Yes You Are is The Deli KC’s Best Emerging Artist of 2015! 2nd HMPH!, 3rd Missouri Loves Company

Deli Readers,

Our Best of KC Poll for Emerging Artists has been—as usual—a lengthy and painstaking journey which took us through prairies of numbers, horizons filled with band names, and a dense (mostly), joyous rain of music. We have finally reached our destination and we can announce the final results!

1. Yes You Are

Yes You Are’s (pictured above) brand of ethereal rock is a magnetic, encapsulating experience from start to finish. Kianna Alarid and Jared White craft purposeful pop songs surrounded by transcendental swaths of sound. After quickly pronouncing themselves onto the Kansas City scene and becoming a fan favorite, they gained national traction by supporting Neon Trees on their summer 2015 tour. The band recently made its debut appearance at The Midland opening for Lucius, winning over an even stronger KC contingent.

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2. HMPH!

When you think about complex instrumental music, you don’t immediately think it would necessarily be palatable to the masses. But much like the group’s melodies and rhythms, HMPH! twists experimental math rock into fascinating, engaging tunes. HMPH!’s debut album Headrush—released last summer on Haymaker Records—made a name for itself on a number of Best of 2015 lists (including ours!)

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3. Missouri Loves Company

Missouri Loves Company jumpstarted the new year by earning readers’ votes as the winner of our 2015 Emerging Artists’ poll. The six-piece plans to release a full-length album soon, having recently released songs from its latest studio sessions. Be sure to check them out in KC in April at Davey’s Uptown, and look out for new music from them soon.

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Check out our poll’s top 15 below, and don’t forget to get even deeper, exploring all the finalists organized by genre:

POP – POST ROCK – PUNK/METAL – ROOTS – ROCK

[MICHELLE, PLEASE UPDATE THE HEADPHONE LINKS IN THIS CHART!] BEST OF 2015 POLL FOR EMERGING KC ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS – TOP 20 ******

ARTIST J OS R TOT   1 Yes You Are 10.5   1 11.5 2 HMPH! 7.5   0.013 7.513 3 Missouri Loves Company 3   2 5 4 Rachel Mallin & the Wild Type 3 1.5 0.162 4.662 5 Via Luna 3.5   0.175 3.675 6 Hyborian 3   0.163 3.163 7 Sie Lieben Maschinen 3   0.097 3.097   Earth Spun Occupants   3 0.053 3.053 9 The Widow’s Ride 3   0.039 3.039 10 Merit Badge 3   0.038 3.038 11 The Roseline 3   0.016 3.016 12 Sunday Heroine 3   0.002 3.002 13 Berwanger 3   0 3 14 AJ Young 2.5   0.016 2.516 15 Sara Morgan 1   1.5 2.5 16 Modern Day Fitzgerald 2   0.5 2.5 17 Westerners 2   0.5 2.5 18 Kangaroo Knife Fight 2   0.231 2.231 19 Doris 2   0.23 2.23 20 Spencer Mackenzie Brown 2   0.142 2.142 Legend: J = Jurors, R = Deli Readers, OS = Open Submissions

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If you wonder how this chart came into existence, 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+ K.C. scene expert (our jury) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each (3 points for the top choice, then 2 and 1). Then we polled our readers. We tried to keep things open for each single genre, from Pop to Roots to Metal. 

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 KC produced in the year 2015, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

Many Thanks to our Jurors: Ann Stewart, Barry Lee, Bill Brownlee, Brenton Cook, Chris Haghirian, Dedric Moore, Don Simon, John Todd, Justin Mantooth, Michael Byars, Rhonda Lyne, and Sondra Freeman.

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

The Deli’s Staff