Photo by Emily Utne

So, how many of you actually could predict this was going to happen?

Many among us have heard the name Nate Silver a lot in recent weeks leading up to the U.S. Presidential Election. He's the number-cruncher who very closely predicted which state's Electoral College votes would go for Barack Obama and which would end up in Mitt Romney's paws. Googling "Nate Silver map side by side" might crash your browser at this point because this guy has received so many plaudits.

Silver's impressive accuracy got us wondering if Picked to Click, our yearly best new local bands poll, could ever be projected with that level of precision. The short answer: Not yet. There's not a single person in the Twin Cities who predicted the top five for Picked to Click with their ballot, or with any other sort of statistical model that we're aware of. But a few people came very, very close.

See Also:
Picked to Click 2012: The best comments
Picked to Click 2012: By the numbers
Picked to Click 2012: Ballots and Winners
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Zoe Prinds-Flash

Audio Perm

Every year, we give our Picked to Click voters the chance to choose the best in new local bands. We've always been thrilled by the votes rolling in one-by-one, watching the tally marks add up for all the different Twin Cities acts. While it's fun to total the votes, we have just as much fun seeing all the heartfelt, fantastic, and hilarious comments on the ballots.

Celebrating another fantastic year of Picked to Click, we've gathered some of our favorite comments from our esteemed voters.

To all you future Picked to Click voters out there, remember to sound off in the comments section on the next ballot. Tell it like you see it; we can't get enough of your wit and enthusiasm.

See also:
Picked to Click 2012 [Cover Story]
Picked to Click 2012: The Complete Ballots
Picked to Click 2012: By the Numbers

More »

Erik Hess

Chris Bierden, Picked to Click ringer

Well, by now you've probably all heard the news, and hopped on Twitter to express your approval and/or disdain for City Pages. (Or just yawned.) That's right: this week we unveiled the winners of Picked to Click 2012, which hit newsstands yesterday and pretty well changed our lives forever. You know, the popularity contest that local gatekeepers put on every year to promote their friends' music? The one that jinxes all those poor musicians?

Er, wait. Forget I said that last part.

All things told, though, P2C (or P2C2K12, if you're not into the whole brevity thing) is as much a chance to just have some plain old fun as it is anything else. So we could spend our time dissecting the results and figuring out what it all means -- what it really tells us about the music scene, circa 2012. Or we could, you know, pick out a few random facts from the voting and make fun of them. (Hint: that's what's about to happen.)
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Art Direction & Photography by Emily Utne. Hair & Makeup by Amber Rose Hair + Makeup

As the dust starts to settle from yesterday's big Picked To Click announcements, we'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who participated, from all the bands, everyone who voted, and all of you readers and music lovers who are interested in the results, for helping make the Twin Cities music community a vibrant, thriving scene that continues to get stronger every year.

We had 146 Picked To Click ballots cast this year by a wide ranging selection of knowledgeable voters, who all took the time to list the bands who make the Twin Cities music scene what it is, and will help carry it into the future. We've created a smooth and stylish site dedicated to this year's Picked To Click, which includes the ballots of everyone who voted in this year's poll, as well as a full tally of all 288 bands who received votes. So please, take a look around and perhaps discover your new favorite band that you just haven't heard of as of yet.

See Also:
Picked To Click: Cover Story

Photo by Emily Utne

#1. The Chalice: 83 points

"Our ladies' nights are really dope," asserts the Chalice's queen-bee rapper, Lizzo. "We get together and drink. That's how it started -- with red wine. If it were liquor, it wouldn't get done. Making tracks, turning tracks into a song, and turning tracks into a banger is like three completely different processes."

Process number four is working on steps and transitions in a drafty, high-ceilinged practice space in northeast Minneapolis with cans of Pabst at the ready. "You want a drink?" asks Sophia Eris, who perpetually wraps her head in colorful fabric. After pouring something alcoholic for herself, she hands a bottle of water across the makeshift bar. Come to think of it, every interaction City Pages has ever had with the local hip-hop scene's new goddesses has incorporated liquid refreshments of some sort.

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Photo by Sarah Rose

#2. Pony Trash: 78 points

"Part of the reason that we had the discussion about Chris [Bierden] joining the band is because he was the person we knew had a lot of time on his hands," explains Pony Trash singer/guitarist Neil Weir.

While kicking back in an office chair inside Old Blackberry Way, the recording studio he runs, Weir articulates the tightly scheduled world of a band of four men who play in a lot of other bands. While their time together is scarce, inspiration is not in short supply.

See Also:
Picked to Click 2012: The ballots and complete voter results
Picked to Click 2012: The print edition

More »

Photo by Jim Larson

#3 (tie). John Mark Nelson: 71 points

"I don't get out much," jokes 18-year-old folk artist John Mark Nelson, when asked how he's managed to already record two full-length albums. But with the amount of buzz generated around his sophomore record, Waiting and Waiting, he might have to force himself out to play some more live shows for his expanding fan base.

The acoustic-based songs featured on the album are augmented by soaring string arrangements, subtle keyboard flourishes, and poignant, wise-beyond-his-years lyrics delivered with Nelson's rich, sonorous vocals. The numbers have a timeless quality to them while still managing to have a modern pulse, which could be the result of Nelson's talented genes and his early influences. "I grew up in a musical family, and soon realized it was one of the few Nelson talents," he says. "I eventually discovered that my true calling was singing a strict tenor line along with my Beach Boys greatest hits CD."
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Photo by Avye Alexandres

#3 (tie). Wiping Out Thousands: 71 points

Wiping Out Thousands is a two-person electronic project with an energy and a sound so fresh that you'd think they dropped out of a Futurama episode. It's fitting, then, that their name is derived from Adam Toffler's 1970 futuristic novel Future Shock.

Throughout 2012, Taylor Nelson and Alaine Dickman have proven themselves the preferred local purveyors of electroclash. On these tracks, opposing forces advance and retreat within the layers of synths, propulsive beats, and Dickman's entrancing vocal harmonies. With their music laying total claim to the listener's ears, it's enough to make the end of the world sound destructively sexy. This sort of experimental music is instantly danceable, and universally understood for its highs-and-lows moodiness.


See Also:
Picked to Click 2012: The ballots and complete voter results
Picked to Click 2012: The print edition
Wiping Out Thousands talk new album and free music

More »

Photo by Emily CM Anderson

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Photo by Robyn Schindeldecker

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