Last week we started publishing the results of the Best of NYC Year End Poll’s Open Submissions (find them here), and it’s finally time to go indie poppy!
Total submissions in this category: 16
Jurors: Michelle Bacon (The Deli KC), Cervante Pope (The Deli Portland), PDG (The Deli NYC).
Artists qualified to the next stage (i.e. the Readers’ Poll, starting around 01.20):
1. The City and Horses – 7.33 (out of 10)
Active since the late aughts, The City and Horses is a collective of musicians guided by singer songwriter Marc Cantone and his elegant melodic talent. The variety of instruments featured in their recordings (from flute to strings and horns) will make most people scream "Orchestral Pop!" – and to some extent they would be right! Thing is, the band’s arrangements are so tastefully composed that, while listening to their music, you’d be hard pressed to think about an orchestra. You can see the band live at Grand Victory on January 22.
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2. Silverteeth – 7.16
Led by NYC scene veteran Bill Bartholomew (guitar and vocals) and Brazilian bass player Gabriela Rassi, Silverteeth is an excercise in stripping pop of anything superfluous to let the melody and the songwriting shine. Operating in a strictly DIY fashion, this is one of the few bands able to land gigs both at Bowery Presents’ venues (they’ll play Mercury on February 9th) and at Brooklyn DIY spaces like Palisades. We should hear some new material from them soon, since they were recently invited to record a few tracks at Converse’s Rubber Track.
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3. RANN – 7.00
With their refineded sound, stylish melodies and smooth vocals, RANN could be presented as the Prefab Sprout of Brooklyn. Their brand new debut album "Yellowgun" looks back at the so called sophisti-pop of the ’80s, while adding to that sound an all NYC edge. The group doesn’t shy away from occasional, more aggressive and tense moments (like in ‘Magic Number‘). They’ll be playing at Bushwick’s Black Bear on February 20th.
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3. Julian Fulton – 7.00
Imaginative and whimsical, New Jersey’s Julian Fulton plays a brand of DIY pop that flirts with the classics of psychedelia, while bringing his own voice, stories and production to the picture. A picture that’s as multifaceted as it’s enjoyable, like his latest track "Another Tattoo," a complex collage of sounds and melodies in part reminiscent of the production style of the early Beck records, which, remarkably, was written and recorded at home in 24 hours. Julian Fulton will perform at the Asbury Underground Music & Arts Crawl on January 16.
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HONORABLE MENTIONS (artist with a rating above 6):
Dot and Logic, Kirsten Izer, Sam Kogon, flocke, Late Cambrian, Lunifred Benjamin, Modern Diet.
Stay tuned for more results!
The Deli Folks