Click on the cover ot read it!.

Some bands can be appreciated better when driving at night, and aware of their "night-driving-affinity", The Big Sleep – who belong to the restrict cirlce of bands that landed on the cover of our rag – launched a self-shot video that has a lot of… night driving in it. This duo-plus-drums’s strength has always been their epic riffs and wall of guitars, and "Ace" doesn’t disappint in those departments. Welcome back big sleepers!

Bosco Delrey – who played our CMJ show at Pianos in October – just released his debut album "Everybody Wah" on Mad Decent Records, together with this video for the single "Baby’s Got a Blue Flame". He has a series of shows booked in the Brooklyn DIY "circuit". The next one is at the Big Snow Buffalo Lodge on January 14.

We are loving the square format and the idea for this A Place to Bury Strangers video, and also the song, which is somehow reminiscent of one of cult British bands from the late 80s The House of Love – remember the hit single "Shine On"? The band’s "Onwards to the Wall" EP will be released later this month.

 

1. STEPHIE COPLAN & THE PEDESTRIANS

A young singer songwriter/pianist who recently moved from New England to NJ, Stephie Coplan is not just your regular "girl with a piano." Sure, she can write your classic emotional ballad ("Marilyn Monroe"), but she can also surprise you with a cover of Fountains of Wayne based on diy beat box layered loops ("Someone to Love"), or attack you with a piano-less, hyper-charged power pop tune like "JERK!". Her attitude, talent and versatility convinced us to select her as our #1 choice from the artists who submitted to our poll through SonicBids.

—

2. MERRILY & THE POISON ORCHARD

Breaking things down to a level even adults can understand, the gently rolling lullabies of Merrily and the Poison Orchard take us back to an idyllic time of cloud watching and tree climbing. Merrily’s love for vaudeville-era jazz comes through strongly here, but her simple approach to storytelling with jaunty ukeleles and bouncy percussion will lift you up like a cool breeze.

—

3. YVETTE
This band has the rare ability to create noise that’s also very musical and textured. Industrial is definitely their primary genre – the clanging drums and mechanical, metallic, and often dissonant guitars play the main characters here – but this dark soundscape becomes an almost cathartic, religious experience because of the choral, ethereal melodies that reference the shoegazer genre.

—

4a. SINEM SANIYE
Born in Germany, but with roots from Turkey, Sinem Saniye blends Middle-Eastern and Jazz styles together to create lush, evocative tunes. From the bossa nova of ‘Boom Sheke Nana’s’ harmonies, to the romance of ‘In My Slumber’, Saniye covers a broad range in her music. She even has a new Christmas song and calendar to welcome the new year available for purchase.

—

4b. BLONDE VALHALLA
Sounding like the exciting conclusion to an 80’s John Cusack film, Blonde Valhalla are bringing back the New-wave anthem with only a drum machine, guitar and keyboard to their name. Fronted by Suckers’ drummer Brian Aiken, this is synthesized jams stretched to their most anthemic.

—

4c. MY PET DRAGON
Borrowing a guitar sound The Edge might be proud of, My Pet Dragon singer Todd Michaelsen belts his tenor up to the rafters. Playing anthems better suited to arenas than small Brooklyn clubs, it’s really only a matter of time before this band is all over the radio.

—

4d. GRACE WEBER
An original choir girl with roots in Gospel and Jazz, she can croon over a bouncy ditty in ‘hitchhiker’ or belt over the lush ballad ‘Leave the Light On’ with equal power. Her latest effort ‘Hope & Heart’ is one of the better sounding records to come out last year, featuring production from Grammy-winning producer Mike Mangini. Who knows… maybe America has found our own Joss Stone.

 

We kept this for last people! Here are our Indie Rock selections and honorable mentions from the bands that submitted to ou Year End Poll for Emerging NYC Artists. This was the category with the most submission and it was truly painful having to stick with 6 bands… We had 22 bands with an average ranking above 7 out of 10. We’ll announce the SonicBids and the jurors picks later today and then… everything will be ready for the readers’ and fans’ poll!

NYC YEAR END POLL 2011 OPEN SUBMISSIONS RESULTS FOR ALT FOLK:
Jurors: Annamarya Scaccia (Deli Philly), Jessica Pace (Deli Nashville), Erin D’Souza (Deli NYC)

– QUALIFIED TO THE POLL’S NEXT ROUND
The artists in this list qualify for the next phase of the poll, and will be added to the bands nominated by our jury of local scenemakers.

1. HURRAH! A BOLT OF LIGHT!

Will Farr doesn’t take long to drown himself in sweat. Spun from the same cloth as Bruce Springsteen or Ian Curtis, he routinely leads his homespun band to a blaze of glory, forcing his restless spirit and barbed hooks through anyone looking for a dose of excitement. Hurrah! builds each track of their heartland-brewed, rocking yet rootsy tunes to a frenzy, making believers of anyone looking for a rush of adrenaline chased down with a shot of big band frenzy.

—

2. MINIBOONE

The video for ‘Cool Kids Cut Out of the Heart Itself‘ features the band MiniBoone take abuse in all its manifestations, from forced haircuts to facepaint almost as disturbing as their odd harmonies. The whole experience leaves you breathless and wondering what exactly you just saw, while making sure you never forget any of it. This group’s Kinks-inspired dance grooves charge ahead with this same kind of intense art posture throughout their whole ouevre, making for an experience as absurdly delicious as Queen’s ‘Bicycle’ in tracks like ‘Chairs are For Lovers,’ and as emotionally intense as At the Drive-In in my fave ‘Liars + Hiders.’

—

3. MONOGOLD

As a three-piece band, Monogold can support catchy songs that extend beyond confined spaces or genres. Keith Kelly’s falsetto flirtatiously glides through twinkling keys in the album’s starting track, “Ivory Teeth Golden Tusk,” a cherubic welcome to the trio’s sensational, epic voyage through their 2011 album “The Softest Glow.” The tribalesque, frenetic rhythms feel exotic but ground the different sounds and textures, in an impressive debut that feels both foreign and familiar at the same time.

—

4a. APPOMATTOX
This thunderous power trio – one of the best live bands in town – is taking indie guitar rock’s format and cramming politically charged lyrics head-on down its throat. A welcome change from the usually passive temperament of contemporary rock, this band has found a way to stand out amongst Brooklyn’s crowded backdrop by turning the form on its head and back to its roots as a counter-cultural force for change.

—

4b. QUILTY
I think if Damon Albarn had fronted The Pixies, something like Quilty might have happened. A band with loud-soft dynamics that took a left turn somewhere along the way to britpop goofiness, singer/guitarist Sarah Dupuis twists Pixies-like formulas into pretzel-like jams that pour on the sweetness and grisliness in equal parts.

—

4c. SNOWMINE
Meditative, melodic and spacious, Snowmine’s music emplyos a sweeping array of pastoral tones which range from longing, drifting acoustics to electronic drum patterns that build in tension with soaring horn sounds. In their music we hear XTC’s immense melodic talent and Tortoise’s suspenseful and arty arrangements. Call it post-pop if you wish.

—

– ALMOST QUALIFIED TO THE POLL’S NEXT ROUND
These artists had outstanding ratings from our jurors (almost 8 out of 10!) but won’t qualify to the next round of our year end poll. Dudes we are sorry but we must draw a line or this thing is going to be insane (and it will be anyway, with more than 100 bands qualified already!!!)

7a. BUGS IN THE DARK

Not many bands do it like Bugs in the Dark. Here’s a group that wrap their sound up tightly, and unleash it just as strongly. The three-piece places charging riffs under singer Karen Rockower’s soul-shaking vocals to weave a punishing set together that takes no prisoners. No reason to miss the Sonic Youth of years ago, this band is every bit as devastating and noisy, but you’ll love the abuse.

—

7b. DIEHARD
There seems to be a trend of late that we certainly won’t complain about: local NYC/Brooklyn bands channeling earnest 90s music styles to match the Doc Martens and grandmother-inspired floral prints seen on the streets of Williamsburg. Obviously inspired to the indie sound of that decade, Diehard’s music triggers a mental trip back to youth for 30 and 40 somethings like us, while sounding like a breath of fresh air to the younger hipsters.

—

7c. LIGHTOUTS
It’s about time Gowanus represented. Lightouts its two people with a love affair for the epic buildup. Taking drum machines and Michael Hutchence-minded vocals to a height where this town’s canal will never reach. Something like Bowie backed by LCD Soundsystem’s band, they have no trouble getting intense, but keep their feet in the dance floor throughout the show.

—

7d. MOTIVE
In track ‘Nobody Eats My Dinner,’ singer Nick Wold is way too hard on himself. At first lamenting how nobody likes him, he eventually gets lost in the driving rhythm instead; taking the song to a loud, hard-jamming place similar to the destinations The Strokes used to take me. Like track ‘Summer Solstice,’ that takes you on a long ride but leaves you in about the same place it began, Motive deals with life’s revolving frustrations the only way they know how: by channeling their angst through heartbreak riffs and confessional lyrics.

—

7e. THE YOUNG THINGS
The Young Things are taking tried-and-true rock sensibilities and giving them an LES makeover. In ‘All My Friends are Junkies,’ the band takes an approach like Brian Jonestown Massacre or Oasis, forcing rock riffs usually associated with Beatlemania into a mold better suited for city dwellers. So Get off your ass. this is a sound as infectious as it’s ever been.

—

– HONORABLE MENTIONS

The following bands deserve to be mentioned as well, they all had a 7.5 average rating: Clinical Trials, The Ropes, The Veda Rays, Wild International, Yvette.

Here at The Deli we call "Alt Folk" all those bands who reference traditional American music but graft some less traditional elements onto it. These are the results of the top bands from this genre who submitted to be considered for our Year End Best of NYC Poll for Emerging Artists.

NYC YEAR END POLL 2011 OPEN SUBMISSIONS RESULTS FOR ALT FOLK:
Jurors: Kate Shepherd (Deli Seattle), Annamarya Scaccia (Deli Philly), Erin D’Souza (Deli NYC)

– QUALIFIED TO THE POLL’S NEXT ROUND
The artists in this list qualify for the next phase of the poll, and will be added to the bands nominated by our jury of local scenemakers.

1. BIG WILSON RIVER

Big Wilson River plays my favorite kind of trashiness: Here you’ll find songs written about badass literary figures the way other bands discuss a wild night out. In ‘Hemingway Had a Cat’ for instance, you get your hard truths served up right alongside beer anthem-ready singalongs. Singers Darrin Bradbury and April Acerno sing in the kind of flannel only Jersey musicians can wear right, with big brawling songs like ‘Noah Goldstein,’ together with downhome front porch sentiment like ‘Twenty Little Soldiers.’ You won’t have to get dressed up to appreciate this band, but you will have to get down.

—

2. FOOD WILL WIN THE WAR

If you’re looking for a pithy descriptor to file Food Will Win the War under, you’re bound to be disappointed. Singer/songwriter Rob Ward and company have been routinely re-inventing themselves from their dreams of extra-marital astronaut affairs to their latest full-length, "A False Sense of Warmth." This abstract folk ensemble constantly challenges expectations by inserting dreamy lyrics through Ward’s steady baritone and allowing his raucous band to burn the barn down in intensive sets of acoustic string shredding.

—

3a. THE DUE DILIGENCE

Like any self-respecting Brooklynite, there’s nothing I’d like to see more than The Band make a return and show all these alt-folk cats how its done. Fortunately, now I can finally put that sentiment to rest. The Due Diligence picks up right where Robbie Robertson left off, carving a unique line extending from roots rock preservation to loud and brawling bar jams. Lead singer Sir Isaac Diligence sports a nautical disposition with one of the best beards I’ve seen yet in an otherwise crowded city of beards. Plenty of bands can jam, but few have this much to say while doing it.

—

3b: FIREHORSE

An active performer in Citizens Band and Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout, Leah Siegel has written a number of albums under her own name before she founded Firehorse. In this new project’s debut album "And So They Ran Faster…" she boasts a range of roles in diverse compositions that explore pop, rock, jazz, funk and soul with electronic flourishes. The genre-leaping tracks showcase Siegel’s versatile, intense vocals that lead her band into challenging sonic landscapes.

—

3c: FUTURIST

Futurist have some very big ideas. As much a multimedia project as 5-piece experimental folk outfit led by singer Curtis Peel. This group doesn’t just write songs, as much as they construct whole movements like a folk-rock symphony. Listen to just a couple measures into "Slackjaw Pilgrims" or "Wingspan" and you’ll find yourself getting pulled into their unique way of hearing the world. Like their name implies, there’s nothing old about this group. Good thing foot-stomping dance grooves never go out of style.

– ALMOST QUALIFIED TO THE POLL’S NEXT ROUND
These artists had outstanding ratings from our jurors (almost 8 out of 10!) but won’t qualify to the next round of our year end poll.

6a. GANGSTAGRASS
Folk music, meet hip-hop. Hip-hop, meet folk. Country singer Rench has been singing his mind for years now over some solid downhome beats, but with his band Gangstagrass, he’s something else entirely. He’s teamed up with rapper T.O.N.E.Z. to come up with a unique blend of these styles you probably haven’t heard before. This is a group that doesn’t bother with distinctions between hip-hop and folk styles, these come together with the same attitude both Hank Williams and Chuck D have in common: A hard-hitting beat placed under an outlaw sentiment.

 

6b. THE MAJORLEANS
This is what it would sound like if Lou Reed or Bob dylan played summer jams. Telling downtown stories of lost romance and strange motivations in songs like Damager and The Main Vine, singer Michael Daves takes rootsy tradition and gives it a distinctly New York feel, placing our town’s music in the middle of the heartland.

—

– HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The competition in this category was really, really tight. 20 artists received an average rating of 7 of more points out of 10, here are the 4 one that with 7.5: Ben Lear, Lucius, Shenandoah & the Night, We Are The Woods.