Victoria’s Got Talent

A few weeks ago Mike Devlin from the Times Colonist asked if I would help judge the electronica category for the Times Colonist Music Awards – and I gladly accepted. There’s a TON of talent in Victoria, and many of the electronica producers & DJs here are dedicated, innovative and packing SERIOUS dance floor heat. All this has me excited to play a role in showcasing these creative powerhouses.

And now the contest is over! Mike fromt he TC reports “Judges have deliberated. Votes have been cast. Winners have been decided.” This Sunday the winners will be published in the paper, and they’ll also release the results of a ‘fan choice’ category, which you can currently vote on at timescolonist.com/musicawards.

Here’s an excerpt from the TC article:

“It has been quite an impressive few years for local musicians, from landmark wins at the Vancouver-based Peak Performance project to Maple Blues and Juno Award nominations. Their reach is spreading, too: Current Swell, a nominee in the rock category, is headed for Brazil in 2012, while Neon Steve, a favourite in the electronic/dance category, is soon taking his talents to the U.K. Over the course of the voting process, a whopping 180 acts received nods from our jury. Of those, 60 made it past the first round and to the shortlisted acts in each category. No one played favourites — jury members were asked to keep allegiances out of it — but clear front-runners emerged. When it came to casting their final votes, jurors were faced with choosing a winner out of five finalists in each category, an arduous task.”

An arduous task indeed – the competition was TOUGH! Once the results have been announced maybe I’ll share who I voted for. With any luck, they’re exactly the same! Time will tell.

My fellow electronica judges!:
Amanda Farrell-Low, freelance journalist
Dave Bain, Surge Ahead
Lars Taylor, Innergroove
Matt Morrison, Sugar nightclub

The judges for the other genres:
Adam Lee, Magmazing Music (rock)
Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist (jazz/blues)
Adam Bailey, FolkWest Festival (folk/roots)
Allison Green, world’s biggest music fan (folk/roots)
Bryan Capistrano, The Zone radio station (hip-hop/soul)
Dave Wallace, Innovate Imageworks (rock)
Dane Roberts, Victoria BC Ska Society (hip-hop/soul)
Darryl Mar, Victoria Jazz Society (jazz/blues)
Degree One, promoter/club DJ (hip-hop/soul)
Dimitri Demers, Atomique Productions/Rifflandia Festival (hip-hop/soul)
Eric LeBlanc, Victoria Conservatory of Music (jazz/blues)
Glenn Parfitt, Royal City Music Project/Victoria Music Hall of Fame (jazz/blues)
Heather Furneaux, Clove and Anchor Entertainment (punk/metal)
Ira Hunter, Absolute Underground magazine (punk/metal)
Jeremy Baker, The Zone radio station (rock)
Joey MacDonald, Olio Artists and Workers Co-operative (folk/roots)
Kimberli Persley, Amelia Artists Inc. (rock)
Kris Barnes, Club 9ONE9 (rock)
Marshall Anselmo, Stallion Entertainment (hip-hop/soul)
Mike Devlin, Times Colonist (folk/roots)
Pauly Hardcore, Vancouver Island Hardcore Society (punk/metal)
Robert Moyes, freelance journalist (jazz/blues)
Tiemen Kuipers, Talk’s Cheap record store (punk/metal)
Tim Horner, La ti Da Records (punk/metal)
Wendy Wall, Off the Wall Design (folk/roots)

The whole story from the TC is here!