What if the Chaff Beats the Wheat?

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 9, 2008 3:40PM

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