On Matt Cranstoun‘s The Last Drop of Color, you’ll learn a lot about trains. From describing the exits in New Jersey in ‘These Tires,’ to the righteous indignation of ‘Disgrace,’ there’s a lot of comings and goings throughout. But all of these trains find their way back up to Cranstoun’s adopted city of Brooklyn eventually. A homespun poet with a gift for the kind of Americana that Springsteen used to bring, Cranstoun is etching the gospel to New York’s buildings and leaving us with some endearing experiences as naked as his revealing shot on the album’s cover. This is an artist whose power comes from his range, showing on ‘Aint Dead Yet’ that he can handle funk and blues as well as he tears down the rafters in album opener ‘5th Street Lights.’ Get Matt’s latest at his bandcamp and you’ll find yourself traveling too. – Mike Levine

Having resided in New York City for the better part of ten years now, it was a triumphant homecoming for the sister duo known as The Pierces as they played two sold out shows at The Mercury Lounge last week. Allison and Catherine Pierce (and their band) presented a set that was weighted more heavily with songs from their most recent release, "You & I." Sprinkled amongst those, however, were a number of classic tracks from earlier albums as well. Opening Thursday’s show with Catherine’s "Love You More," they hit the ground running, delivering those trademark harmonies on the rising chorus. Working their way through an hour long set, other highlights included Catherine’s "Drag You Down," which weaves a lyrical tale of excessive weekends, poorly matched lovers and "just another role that you do." Allison introduced her heart tugging song about "dating another musician" stating that "we don’t really recommend that" which elicited audience chuckles – before launching into the stark, haunting, acoustic guitar driven "I Put Your Records On." Naturally the co-written single "Kissing You Goodbye" was very well received, as was their Pretty Little Liars TV show theme song "Secret." For the two song encore, the singers took the stage minus any instruments at all and delivered a perfect acapella version of Simon & Garfunkel’s "Cathy’s Song," which they stated they’ve been singing together since their early youth. They followed that will a full band version of the vampish, going-out-on-the-town but nothing satisfies showstopper "Boring." A fitting, if somewhat inaccurate closer, as these artists are anything but that. – Dave Cromwell

We are getting there folks! We just uploaded the full list of artists nominated for our Best of Chicago 2011 Poll for Emerging Artists. It’s on the right column on this same page and also HERE, where you can actually vote. Some bands in the list were selected through a submission process and some others were picked by our jury of local scene-makers, who could freely choose 3 bands each in order of preference. Points were already assigned to each band according to how well they did in the selection process. Now the readers’ and fans’ votes will also influence the final chart. Each vote will count!

The Deli’s Staff