Someone recently informed me about a cool dude named Dawen Wang, a Chicago-based singer, songwriter, and producer of highly original "socio-conscious neo-soul funk music." Intrigued, I headed on over to his MySpace page, listened to some tracks, and indeed found that his music is pretty damn cool. Good stuff, nice tunes, with lyrics that actually have something to say. I'm diggin' the smooth grooves. If you like it too, maybe you can help him out... Turns out Dawen is currently a finalist in an online radio music contest—Avante-Garde 2007, sponsored by Starbucks and WXRT Radio in Chicago. The finalists, hand-picked by Chicago's top music critics, are vying for the chance for their music to air on 93XRT. So check out the contest here, take a listen, and if you like what you hear, vote for Dawen.