What if the Chaff Beats the Wheat?

Musical contests that rely on public voting are suspicious at best when it comes to actually discovering or rewarding talent. When the voting takes place online, though, we have a hard time taking any of the results seriously.

Metromix is running a "Rock 'N Vote" contest, supposedly cherry picking the best talent you've never heard of and, surprisingly, we actually haven't heard a bunch of them. A few familiar names do pop up -- The Penthouse Sweets, The Silents, Sweetish, and Butterfly Assassins are all actually fine bands.

The really surprising part is that a cursory listen to the tracks streaming online for the rest of the bands displays a remarkably pleasing musical cross section both stylistically and talent-wise. The only real stinker in the group is the cookie-cutter mall-punk of Goodbye Satellite ... and of course they're the group leading the votes with a suspiciously large lead. Go figure.

Anyway, if you're interested, check out the contest and cast your own vote. The winners get to play a showcase at Double Door, which actually seems like a weird prize when you consider that a) most of the bands in the running already play Double Door semi-regularly and b) if Goodbye Satellite wins its fan-base won't actually be able to attend the 21+ show.

Photo of Butterfly Assassins via their MySapce page