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COMPUTER WIZARDS LEAVE THEIR BEDROOMS,
RAPPERS REACH THE STAGE, AND THE
MASON JENNINGS BANDCREATES THE
BAR BUZZ OF THE DECADE.

IN THE NINTH ANNUAL
CITY PAGES NEW MUSIC POLL,
60 LOCAL MUSIC FANS PICK THE BANDS
THAT MADE THE BIGGEST NOISE.

---

First a confession from your host: It was all new to me, folks. In the 12 months since the 1998 edition of this poll (to which I contributed exactly nothing), I've taken something of a crash course in local music.

1.The Mason Jennings Band (57)

2.Selby Tigers (33)

3.Plastic Constellations (29)

continued —»

When I began covering the beat last May, I hoped that when our annual New Music Poll rolled around again, I would have something to say about that most vital life force in any creative community: new blood. Instead, I keep thinking about those not-so-new faces and rooms that crossed my radar just this year. Like the traditional folk sessions in the back of Kieran's Irish Pub. Or the many homebound noisemakers who emerged from years of self-imposed basement exile to occupy the public's eye at two regularly held electronica cabarets, New Atlantis and Future Perfect. Or the amateur soul singers showcasing their gospel pipes for the swanky set at the Riverview Supper Club. These little scenes have existed for years, but were previously as "hidden" to me as the thriving local basement-punk underground, the tent-rave subculture, or the blooming swing thing--all of which dented the mainstream club consciousness this year.

In this light, I can see why previous Best New Band pollsters have left the definition of "new" to the discernment and listening habits of each year's voters. People inevitably choose music that's new to them. Often, considering the scene affiliations of many of our pollsters, one fan's brand new bag is another's old hat. Take this year's fifth place winners, Abstract Pack, an ensemble of veteran St. Paul hip hoppers who placed 28th in the 1995 Picked to Click poll. It took their energetic 1998 debut disc Bousta Set It (For the Record), and four years of scene-building by the Rhyme Sayers, their web of rap-activist affiliates and competitors, before the Pack registered with rock fans and critics.

But if our voters--most of whom are white, and often decidedly rock-centered--seemed ready to redress a certain obliviousness to local black pop, this impulse wasn't quite strong enough to make room for Billboard chart-toppers Next, the Pack's onetime peers in the local community-center circuit. Next garnered no votes at all among this year's Picked-to clique, suggesting either a lack of interest in mainstream pop, or a sense that the group didn't need our poll's meager assistance.

Still, while the rock crowd didn't seem ready to embrace R&B, our balloters did select an act that challenges traditional conceptions of what Minnesotan alt-rock can mean--in the process handing this year's winner the biggest landslide since 12 Rods scored nearly twice as many votes as Semisonic three years ago. Which brings us to the Mason Jennings Band, whose packed, post-folkie shows would seem to represent a trend unto itself. But behind Mason Jennings's impact with many voters lurks the waning influence of a 'Mats fixation. Countrified bands such as Tangletown and Bellwether (who placed ninth and sixth) might have placed higher if they possessed half of Jennings's charisma.

Cover Photo By Daniel Corrigan

Peter S. Scholtes CITY PAGES	Kate Sullivan ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS	Laura Sinagra FREELANCE WRITER	Randy Hawkins 7TH STREET ENTRY
Simon Peter Groebner CITY PAGES CONTRIBUTOR	Slug ATMOSPHERE	Jon Dolan CITY PAGES	Earl Root ROOT OF ALL EVIL RECORDS
Rachel J. Joyce WALKER ART CENTER	Jason Parker EXTREME NOISE RECORDS	Jen Downham GROOVE GARDEN RECORDS	Bill Snyder TWIN CITIES REVUE
Christina Schmitt FREELANCE WRITER	Robyne Robinson CHANNEL 9 NEWS	Tom Rosenthal FOXFIRE COFFEE LOUNGE	Laura Brandenburg SWEET ASS MAGAZINE
Puffman Rae LICK MAGAZINE		Jon Jon Scott PULSE OF THE TWIN CITIES

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