis
• Frank Hopkins
• Kate Schrock
• Jason Spooner
• Megan Jo Wilson

You can vote for the Best Singer-Songwriter here.

(Update: Wendy Hysko, the library director at Warren Memorial Library, informed me today that Cox will be performing at the library on May 23 at 7p. That is all, carry on.)

- John C.L. Morgan

2008 Best Music Poll Nominees

The Portland Phoenix is handing out its annual awards for the best bands in Portland in May. So we here at the Phoenix's Westbrook bureau (just kidding, it just seems that way) figured it'd be a good opportunity to showcase the diversity of Maine music by featuring a different category until polling closes on April 4.

Today's category is Best New Act. Here are the nominees:

• Daro
• Highway Jackson
• Honey Clouds
• Man-Witch
• RattleSnakes
• Chris Teret

To vote for Best New Act, click here.

- John C.L. Morgan