Imagine a symphony orchestra that just took a couple hits of windowpane. The drummers start trying to kill invisible dragonflies and the strings begin to melt into themselves. Someone somewhere starts to sing…and the group pulls themselves together into a cohesive machine of beat and vibrato. First impressions matter, and Duchess Leo makes it work with their opening track, "Your Sweet Love." It’s powerful but not aggressive, pretty but still has substance. It also sets the pace for the rest of Golden Gray — a balletic audio trip into a sunshiney space – but there is just enough bite to keep it from being overtly pretentious. A dance record this is not, but the sonic prowess of Dan Ryan and Todd Buchler (the men of Duchess Leo) is clear. Buchler took composition and theory classes, while Ryan worked on the production side, mastering music software – and it paid off. Their effort is written all over Golden Gray with an elegant script and a steady hand. – allison levin

Duchess Leo – Bloom

She’s a Kiwi in NYC – by way of Ozland – and after an extended break from recording, Julia Darling is back with a new album that will surely delight the fans that have been turning out in droves at the Rockwood these past few years. In "Everything That Has Happened Since Then" Julia Darling polishes her acoustic roots with lush production offered by Ken Rich and Andrew Sherman. A continuation of stark, personal, and deeply revealing songs. See her live at Rockwood Hall on January 28. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

It was a tight race for our first Emerging Artists Poll this year, coming down to a tie for 3rd. Here’s a little more about the radical bands chosen by our jury and the fans.

1.DELETED SCENES

Voted to the absolute top of the chart is DC’s pop post-rock band Deleted Scenes, who’ve been playing gigs up and down the east coast year round in support of their 2009 debut LP Birdseed Shirt. As seen in the fan-made video above for "Fake IDs" off the debut, Deleted Scenes create intricate compositions that build up to raucous levels of emotional awesomeness, and then a couple tracks later, as heard in "Got God", they show their southern bar-friendly ‘Americana’ side with a touch of piano, slide guitar, and hand claps. The release has gotten major good words from the press, and one of our fav lines comes from the DCist: "Birdseed Shirt is a fantastic debut and it reinforces what we’ve been saying all along. It’s shocking that this band isn’t huge." Deleted Scenes will be playing live at the Rock & Roll Hotel on Feb 12.

2.THE TENNIS SYSTEM

DC’s shoegaze noise lords the Tennis System nearly dominated the chart, and with a wide spectrum of releases and shows coming up, 2011 will again be another good year for them. They’ve got a new single about to come out called “Hey, We Tried”; a show at the Black Cat on 1/27 (worth the trip through the snowy mess, for sure!); they’ve been invited to play at the 2011 Canadian Music Festival, and are finishing up their next release Teenagers, due out soon! Check out a past review of one of their gigs here.

3.KING GIANT (tied)

Representing NoVa on the list of winners is Arlington based southern/stoner metal band King Giant, who’ve recently self-released their first LP Southern Darkness. Check out the video above for “13 to 1” a track off that album and soak up dark and heavy hooks that made Heavy Planet say, “if Johnny Cash rose from the grave and started a metal band, this is what it might sound like… this is music meant to exorcize demons.” King Giant will be playing live at the State Theatre on 1/29.

3. DEEP RIVER (tied)

Tied for the same spot as KG, is pop folk act Deep River, based out of Northern Virginia, who’ve recently released their debut album Ten Mornings. And actually, they’ve described their sound as “Front Porch Pop” and Deli writer Jarrett had some more to say about them here. If you happen to be in the Leesburg area this weekend, check them out as they have a gig at the Exeter House on 1/29.