Seattle is overflowing with options.

At last year’s Stranger Genius Awards party, after the awards were presented for Visual Art, Theater, Film, Literature, and Organization, there was music. Bands performed shunted to one corner of the Moore Theatre’s stage and DJs played in the basement bar, while the official Geniuses mingled, mostly in the lobby. These musical artists—acts like brainy indie-pop band Throw Me the Statue, goofy hiphop collagists Mash Hall, and young “chillwave” duo U.S.F., as well as DJ outfits Emerald City Soul Club and Trouble Dicso—weren’t being honored, they were working; they were closer to the evening’s caterers than the year’s Geniuses. Like every other year, music was at the Genius Awards, but it was pushed to the periphery.

And so it’s been with the awards themselves. Last year, Charles Mudede presented the Film Genius Award to Zia Mohajerjasbi (younger brother of Blue Scholars DJ/producer Sabzi), who was honored largely for his music videos. Mudede wrote in that week’s issue: “More than anyone else, his images have captured the new energies of Seattle’s emerging hiphop scene.” Brendan Kiley presented the Organization Genius Award to the Pacific Northwest Ballet, praising the company for staging “a fierce 15-minute solo by Marco Goecke set to C.P.E. Bach and [punk rock band] the Cramps.” Lindy West pointed out that Theater Geniuses the Cody Rivers Show took their name from “a satirical country-music character they used frequently in early performances.”

In years past, winners have included visual artist Wynne Greenwood of experimental video rock band Tracy + the Plastics, and theater-makers Implied Violence, whose work has frequently incorporated local musicians such as the Dead Science alongside recordings by the Wu-Tang Clan.

So where was the Music Genius?

It’s been something we’ve debated at The Stranger for years. The main argument against having a Stranger Genius Award for Music has been that we already give enough attention to music. It’s true that The Stranger devotes more space to music than to any other single arts section in the paper—we’re as much a music paper as a gay paper or a Seattle paper.

And in years past, we’ve given back to the Seattle music scene via the now-defunct Big Shot competition, a battle of the bands driven by reader votes with prizes that included money, gear, recording time, and passage to SXSW. But Big Shot ended years ago and nothing has replaced it.

It’s not like musicians don’t need the money as much as other artists do. Anyone who thinks musicians are all swimming in piles of money, Uncle Scrooge–like, just isn’t paying attention. The music industry is in shambles, its primary means of making money (selling physical recordings of musical performances) gutted by the advent of easy file-sharing technology. (Has visual art suffered so specific an economic meltdown? Has theater?) Even when the music business was at its most robust, not every musician was buying mansions. For every artist making money, many more struggle to make ends meet, and that’s as true for musicians as for artists in any other field. The no-strings-attached $5,000 prize of a Genius Award could buy a band a van and enough gas to tour the United States.

So this year, we’re thrilled to announce the first annual Stranger Genius Award for Music. That’s got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? But what will genius sound like, exactly?

Well, what’s most promising for the new category is just how much ground it could potentially cover. It could go to outré hiphop act Shabazz Palaces, for his expert and adventurous destabilizations of that genre’s forms and norms. It could go to Throw Me the Statue songwriter Scott Reitherman, for his uncanny way around a wordy, brainy but utterly catchy pop tune. It could go to Decibel Festival founder Sean Horton, for his massively successful efforts to put Seattle on the international map not just as a rock town but as a hotbed of world-class electronic music. It could go to Jherek Bischoff, for his work with the Dead Science and other bands and for his more avant-garde compositional work. It could go to the Portable Shrines collective, for its work in facilitating an underground of new psychedelic happenings in Seattle’s music scene. It could go to THEESatisfaction, for their Star Wars rebel (without a “pause”) rap and R&B. It could go to Foscil and Truckasauras, for the linked crews’ serious electro-acoustic jazz improvisations and their more popular and impish electronic party music. Or to countless others.

And we’re open to suggestions. The first year of the Stranger Genius Awards, we invited the public to send us their ideas about who they thought deserved to be honored with the cash prize and the profile and the party. After all, there is no application process for the Genius Awards—the last thing we want artists to be doing is filling out paperwork—and we wanted to make sure there wasn’t anyone we weren’t thinking of. Sure enough, there was someone we weren’t thinking of—Chris Jeffries, a theater artist and, of course, musician. Readers recommended him, and he totally deserved a Genius Award, so he won one.

So now we put it to you: Who do Stranger readers think should be honored with the first Genius Award for Music? And more importantly, why? Music, as much or more than any other art form, incites incredibly passionate debate. It’s personal. Everybody has an opinion, and everybody has a favorite musician or band they think deserves greater recognition or material success. We want to hear your arguments for who deserves this award and what makes their work great—make your case in the online comments for this story.

Seattle is overflowing with musical genius. The only hard part will be narrowing the nominees down. recommended

139 replies on “What Does Genius Sound Like?”

  3. Evan Flory-Barnes and Sublime Frequencies are both great suggestions. I also want to add Specs One to the list, who is long overdue for some serious recognition.

  6. please don’t give it to anyone that’s already on a solid label, or is already getting tons of props and hype. basically don’t give it to anyone simply on the merit of the music they make. give it to an organization or person that’s doing great things for the music community, but is otherwise struggling financially.

  7. I’ll throw my vote for Sean Horton OR Randy Jones of Orac Records. That guy is doing some next-level shit with music technology that should make you cream your pants.

  10. I nominate this crazy motha luvin band called Malicious Discharge.

    myspace.com/maliciousdischarge,

    if only because when i saw them, they played the Star Trek Next Generation theme and the Battle Toads theme from Battle Maniacs. And theres already enough hip, indie, hopscotching, gibbard glory around this town already.

  11. daniel g harmann (and the trouble starts) for sure. he’s underrated & has been doing it better than most for years.

  12. Man oh man, there are so many great options in this city; I do not envy whoever has to come up with this decision.

    To clarify @35’s comment, Alex Guy’s project is called Led to Sea and it is, indeed, incredible and gorgeous stuff.

  13. OK, what the hell, just to make your job harder, here are some nominations off the top of my head:

    Corespondents
    Diminished Men
    Mike Dumovich
    Brad Dunn
    Heatwarmer
    Bill Horist
    Eyvind Kang
    Thousands
    Wesafari

  16. SEAN HORTON! Nobody in this town in the last 8 years has done more, sweated more, put up more of his personal finances and sacrificed more than he has to put this town not just on the map, but at the forefront of electronic music. He is the most passionate and devoted person I have ever met. It would be unjust and an insult to give this award to anyone else.

  18. For sure Sublime Frequencies. No other label has challenged and changed the preceptions of how international music has an affect on the modern music scene. Alan Bishop and Hisham Mayet deserve a goddam nobel music prize much less a stranger genius award.

  19. People arguing against giving the award to a signed/”known” band… Didn’t Sherman Alexie win a Genius some time ago? (And in any event, it’s The Stranger, so let’s check our expectations a moment anyway.)

    In any event, it’s clear that the recipients will be either:

    a.) Shabazz Places
    b.) Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
    c.) Tacocat or
    d.) Mad Rad.

  21. You’re all just slightly missing the mark…
    The FIRST Stranger Music Genius award goes to…
    Posthumously: Howard Bulson.
    If you don’t know, better ask somebody.

  29. Without question, Sean Horton. Not only is he responsible for what could be the most internationally recognized and respected festival in the NW, he keeps Seattle’s EDM community interesting by producing solid events month after month. Decibel is much more than just a festival.

  30. Many musical geniuses out there but I doubt anyone has had as much of an influence and magic touch on this area of the world’s music scene as much a KARL BLAU has. He has worked with so many different people in Seattle, affecting the way they will approach music forever. Mind blowing by himself, incredible as a producer, this kind of recognition for KARL BLAU is long overdue.

  33. fuck, dude. that’s so fucking difficult!!

    Karl Blau, Shabazz Palaces, AND Jherek Bischoff. Because Seattle has too many musical geniusus. I wish I were picking female or trans-identified folks, but Laura Veirs ran away 🙁

  34. Jherek Bischoff, without a doubt! He is an incredible musician, songwriter, recording engineer, producer – not to mention he can play any instrument he picks up! He’s truly gifted and definitely a musical genius, with or without the official title.

  35. Erik Blood. Producer, singer, songwriter, poet, one-man choir, master of spare dialogue and shifting points of view, traverser of genres, player of many instruments, considerer of God, love, promiscuity, disease, obsessions, betrayals. LISTEN the The Way We Live — this guy’s debut album. It’s a flat-out masterpiece that will only grow in importance with time. (Plus, I swear I see a little white-robed Jesus figure waving to me from the window on the album’s cover. Oh — and is that a little blood I see splashed on Jesus’ robe? How sweet!)

  36. Everyone who’s been nominated is really great, but what Sean Horton does for the electronic music scene, both for Seattle and for the entire genre, is really something else. The way he gives back to the community is absolutely spectacular.

    DECIBEL FESTIVAL a la SEAN HORTON pretty please.

  37. Everyone who’s been nominated is really great, but what Sean Horton does for the electronic music scene, both for Seattle and for the entire genre, is really something else. The way he gives back to the community is absolutely spectacular.

    DECIBEL FESTIVAL a la SEAN HORTON pretty please.

  38. Decibel Festival. What Sean Horton has done for the electronic music scene in Seattle for the last seven years stands as an inspiration to anyone involved in the scene regardless of genre.

  39. Everyone who’s been nominated is really great, but what Sean Horton does for the electronic music scene, both for Seattle and for the entire genre, is really something else. The way he gives back to the community is absolutely spectacular.

    DECIBEL FESTIVAL a la SEAN HORTON pretty please.

  40. Sean Horton should be recognized for his dedication, passion, and drive to put Seattle on the world map for electronica!

  45. Fuck yeah Jared from ManPlus! He helped my old band write some songs for our album and he works magic effortlessly. Underrated genius. Shockingly talented songwriter with a great sense of humor and amazing voice.

  47. I believe that Sadistik fit the criteria. Check out his video for “Searching for Some Beautiful” to see Seattle’s best hidden gem of the music scene.

  49. For music:
    Paul Rucker, cellist
    Chris DeLaurenti, composer
    Randy Hansen, insane Hendrix tribute artist
    Richard Peterson, savant

    For scene support:
    Don Yates, Music Director of KEXP/KCMU
    Doug Haire, Sonarchy Radio
    Sean Horton, Decibel Director
    Jonna McCurry, security at the Showbox

Comments are closed.