Best Local Dance Band

Kevin Barnes’ Athens psych-pop crew OF MONTREAL has worked from the backbone of Beach Boys’ vocals and Beatles’ straight strum to make records that run the gambit from sweetly earnest to playfully psychedelic. The result was so lovable that when its former label, Kindercore, ceased operations in 2003, it only took a few months for the band to land on Midwestern indie Polyvinyl. Barnes tweaked his lo-fi sound, noticing that all the kids were dancing these days, and made two albums (Satanic Panic in the Attic and this year’s The Sunlandic Twins) with disco-inspired sing-alongs like “Rapture Rapes the Muses” and “So Begins Our Alabee.” We’d follow Barnes through sludge, so we have no problem with a little booty-shaking, albeit in an indie-rock kinda way.
www.ofmontreal.net.

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With their baseball caps, oxford shirts and Old South trappings (the lead singer’s name is Beau Hall), this local trio seems an unlikely group to have embraced old-style electric blues, but such is the state of that venerable genre. Still, Blind Slim are no doubt earnest and have adopted the 12-bar boogie as their calling card, cleaving to it as if part of a rite as sacred as beer, pretzels and darts. Long live down-home American music. less...

Although they take their name largely from frontman Mike Geier’s towering height, Kingsized is also a handy description of this very big, horn-driven band’s expansive lineup and enduring audience appeal. Geier’s skill as a vocalist/bandleader and his impeccable choice of repertoire (everything from Elvis to Oscar Brown Jr.) make Kingsized’s sound as much a treat for your ears as for your dancin’ feet. less...