Candysound, last Saturday’s Sound Off! winnerOn Saturday, I served as a judge for the first round of the ninth annual EMP Sound Off! semi-finals. And no, I’m not going to say who I voted for or which band was my favorite, because I feel like it would be untoward of me to do that. In fact, I am not entirely sure I should be writing about the experience at all, because I obviously support the purpose of the event, which is to provide opportunities for young musicians.Ultimately, the reason I decided to write about it is because I thought it would be better for me to encourage everyone to go to the next few shows and betray the obvious conflict of interest here than say nothing. It was great to see what I had to guess was someone’s super-hip grandma dancing to (Sui-Generis), which is essentially a metal band from Kennewick. To these bands, it’s all a fairly new experience, and when you’ve seen enough established artists play shows at huge venues with about as much enthusiasm as you’d expect from someone who’s about to get a root canal, it’s really refreshing to see young musicians up there who are obviously having the time of their lives. And it made me glad, too, to see how many people care about the next generation of the Northwest music scene. What “judging” the show reaffirmed for me, though, is that music taste is fundamentally subjective. Two people (or, you know, six judges) with informed opinions who share comparable musical knowledge bases can completely disagree on matters of taste, and that doesn’t make their opinions any less valid. And that’s why I think it’s important to check out these bands for yourself, because while the evening’s winner, Candysound, did a great job, the other bands were worth hearing, too. Even when something wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea, I was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone played and how enthusiastic the crowd was — so enthusiastic, actually, that security stepped in during Apache Chief’s set to quell a blossoming mosh pit. The point is: if you don’t have plans next Saturday, consider stopping by the EMP. You never know which of these bands will wind up being the next Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head and signing to Warner.