This is me

Lisa Jaeggi

My My My

Thanks again to everyone that applied including all of the top 10.  This was a hard choice and my friends can agree with me on that because of all the indecisive late night emails that I sent them.  One lesson was learned throughout this whole process:  choosing a winner on something as abstract of an art as music is pretty damn difficult.

I will preemptively answer the question that’s on most of the artists’ minds:  why them and not me?

I have an answer, but it may not be exactly what you want to hear.  I like obscure music that not everyone likes, but this isn’t completely about what I want.  It’s about giving a platform for an artist who is both marketable and musically exciting to perform an unplugged performance in front of my music friends and select press.

The first time I heard Lisa’s voice, I knew that she could carve a niche for herself in the Thao, Citizen Cope, Kaki King, John Butler markets while maintaining her own voice.  And when I took a poll of the top 10 with my close tastemaking friends, she was the only artist on everyone’s list.

As for My My My, I told them that the performance would have to be unplugged, to which bandleader Russell responded, “if its a truly unplugged situation and our keyboards and synths can’t be used, we can still play all of our songs, but, of course, they’ll sound completely different than they would normally. Our keyboards have the role traditionally held by the lead guitar and they’re the skin on our song skeleton.”  He did not read correctly.  I said unplugged, which is NOT necessarily acoustic.  I told him that if he could track down battery-operated keyboards with internal speakers then that would totally be fine.  SOOOO long story short, he did, so I’m extremely excited to see their brand of synth nerd rock in an unplugged environment.  Also, the fact that they’re from Chicago and willing to come just for this gig shows a lot of dedication and I respect that.  However, something tells me I may be able to work out another NYC show for them on whatever weekend they come, so more people will be able to see them.

But that is not to say that any of the artists weren’t authentic or wouldn’t be able to put on an extremely creative unplugged performance nor am I saying that there’s no hope for the other bands.  I will most certainly try to work with a few of the other local artist to get short sets throughout the summer, but as far as “winners” are concerned, I am choosing Lisa and My My My and I stand by that choice with confidence.