Yo, Kansas City! It's time to rock the vote!

Deep Thinkers
Many hip-hop acts are content to rhyme about the trials and tribulations of everyday life, but KC duo Deep Thinkers takes a more enlightened approach. The group's sound is based on the almost subliminal interplay between production-and-turntable wiz Leonard D. Stroy's complex backing tracks and the impassioned sociological critique of rapper Brother of Moses. In March, the group's sophomore effort, Necks Move, was picked up for national distribution by Coup De Grace, and the Thinkers' numerous Midwest and East Coast shows proved that they had both hustle and flow. (www.daturarecords.com)

Approach
Lawrence's MC Approach enhanced his national reputation over the past year, trekking coast to coast with his laid-back lyricism. In March, his disc Ultra Proteus (released locally in 2003) benefited from a worldwide distribution deal. On his rare days of, he worked on a slew of upcoming releases, including the brilliantly titled Magic vs. Bird (with Mac Lethal), The Muze (a solo effort with an '80s electro-funk feel) and Will Do (with Oh No from the Stone's Throw crew). (www.myspace.com/approach)

Empire
The only rap crew so far to dish up a mighty beef against this humble newsweekly, Empire continues to prove itself a force to be reckoned with. Members Grant Rice, Luna, SG and Panic have been spreading their names nationally for much of the past year, and a tour that kicks off here in late August will find the Hispanic MCs taking their chest-out barrio gospel and kicked-back beat as far as Hollywood. (www.empiremovement.com)

Best Rock
The Architects
If you haven't heard of the Architects by now, then you've missed out on 15 months of maximum R&B (in the Who sense of the phrase), which means: (1) the singer sings his ass off, (2) the guitarist rocks his ass off, (3) the bassist stays calm, (4) the drummer pounds his ass off, and (5) the entire band comes crashing down on the frontal lobe of the listener's brain like a Pete Townshend windmill. The brothers Phillips (Brandon, Adam and Zach) and Mike Alexander cut their teeth early in life as the Gadjits, opening for Rancid when their peers back home were getting stuffed into gym lockers. Rather than make any overtures toward living normal lives, the boys got skull-and-crossbones tattoos and sold their souls for you-know-what.

Doris Henson
Recently signed to DeSoto Records and currently warming up the stage for Billy Corgan, Doris Henson has come a long way since its sprightly singer-guitarist Matt Dunehoo booked a tour without a band. (It's also surely the only indie-rock band in KC to use a trombone.) Doris Henson's music is a blend of pop hooks that roar out of a soft and hypnotically smooth approach. Up for best vocalist, Dunehoo is always on, whether he's working the stage like a pre-stardom Paul McCartney or posing for in-store billboards at Half Price Books, where he still has to work a day job. But with a voice like a perversely reincarnated indie-rock Doris Day, Dunehoo may not have to stock used vinyl much longer. (www.dorishenson.com)

The Stella Link
Even if you're not familiar with the Stella Link, you've probably seen at least one of its members before. In addition to playing bass with the Link, Dave Gaumé runs sound at the Brick, the Hurricane and his own nascent all-ages club, the Black Door. It's not surprising, then, that the Stella Link is quite possibly the most musically fastidious, energetic and mercilessly loud indie-rock quartet in town, known as much for obsessing over its sound as for combining the best elements of punk, prog and emo into a pummeling surge that could knock Rivers Cuomo's glasses off at a hundred paces. (www.stellalink.com)

The Litigators
The Litigators don't play rock and roll -- they are rock and roll. Its triple nomination is evidence of how many jaded local heads have been turned by the sudden appearance of an expertly brazen group whose influences seem to start with Jerry Lee Lewis and end at the Small Faces. Misery Boys Tilden Snow (on bass) and Brendan Morris (on lead guitar) lend refined musicianship to the Litigators' sound, but untamable frontman Jeremiah Kidwell, attorney at law, and cool-handed sideman Jason Conkright make sure that the Litigators uphold the reckless laws of rock. (www.thelitigators.net)

The Roman Numerals
If the Roman Numerals indicate the direction Kansas City rock is headed at the beginning of the 21st century -- and they should, seeing as how the band's résumé includes Season to Risk, Dirtnap and Shiner -- then we're headed for dark, sophisticated and eminently danceable times. Unlike the shameless retro revivalists that are all the pop rage these days, the Roman Numerals craft a raw but rich, disco-punk-infiltrating sound that actually seems to have come out of London's club scene, circa 1978, via Ian Curtis' more romantic nightmares. (www.theromannumerals.com)

Shots Fired
Over the past ten years, the Vans Warped Tour has moved away from pure-punk lineups, welcoming power pop and even hip-hop. In 2005, it opened its traveling-summer-camp gates to Shots Fired, whose influences (Thin Lizzy, Drive Like Jehu) aren't exactly Alternative Press cover boys. Drummer Billy Johnson (formerly of Frogpond and Onward Crispin Glover) pummels his kit like a boxer, but Zachary Aaron's tuneful vocals keep the songs from getting too heavy. Its self-titled album, released last June, plays like sugar -- sweet yet gritty. (www.shotsfired.net)

Best Soul/R&B
OnJaLee
OnJaLee may be one of the most resourceful and accessible musicians in Kansas City. Her talents range widely to include spoken-word poetry and scatty, sweet soul. She consistently networks throughout the city and has been working for over a year with Tom Woosley of KC's WooWoo productions on her first album. Kansas City definitely isn't the easiest place for a soul singer to make it, but with her persistence, OnJaLee is one to wager on.

E-Vent
This quartet is going so many places that unless you've got the inside connection, you'll be lucky to catch a whiff of its members' cologne. The KC-based male R&B group recently caught the eye of Backstreet Boys producer David McPherson, and now it's gearing up to jet to New York City and ink a deal with Sony. With their buff bods, matching outfits, sexy stage presence and soulful harmonies, the teenage hunks of E-Vent certainly aren't the worst emissaries Kansas City could send out to the rest of the world. We just hope they'll take time off to call home once in a while. (www.goodlifemusicgroup.com)

Ida McBeth
Ida McBeth has previously reeled in PMA nominations as Best Female Vocalist (four times) and Best Blues Vocalist (another four times). It's an appropriate tribute to her versatility that this time she's nominated as a soul singer. She has filled rooms in town for 30 years, most recently with her frequent gigs at Jardine's. With her smile, her luscious voice and her famously vibrant personality, it's impossible to listen to her sing and not think about her soul. (www.idamcbeth.com)

Boy Big
Acts such as Jodeci and R. Kelly pioneered the sound and look of gangsta soul, but LeVar "Boy Big" Fletcher takes the genre and runs with it. The KC-based crooner, who alternates between bed-you-down ballads and fuck-you-up street fare, made a name for himself singing the hook to Gang Starr's "Nice Girl, Wrong Place" and trading guest appearances with members of the Wu Tang Clan. But it was Big's 2004 full-length debut, The Playa The Hustla The Gentleman, that offered an extended showcase of his fluttery falsetto and soulful swagger.