Li'l Brian Terry
Nomination: Best Cajun/Zydeco
Sound of choice:
Time logged: 12 years
Etc.: Thanks to his Rounder Records CD, Z-Funk, Li'l Brian Terry is now synonymous with Gulf Coast zydeco's evolutionary potential. His is a funky, wholly original game plan for a tradition-bound genre's continued vitality well into the next millennium, sprinkling hip-hip, funk and reggae into the mix while keeping the crucial accordion foundation sound. Time to party like it's 1999.
30footFALL
Nomination: Best Metal/Hard Rock; Best Drummer (Damon DeLaPaz)
Sound: Drag-strip hard-core
Time logged: Four years
Etc.: Year after year, it's the same old, same old: spine-crushing power chords, dumb-ass lyrics, hyper-spasmodic time signatures, all delivered in the short, fast and not-so-sweet tradition of West Coast thrasher-punk and its tinny metal undertones. Of course, that's just swell with 30footFALL's ever-revolving -- and some might say, never-evolving -- army of young fans. A band to grow on.
30footFALL performs at 6 p.m. Sunday on the Shepherd Plaza Outdoor Stage.
TKoh!
Nomination: Best Horn/Horn Section; Best Funk/R&B
Sound: Soul-tainted funk and jazz
Time logged: Four years
Etc.: Though TKoh! boasts an impressive roster of journeyman players, it's more jam session than supergroup. The seven-horn lineup -- backed by a searing rhythm section -- blasts an eclectic melange of funk, jazz and soul classics that draws on the catalogs of everyone from James Brown to Stevie Wonder to Steely Dan. While its members continue to play assorted gigs with other artists on a regular basis, TKoh! has achieved a solid reputation all its own -- just for the fun of it.
TKoh! performs at 9 p.m. Sunday at Instant Karma.
Toy Subs
Nomination: Best Cover Band
Sound: Covers with personality
Time logged: Seven years
Etc.: Once again, Toy Subs has been nominated in the Best Cover Band category, and once again, you can be damn sure members would rather be on the ballot in another capacity -- i.e. Best Rock/Pop band. But the fact is, Toy Subs is better at playing other people's songs than writing its own. And until Toy Subs proves otherwise, expect a similar outcome in '99.
Train in Vain
Nomination: Best Rock/Pop
Sound: Pop disguised as something heavier
Time logged: More than five years
Etc.: Okay, so they're really from Beaumont, and they've been around far longer than even they care to acknowledge. But Train in Vain's trailer-park angst is real enough, its punk-pop hooks clever enough, to land the band more Houston gigs in a month than it's had in a year at home. And that, of course, is why they spend so much time hanging around here. Houston ought to claim this bunch as its own soon, lest they're signed, and Beaumont is besieged with major-label talent scouts. Don't think it couldn't happen; they're that good.
Train in Vain performs at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Rhino Room.
Truth Decay
Nomination: Best Metal/Hard Rock; Local Musician of the Year (Scott Ayers)
Sound of Choice: Rock opera for the hard of hearing
Time Logged: Eight years
Etc.: Sewn together from the remnants of Houston anti-legends the Pain Teens and Culturcide, Truth Decay is perhaps the most accessible group any of its members have ever been involved with. But that accessibility doesn't stop Ralf Armin, Scott Ayres and Frank Garymartin from rocking with more sonic brutality than any other power trio in Texas. Conventions be damned, this is progressive rock.
Truth Decay performs at 6 p.m. Sunday at Instant Karma.
23
Nomination: Best New Act
Sound: Tightly wound punk
Time logged: One year
Etc.: A punk band with horns that doesn't play ska is pretty rare these days, which makes 23 a unique specimen, indeed. With harsh guitars, comparatively mild vocals, tight drumming and off-kilter chord changes to keep listeners alert, this clever outfit is resigned to asking little in return for its art -- other than the occasional gig, of course.
23 performs at 7 p.m. Sunday at Instant Karma.
Under the Sun
Nomination: Best Female Vocalist (P.J. Cooper)
Sound: Bluesish rock
Time logged: Five years
Etc.: As she's grown into the all-around role as frontwoman for blues-rockers Under the Sun, P.J. Cooper has toned down the overly mannered banshee acrobatics that once stymied her vocals, revealing a voice of considerable finesse and character. Fortunately, her band is keeping pace with that considerable growth.
Under the Sun performs at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Rhino Room.
Violent Blue
Nomination: Best Female Vocalist (Brigid Sade)
Sound: Ethereal alterna-pop
Time logged: Seven years
Etc.: Built around Brigid Sade's fluid voice, Violent Blue's trippy progressive pop, in turn, provides just the sort of liquid atmosphere such singing demands. Boasting an impressive range and unique, often unintelligible phrasing, Sade is her own instrument, falling somewhere along the mystical female trajectory that stretches from the Cocteau Twins' Elisabeth Frazer to Sinead O'Connor.
Violent Blue performs at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Blue Iguana.
Wazobia
Nomination: Best Reggae/World Music
Sound: Both of the above
Time logged: 13 years
Etc.: Three-time Press Music Award winners in the Best Reggae/World Music category, Wazobia (the title means "Come Together") takes its sound and its inspiration from the memories of its founding members' homelands, places like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and America. They've toured throughout the country, performing at any number of reggae festivals, spreading the communal Rasta ethic from coast to coast, the Gulf included.
