Without fail, the Houston Press Music Awards sneak up on us. Last year, when the HPMAs returned to the dog days of summer after a one-year Thanksgiving holiday, only a few short months fell between the 2011 trophies and 2012 nomination ballot. This time it's been several months longer, but feels just as short.

Funny thing. While Rocks Off was verifying the nominees these past couple of days we used iTunes a lot, to check release dates and such. Every kind of music you can find on iTunes you can also find live in Houston music venues. We think that says something pretty great about our city.

And a lot of this music is worth saluting, which is where we come in. What you're about to read is 164 nominations across 34 categories, and it still doesn't feel like enough. Sadly, Houston is far too big for even this ballot to include everyone who deserves to be nominated, and our sincere apologies to those folks. So we have to ask... who did we leave off?

The ballot will be live tomorrow; of course we'll let you know when that happens. Congratulations to all this year's nominees.

BEST LOCAL RECORDING

• American Fangs, American Fangs
• Grandfather Child, Grandfather Child
• Grievous Angels, Grievous Angels
• The Niceguys, James Kelley
• Oceans of Slumber, Aetherial
• Venomous Maximus, Beg Upon the Light

BEST LOCAL SONG

• Junior Gordon Band, "Big"
• Cindy Pruitt, "Epiphany"
• Qanda, "Woman of My Dreams"
• Second Lovers, "New Mexico"
• Trae Tha Truth feat. Future, "Screwed Up"
• Wild Moccasins, "Gag Reflections"

BEST LOCAL MUSIC VIDEO

• American Fangs, "Pomona"
• Featherface, "I Saw You Dancing"
• Junior Gordon Band, "Big"
• The Traveling Murphys, "I'll Tell Me Ma"
• Leah White & the Magic Mirrors, "Our Roots Are Strong"

LOCAL MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

• Doughbeezy
• Texas Johnny Brown
• Junior Gordon
• Le$
• Libby Koch

BEST NEW ACT

• Grand Old Grizzly
• Rob Gullatte
• Oceans of Slumber
• Recovery Room
• Maxo Kream

BEST SONGWRITER

• Jordi Baizan
• Libby Koch
• Cindy Pruitt
• Walter Suhr
• Mike Stinson

BEST PRODUCER

• Darryl Youngblood
• Jack Saunders
• Jason Rooks
• Josh Applebee

BEST MALE VOCALS

• Jack Freeman
• Josh Fuller (Josh Fuller and Dirt & Diesel)
• Junior Gordon (Junior Gordon Band)
• Dillon Trimm (The Trimms)
• Jordi Baizan (Qanda)

BEST FEMALE VOCALS

• Lainey Balagia (Grievous Angels)
• Cindy Pruitt (Fluff the Kat)
• Annika Chambers
• Doomstress Alexis (Project Armageddon)
• Tessa Kole (PuraPharm)

BEST GUITARIST

• Sam Austin (Libby Koch)
• Kevin Bull (Josh Fuller and Dirt & Diesel)
• Teri Greene
• Adrian Martinez (The Trimms)
• Andy Zipper (QandA)

BEST BASSIST

• Mark Dulworth (Qanda)
• Keegan Kelly (Oceans of Slumber)
• Rankin Peters (Nobody's Fool)
• Adam Walker (Josh Fuller and Dirt & Diesel)

BEST DRUMMER

• Dobber Beverly (Oceans of Slumber)
• "Booch" Booch (Josh Fuller and Dirt & Diesel)
• Gabe Bravo (The Trimms/Shotgun Funeral)
• Dustin Wolfe (Qanda)

BEST KEYBOARDS

• Ezra Charles (Ezra Charles Band)
• Nick Greer (Nick Greer & the G's)
• Patrick Kelly (The Suffers)
• Corey Moss (Josh Fuller and Dirt & Diesel)
• Matthew Buehrer (Recovery Room)

BEST OTHER INSTRUMENT

• Niki Sims (clarinet/sax, PuraPharm)
• Steve Krase (harmonica, Steve Krase & the In Crowd)
• Jonathan Lin (fiddle, Libby Koch)
• David Weinzapfel (steel guitar, Junior Gordon Band)

BEST SOLO RAPPER

• Baby Jay
• Delo
• Doughbeezy
• Fat Tony
• Le$
• Roosh Williams

BEST RAP GROUP

• All Day
• H.I.S.D.
• The Niceguys
• The Outfit TX
• Ryno & Noon

BEST RAP DJ

• DJ Candlestick
• DJ Elevated
• DJ iPod Ammo
• DJ Mr. Rogers

BEST CLUB DJ/DJ NIGHT

• Bombon
• DJ Tech.Sys
• DJ Sun
• Gritsy
• Mr. Castillo

BEST POP ACT

• Chase Hamblin & the Roustabouts
• Kristine Mills
• The White Flags
• The Tontons
• Wild Moccasins

BEST LATIN ACT

• La Sien
• Los Guerreros de la Musica
• Los Skarnales
• Mango Punch
• Yelba

BEST JAZZ

• Alisha's Quartet
• The Core Trio
• Free Radicals
• Tianna Hall

BEST BLUES

• Annika Chambers
• The Mighty Orq
• Steve Krase & the In Crowd
• Paul Ramirez Band
• Little Joe Washington
• Texas Johnny Brown

BEST SOUL/FUNK/R&B

• Caretta Bell
• Electric Attitude
• Grady Gaines & the Texas Upsetters
• Nick Greer & the G's
• The Journey Agents
• Zwee

BEST REGGAE/SKA/DUB

• Alvin and the Slickpunks
• Cassette Tape
• D.R.U.M.
• The Suffers
• Thread Belly

BEST ZYDECO

• Bayou Roux
• J. Paul Jr. & the Zydeco Nu Breeds
• Curtis Poullard & the Creole Zydeco Band
• Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaws
• Zydeco Dots

BEST COUNTRY

• Interstate
• Josh Fuller and Dirt & Diesel
• Junior Gordon Band
• Mike Stinson
• Justin Van Sant

BEST FOLK/AMERICANA

• Buxton
• Grand Old Grizzly
• Grievous Angels
• Second Lovers
• Shotgun Funeral

BEST TRADITIONAL ROCK

• AThousandColours
• Born Again Virgins
• Grandfather Child
• Jealous Creatures
• Qanda
• The Trimms

BEST MODERN ROCK

• The Abyss
• American Fangs
• Another Run
• Glass the Sky
• The Manichean
• thelastplaceyoulook

BEST GARAGE/PUNK/HARDCORE

• Bury the Crown
• Black Market Syndicate
• The Dead Rabbits
• The Hates
• Mikey & the Drags

BEST METAL

• Downfall 2012
• Nine Minutes
• Oceans of Slumber
• Project Armageddon
• Sanctus Bellum
• Venomous Maximus

BEST EXPERIMENTAL/NOISE

• B L A C K I E
• Black Leather Jesus
• Illegal Wiretaps
• LIMB
• PLXTX
• Purapharm

BEST ELECTRONIC ACT

• Bagheera
• Bang Bangz
• FLCON FCKER
• Glasnost
• Provision

BEST COVER/TRIBUTE ACT

• Beetle
• Driftwood
• The Fab 5
• Fluff the Kat
• Vince King as Elvis
• Maximus

• HPMA