This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Gossip (No, Not the Band) Spoiler Alert: Willamette Week's Best New Band of 2011
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Every year we like to place a little action on what Portland act the Willamette Week will anoint "Best New Band" for their annual cover story. Of course, BNB is a little absurd—after playing together for five years, I'm sure "new" band Red Fang appreciated their tenth place finish last year—but any excuse to gamble is fine by us.
This year we're feeling pretty confident—it's a five-star lock—on what band will win the coveted honor and skyrocket to greatness, or just become as popular as past winners Copy or the Shaky Hands. Our guess (and possible spoiler) after the jump.
It's And And And. If we are wrong, we will blog a retraction and give Casey Jarman a compliment of his choice.
1
I'm sure you're right. I don't remember BNB being this much of a no-brainer in a while. And And And deserve it too--they're prolific and creative as hell, and they're good dudes to boot!
2
Best New Band is and always has been an excuse to get good local music on the cover of our paper every year. Every year we write that "best," "new" and "band" are all relative terms and we explain that they mean different things to different people who we poll. But by the same token, to some WW readers, none of the bands are going to feel "new" in any way and for some of them, we're introducing 10 local bands for the first time and hopefully encouraging people to go see local music. And hopefully doing some good long-form writing in the process.
The only thing I really take issue with here is the word "anoint." (Well, I also take issue with the fact that you didn't use the spine quote on this quick-n-dirty cover frame-up for a joke, but there's a lot going on.) The article is the result of a poll, and while some of WW's freelance music writers get a vote, we send ballots out to over 300 local industry folks and get a pretty good percentage back in voting returns (we'll publish that number in the issue). There's room for all kinds of conversation about the process—it's not perfect and yeah, there's a silliness to the whole thing for sure—but I would appreciate it if you acknowledged that there is a process and that we don't just decide who the "Best New Band" will be by sitting around an editorial desk. While I can't speak for Red Fang, I think they probably did appreciate that a lot of people in the local music community thought of them, even a bit belatedly, and counted them among their favorite acts.
I will say that the odds-on favorite doesn't always pull it out (I think Starfucker and Blind Pilot were considered shoe-ins and neither got first place in the poll), and that the fact that you are pegging a really good band that has done some amazing stuff this year as the likely winner means that maybe...just maybe...you think we're doing something right, despite the absurdity.
Also, I still love Copy and the Shaky Hands. Greatness is relative.
-Casey Jarman, Music Ed., WW
More...
The only thing I really take issue with here is the word "anoint." (Well, I also take issue with the fact that you didn't use the spine quote on this quick-n-dirty cover frame-up for a joke, but there's a lot going on.) The article is the result of a poll, and while some of WW's freelance music writers get a vote, we send ballots out to over 300 local industry folks and get a pretty good percentage back in voting returns (we'll publish that number in the issue). There's room for all kinds of conversation about the process—it's not perfect and yeah, there's a silliness to the whole thing for sure—but I would appreciate it if you acknowledged that there is a process and that we don't just decide who the "Best New Band" will be by sitting around an editorial desk. While I can't speak for Red Fang, I think they probably did appreciate that a lot of people in the local music community thought of them, even a bit belatedly, and counted them among their favorite acts.
I will say that the odds-on favorite doesn't always pull it out (I think Starfucker and Blind Pilot were considered shoe-ins and neither got first place in the poll), and that the fact that you are pegging a really good band that has done some amazing stuff this year as the likely winner means that maybe...just maybe...you think we're doing something right, despite the absurdity.
Also, I still love Copy and the Shaky Hands. Greatness is relative.
-Casey Jarman, Music Ed., WW
3
I also don't understand why The Mercury spends any time or energy trying to demean WW's "best new band" articles. What's to dislike? Why not spend the time talking about the bands you love?
4
casey make a good point. a lot of times "new" could just mean that the artist had a breakthrough year. grouper being #4 on 2009's best new band poll is a good example.
5
Thanks Casey. This was more a post about trying to guess the winner. Our feelings about BNB are irrelevant. It's not our paper. More importantly, did we get it right?
@Matthew Stadler
We spend plenty of time talking about the bands we love in our music section every week.
@Matthew Stadler
We spend plenty of time talking about the bands we love in our music section every week.
6
You brought up some of your feelings (perhaps they were sneaky feelings), and I thought it warranted a quick response, and then I blabbed, as I am prone to doing. I didn't take this as a WW-bashing post.
The Wipers are this year's Best New Band.
The Wipers are this year's Best New Band.
8
She and Him was the one of the worst concerts I have ever wasted my money on. So let me not spend money on this one so M Ward can redeem himself to me (sans Zooey).
9
I've noticed that the only time Matthew Stadler drops by is to complain about relatively meaningless things. Things that seem like pretty small potatoes. Why is that?
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