From the Boston Phoenix:

All-Time Best Band: Apples in Stereo
All-Time Best Solo Artist: Jello Biafra
Best New Band: DeVotchKa

In the land of ski slopes and dope-smoking jam bands, Beach Boys superfan Robert Schneider flipped the hippie script. He gilded the Apples in Stereo's patchwork pyschedelia with recycling-bin orchestration, and tempered his rigorously eclectic popcraft with poetic, newfangled noise. The resultant Elephant 6 movement re-ignited Amerindie-rock's love affair with facial hair and pawn-shop trombones.

"Jello Biafra" was conceived in San Francisco, as a yippie-fied provocateur (and leader of Dead Kennedys) battling Reaganomics with pith, politics, and poignancy that quickly transcended punk. (In a run for mayor of SF, his platform included a law mandating businessmen to wear clown suits. In a field of 10, he came in fourth.) But as any true Rocky Mountaineer knows, Jello's alter ego, Eric Reed Boucher, was born and raised in Boulder.

The lavishly theatrical circus band DeVotchKa delivers made-for-Hollywood gypsy punk, with a Clooney-esque frontman and a raucous stage show featuring a really, really hot tuba player. Easily the best reason to re-add Little Miss Sunshine (they did the score) to your Netflix queue.

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