Paul Van Dyk, Reflections (Mute Records)
Basement Jaxx, Kish Kash (XL Recordings/Astralwerks)
Various artists mixed by Paul Oakenfold, Creamfields (Thrive Records)
The Prodigy, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (XL Recordings/Maverick)
The Crystal Method, Legion of Boom (V2 Records)

Other Dance music award nominees were announce as well including these selections for the Best Dance Recording:

Scissor Sisters, "Comfortably Numb"
Basement Jaxx featuring Lisa Kekaula, "Good Luck"
Kylie Minogue, "Slow"
The Chemical Brothers, "Get Yourself High"
Britney Spears, "Toxic"

And Best Remixed Recording:

No Doubt, "It's My Life" - remixed by Jacques Lu Cont
George Michael, "Amazing" - remixed by Full Intention (Michael Gray and John Pearn)
Iggy Pop with Freedom featuring Peaches, "Motor Inn" - remixed by Felix Da Housecat
Felix Da Housecat, "Watching Cars Go By," - remixed by Sasha
N.E.R.D., "She Wants To Move," - remixed by Basement Jaxx

The Future: The whole Grammy Award category for the Dance music genre is dodgy at best. As exemplified by the "Creamfields" nod. Does overdubbing a kick and a snare sample qualify as an original album? No.
So how did a Oakenfold get nominated for this? Either someone from the Recording Academy was like "I've heard of Oakenfold before!! Let's nominate him!" or someone on his support team is a member of the Academy and suggested this title with a wink and a nod...and the Academy actually bought it. Either way, it's pretty lame.

>>> Digihear? December 2004

Part of Experiments In Sound, TestDrive will feature the lab results of our DJ Experiments so that everyone can get in on the action. Take the latest electronic music releases, mix vigorously with bleeding-edge DJ technology in a large beeker, and then cook the hell out of it! Be the first to hear about TestDrive by joining Futuremusic Direct.

Futuremusic wants to thank everyone who participated in The Next Big Thing 2004. John Digweed, Beatport, Alienware, M-Audio, Native Instruments, IK Multimedia, PVDJ, PK Graphics, Ableton, The DubHouse, Propellerheads, Technics, FreeFloat, The Church, PCDJ and every DJ who entered this year's event thank you. From the sheer number of quality mixes, we can tell you that dance music is thriving in the United States. The amount of outstanding talent and creativity really blew us away, and every DJ who's putting their heart, mind and soul behind the music is a winner. John Digweed has made his decision and the winner is...