We booked NYC electro pop princess White Prism (aka Johanna Cranitch) for one of our 2013 CMJ shows – before she turned blonde. We are happy to see she’s finally ready to release her debut LP, entitled "Open Heart Job" and scheduled for an April release. White Prism recently unveiled a video for single "patience" and another single entitled "Shake You Off," both streaming, and both featured in the upcoming full length. Don’t miss her residency at Ace Hotel on every Sunday in April.

 Our shared reality knows some things to be true; when it’s raining you get wet, the sun is hot, and guitar sounds like a guitar. But the abhorrence of traditional values and exploration outside this shared reality will show that musical timbres aren’t always what they seem to be, and things that may be obvious on the outside can often reveal new secret tonalities.

It’s the lines between where Charms straddle their success as neither a pop band nor a noise group.  When you look at them on a stage you’ll see keys, guitar, drums and a mic, and for a while you may effectively be duped into thinking that this is just another rock band. But when Eleazer spins on his heals and engages his rainbow machine pedal, things suddenly turn into a baffling display of sonic mastery. Josh oscillates his synths into a noisy rhythmic beat and Ray commands a small avalanche behind the drums, enforcing a sonic mood that is reminiscent of Mission of Burma’s noisy brand of post punk.

But it’s not all chaos and noise; underneath the obscured and effected timbres lays the pop tones of Metal Box, or even The Wipers. Eleazer and the boys have harnessed a knack for writing indelible hooks that are bent on the political climates and dystopian love affairs that only a synth could describe. Using volume as a great uniter to push forward Eleazer’s Johnny rotten-esque croons, Charms will certainly put the hex on you and your ears as you are helplessly overcome in a freakish post punk fantasy.

Deli Nation,

Our Year End Poll for Emerging LA Artists was – as usual – a painstaking (and somewhat excruciating) process, but we pulled it off with remarkable flair!

Congrats to Alt Rock four piece Dorothy, who won our overall poll and we therefore crown as "The Deli LA’s Best Emerging Band of the Year. "

With their jubilant choruses and foot-stomping riffs, Dorothy brings an exciting modern twist to their classic rock influences. Singer… Dorothy is a tour de force: her powerful vocals and commanding presence instantly bring audiences to their feet. In the past year they’ve been regularly selling out shows in local venues and large theaters alike, a good indication that their musical journey is just getting started. Check out their break out single "Wicked Ones."

Kudos also to indie folk duo Girlpool (who, sadly for us, recently left the best coast for Philly), and to quirky electro-psych-poppers Fever the Ghost, who also placed third in last year’s Best of LA poll! That must mean something – we are digging their new record as we speak.

Here is how it all went down: first, we let the local bands submit their music (for free), and got our Deli editors to pick the nominees. Then we polled a list of 15+ LA scene expert (our jury, listed at the bottom) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each. Then we polled our writers, then we polled our readers. We tried to keep things open for all genres, from Indie Rock to Roots Music to Hip Hop.

If you are a geek interested in all the subtelties related to how this poll works, you can read its rules here (happy reading!). But if all you care about is the awesome new music LA produced in the year 2014, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

BEST OF 2014 POLL FOR EMERGING LA ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS ******

ARTIST J OS W R TOT   1 Dorothy 7.5     0.002 7.502 2 Girlpool 4.5   1 0.011 5.511 3 Fever The Ghost 5.5     0.003 5.503 4 Avid Dancer 4.5     0.002 4.502 5 Little Galaxies 2     2 4 6 Banta 3.5     0.008 3.508 7 Heaps N’ Heaps 2     1.5 3.5 8 Maudlin Strangers 3     0.5 3.5 9 Kiev   3   0.003 3.003 10 Moses Sumney 3     0.003 3.003 11 King Washington 3     0.002 3.002 12 Pr0files 3     0.002 3.002 13 Paul Bergmann 3     0.001 3.001 14 The Diamond Light 2     0.5 2.5 15 Lion Kings 2     0.013 2.013 16 Sex Helicopter   2   0.01 2.01 17 Dead Ships 1   1 0.01 2.01 18 Fellow Bohemian   1 1 0.007 2.007 19 Debt 2     0.005 2.005 20 Jesus Sons 2     0.003 2.003 21 Modern Time Machines 2     0.003 2.003 22 Talk in Tongues 2     0.003 2.003 23 Van Ike 2     0.003 2.003 24 Babes 2     0.002 2.002 25 Exist Elsewhere 2     0.002 2.002 26 Drab Majesty 2     0.002 2.002 27 BØRNS 2     0.001 2.001 28 Fakers 2     0.001 2.001 29 Roses 2     0.001 2.001 30 Carney 2     0 2 31 Evan Mellows 2     0 2 32 Moth & The Flame 2     0 2 33 Post Life 2     0 2 34 The Dream Club 2     0 2 35 Valley Queen   1.5   0.004 1.504 36 Carlton 1     0.018 1.018 37 Dark Furs   1   0.015 1.015 38 Dalton   1   0.013 1.013 39 Afternoons   1   0.009 1.009 40 Hi Ho Silver Ho   1   0.004 1.004 41 Dawn Thomas 1     0.003 1.003 42 Corners 1     0.001 1.001 43 Hearty Har 1     1 2 44 Holy Folk 1     0 1 45 Sullen Ray 1     0 1 46 The Dead Ships 1     0 1 47 Billy Changer 1     0 1 Legend: J = Jurors, W = Deli Writers, R = Deli Readers, OS = Open Submissions

Jurors List (in random order): Molly Kodros (The Satellite), Britt Witt (Indie Rock Reviews), Dan Frazier (freebikevalet.com), Phil Jaurigui (Swing House), Anna Soffer (KXLU), Jennifer Tefft (Spaceland), Kelsey Mitchell (The Fold), Brandon Dorsky (Super Good Music), Jay Tinsky (Genghis Cohen Cantina), Matt Draper (Echo Park Records), Neil Schield (Origami), Portia Medina (music writer), Betty Elektro (Elektro-PR), Juan Rodriguez (The Deli LA). One juror asked us to remain anonymous.

Hope you’ll find some awesome new artists you weren’t aware of!

The Deli’s Staff

Deli Readers,

The Deli NYC’s Best of 2014 Readers and Fans’ Poll is over, thanks to all those who cast their vote in support of the emerging local bands and artists in our list of nominees. 

It was an epic battle until the last minute, but revival rock band Jeremy & The Harlequins managed to land on top of the list – we are sure Jeremy’s crooning and wooing talent, as displayed in the streaming single below, greatly helped their cause.

Kudos also to The Fluids, a very new NYC indie rock band we blogged about just a few days ago, and the always great Mainland, a very talented and very young Brooklyn indie band that made waves in 2014.

Please stay tuned for the composite chart, to be released soon, which will include details about the point nominees accumulated from the jurors and Deli writers’ votes, and will crown The Deli’s Best Emerging NYC Artist of 2014.

Here is some music by the three bands that made the podium, and – below – the top 20 with links to each band’s music.

1. Jeremy & The Harlequins

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2. The Fluids

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3. Mainland

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Here’s this poll’s top 10 chart, full results can be found here. 

BEST OF LA 2014 – READERS’ POLL RESULTS   Artists Votes   1 Jeremy & the Harlequins 1417 2 The Fluids 1366 3 Mainland 1343 4 BRAEVES 794 5 Pete Ayres Band 646 6 Animal Years 629 7 Christie Belanger 559 8 Late Cambrian 548 9 DREAMERS 535 10 Ellis Ashbrook 512 11 Viktor Longo 488 12 Pants Velour 475 13 Jane Lee Hooker 376 14 Chargaux 369 15 The Landing 251 16 Sons of an Illustrious Father 198 17 Future Punx 184 18 Big Neck Police 180 19 Lynette Williams 179 20 Every Flavor Weather Machine 177

The Deli’s Staff