Deli Readers,

Every year, in the early months, The Deli polls several local "scenemakers" to ask their opinion about the best emerging NYC based artists that got them excited in the previous year. We therefore list these artists on our local homepage, in a Readers’ Poll whose results contribute in deciding The Deli NYC’s Artist of the Year.

In an effort to give you more time to check out all the nominated bands, this year we have decided to stretch the readers’ polls a little, and, instead of posting a huge list of artists all at once, we will activate one genre-related poll every five days or so.

We begin today with bands in the Garage/Punk category! You can find the poll on the top right of our homepage and you can cast your vote here.

We see our yearly polls as a fun way to engage our readers and the artists involved, and we hope they will get both to discover new local bands deserving of attention.

The Folks at The Deli

P.S. To group all artists in these categories we had to "stretch" things a little for a few ones that didn’t precisely fit any of the wide musical umbrellas most other bands belonged to – we hope we can be forgiven for that.

Alexander F is electric, loud, and something that you’re not likely to forget, and from the opening bass hits of new single "Swimmers," you can tell that they’re here to get rowdy. The Brooklyn-based garage pop band offers wild musings on the absurdity of life, but serve it up with a side punk snarls and raucous beats–yeilding a sound that’s as fun and unhinged as it is utterly catchy. Check them out at Baby’s All Right 2/11 alongside Total Slacker, Exhibition, and Really Big Pinecone for their new record release, but do yourself a favor and stream them below in the meantime. – Olivia Sisinni

Lucky for us that this NYC centric blog also covers New Jersey based artists… Yes because in recent years the Garden State has been churning out a lot of really talented indie pop bands, and we would be sorry if we couldn’t highlight them. Lunch Ladies have been around since 2014 and belong to the "dream" branch of the most melodious of genres. Their music revolves around gentle, uptempo, electric orchestrations, but finds its overall tone through Cynthia Rittenbach’s uber melancholic melodies. The band just unveiled new single ‘Pick Yourself Up,’  from upcoming sophomore full length ‘Down on Sunset Strip,’ scheduled for a March release. New Yorkers will be able to see them live at Shea Stadium on February 15th.

DC electronic musician Nitemoves is starting 2017 on the right foot, opening for ambient electronic all-stars Tycho on a tour of East Asia and Australia. The Tycho+Nitemoves bill makes for a wonderful pairing of Tycho’s boundary pushing, emotionally charged ambient electronic, and Nitemoves’ blend of classic house sounds and pathos heavy futuristic soundscapes. With the music of both artists suitable for both bedroom listening and drug-laden trance fests, their work represents some of the best intelligence dance music has to offer. A promising and versatile artist, Nitmoves may be well on his way to joining the upper echelons of the international electronic music scene. Check out Nitemoves’ album “Don’t Ask” released in October, 2016.