On February 19th we launched our most ambitious undertaking yet—TVD500, the recurring competition where we will, along with our esteemed partners Infrasonic Mastering, Furnace MFG, and Dorado Music Packaging, master, press, design, print, package, and deliver 500 copies of a winning 7″ single—on us.
We put out the call for any individual artist or band, working in any genre, to submit two tracks to us as entries, an A and B side, for consideration for this competition. In addition, the winner would be the first release on our own brand new vinyl imprint, TVD Records.
We’re delighted to announce that after seven weeks of soliciting entries and hundreds of submissions, we have consensus from our panel of judges.
Our winner is Sillyboy from Athens, Greece with the darkly moody and evocative A-side single, “Supply Chain.”
How did the voting go among the judges?
Pop noir singer-songwriter, Nicole Atkins enthusiastically gave two thumbs up to Sillyboy, citing the maturity of “Supply Chain” among our final five.
The Joy Formidable’s Ritzy Bryan lent an ear to all 10 of our semi-finalists and felt the best track was one we didn’t select among our final 5, Timetables’ “You Never Have To.”
“A very tough decision, some great entries and bands that I already know and love. My vote goes to Timetables, it’s a beautiful song, flows great, melodic and dreamy, a little bit like Nick Drake jamming with John Martyn.”
Paul Collins, the “King of Power Pop” wrote us, “All great efforts! I give my vote to Sillyboy, it’s got a good beat, you can dance to it, cool hooks, it reminds of stuff I like….well done lads!”
Ed Hamell, otherwise known as Hamell on Trial, opined, “So here goes, (That Replacements band sure was one of a kind huh?)
Anyway, I gotta go with Fat Goth’s “Creepy Lounge” because I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL…all pro recordings though, that’s for sure. My favorite song, Low Spin’s “Stargazer” didn’t make the final cut, which goes to show that I don’t have my finger on the pulse as usual. Low Spin might have a future though, wait and see. Who woulda figured Joy Division woulda been so influential in 2013? Oh, runner up: Sillyboy.”
Matt Keen, owner of North Carolina’s Gravity Records, recovering from Record Store Day told us, “I pick Sillyboy’s ‘Supply Chain’ as the winner. It sounds like something that should already be out on 7″.”
Cheryl Pawelski, co-founder of Omnivore Records, and three-time Grammy-nominated producer sang the praises of Sillyboy as well.
“It’s wonderfully moody and follows a classic form I’ve not heard in a long while. Perfect soundtrack to the very industrial black and white film playing in my head as viewed through a chain link fence.”
Jon Sidel, the host of TVD’s original freeform Friday podcast, The Idelic Hour took us through his thought process.
“Hmmm this is a hard one. Fat Goth might be too silly while Sillyboy might sound a bit too much like The National. I like the National a lot, so I’d cast my vote for Sillyboy.”
We caught The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow currently on the road, touring in support of his fourth solo release, Danzig in the Moonlight who had a unique take on our final five.
“I [was] expecting to feel old. I want to be unnerved, annoyed at youthful exuberance/ youthful irreverence, mystified by the latest permutations of youth culture. And that really wasn’t the case with these songs. Nothing wrong with the craft, by any means, found here, but it seemed a little quaint overall. I focused in on Twelve AM Flowers. I wouldn’t call it cutting edge but there aspects of the production that gave the track a modern feel. Again, the craft of these 5 final songs was absolutely well executed…”
TVD500
We’ d like to thank our judges for lending their years of insight and craft to our experiment over the past 2 months, and to those who submitted their work and the fans who cheered for their favorites as the weeks went on.
Sillyboy will receive the TVD vinyl treatment and we’ll be bringing you the production of the 7″ single in installments to TVD to spotlight the artistry of our partners, Infrasonic Mastering, Furnace MFG, and Dorado Music Packaging.
