Best new music blogger
Best musical anniversary
Best honorary member of Chicago’s footwork scene with a day job at a steel mill in Gary
Best consequence of a broken HVAC system
Best transcendental deep-space synth trip
Best group of veterans of the Blue Man backing band
Best classical label
Best instructional dance video
Best onstage psychedelic costume party
Best 4 AM bar for live music
Best cross between the Breeders and Lightning Bolt
Best group making music with the contents of a thrift-store basement
Best career reboot by a septuagenarian harmonica player
Best feminist rock ‘n’ roll exorcism
Best band primed to break out this year
Best hot dice
Best new south-side nightlife spot
Best punk-rock LGBTQ night
Best reason to hang out at a barcade after midnight on a school night
Best way to footwork in an art gallery during off-hours
Best lasers at an underground rave
Best nomadic collective for weird, druggy, hard-hitting underground techno
Best progressive cumbia and tropical bass night
Best-dressed DJs
