Aimee Mann became the latest artist to experiment successfully with social media, offering people the chance to cover her song "Freeway" in a YouTube video, and probably the first to have awarded the top prize to a man in a robot costume singing through a vocoder.
Mann chose iSo the Robot (right) and Tucson-based singer/songwriter John Galt (below) as joint winners of the contest, meaning that they get to to perform with Mann on her next tour (iSo the Robot on September 5 in Atlanta and Galt in Greensboro, North Carolina the following night.
She’s particularly excited about playing live with iSo the Robot, and rightfully so — there’s just something about that melody that makes it sound right coming through a vocoder.
Galt’s voice is a little bit nasal for my taste (right), but his nuancedinterpretation of the song will likely please fans of the coffeehousesinger/songwriter scene.
Again, the turnout for this contest looks to have been fairly decent. "There are some really talented people out there," said Mann, and, of course, she’s right.
Even after awarding iSo and Galt the two appearances on her tour next month, eleven further runners up warrant mention as well:
Vanessa Peters:
Vicky Bass:
Kerry Hallet:
Greg Friedman:
Kelsey Wild:
Kenny Schick:
Jennifer Cianflone:
Ruby Rendrag:
Luke Cissell:
Reade McCardell:
Fiona Liddell:
