Briar Rabbit (aka Phillip-Michael Scales) is new to Chicago, but he has already fallen in love our city. He brings with him a powerful voice and strong musical sense and background. He was born in Detroit and has always been fascinated by and practicing music. He was formally trained in Boston, and now has found his way back to the Midwest to call Chicago home.

His debut album, Briar Rabbit & The Company You Keep, was recorded both in Boston and here at CarterCo Studios. The seven-song album can be purchased here where you can also here a few of the tracks.

Briar Rabbit will be performing a free show at The Whistler on Sunday Jan. 30th at 9:45.

Village has released their new album Local Moves, and you can download it for free through soundcloud. The band combines elements of surf pop, lo-fi, and even a touch of rockabilly (see "Eye Sore"). The album raw, but energtic and great winter’s day listen.

Village will be performing at Empty Bottle on Feb. 10th with Maximum Wage.

The latest video session from Giant System features the sweet and soulful sounds of Boutros.

Verona Red has raised enough funds to produce and released their new EP Pound. The EP will feature seven new tracks by the band, and will be released on Feb. 4th. Here is some footage of the band putting the finishing touches on their new track "Kitchens".

Verona Red is celebrating the release of Pound on Feb 4th at Subt with Bully in The Hallway and The Rails.

On January 19th, yourfeetstoobig released a digital ep titled Hunter/Gather. The EP contains seven tracks that are highly danceable but beautiful enough to listen to anywhere. Everything from electronic loops, shoegaze, and pop finds its way into the yourfeetstoobig sound waves.

You can download it for free at from the band’s bandcamp site. (The first 200 downloads are free) Keep an eye out for physical releases, other freebies and show dates in the very near future.

The latest addition to the local label Tandem Shop is a band called The Island of Misfit Toys. The eight-piece band is in the process of recording their debut studio album, but have already begun to gain a reputation for their live performances. You can see why in the video below. Their debut album is due this Spring, and will be called Bear Hair.

The Island of Misfit Toys will be performing at Subterranean on January 23rd with The Please & Thanks Yous and Currier.

Seafarer made their way on to Daytrotter this week. The band performed four tracks from their new ep Hiding Places.

The band will be performing a free show at The Whistler on Jan. 23rd and at Empty Bottle on Jan. 28th.

Rita J. steals the show and declares that "hip hop is back!" on this new video from Atlanta’s Clan Destined.

Rise Against is back and will be releasing their new album Endgame on March 15th by DGC/Interscope. The first single from the album is called "Help Is On The Way" and will be released digitally on Jan. 25th.

There is so much happening in the world of Distractions. The band recently released a hand-numbered 7" through twosyllable Records, in an edition of 500, for their track "We Were Better Off In The Rain".

Today marks the release of the bands debut full-length, Dark Green Sea, through Infinite Best. The album (with digital download) is also limited to 500 copies. The album includes the track "All Night" which you can check out below.

Distractions will be performing at Treasure Town (2106 S Kedzie Ave) with Hollows on Jan. 24th.

Finally you can all vote for your favorite emerging Chicago artist of 2010 from the list on the right!

I know, it’s a long list, but that’s what our jury of scene makers (see list below) passed us – there was hardly any consensus amongst them, they almost all voted for different artists, and that’s why the list is so long. The list also includes the winners for our open poll and our Sonicbids winners.

The band/artist from this list that wins on the poll’s composite chart (i.e. jurors + Deli writers + fans’ votes) will receive a plethora of prizes provided by the sponsors of The Deli. Right now all the artists in the list have accumulated some points from the votes cast by jurors and writers, now it’s the fans and readers’ turn!

JURORS: Here’s the list of jurors in random order: Samantha Gordon (Reviewsic), Matt Baron (Coach House Sounds), Brendan Shanley (Lost In Concert), Amy Dittmeier (Heave Media), Frank Krolicki. (Windy City Rock), Brendan Losch (Count Me Out), Brandon Wetherbee (You, Me, Them, Everybody), Bill Valenta, and Jason Behrends (The Deli)

In 2009 Wes Kirkpatrick relocated to Chicago from Denver, and has been working on his solo debut album Naps & Nightmares ever sinces. Recorded with Chad Weis (tour manager and sound engineer for Martin Sexton, Mason Jennings, Ben Kweller) at his new Minneapolis studio "The Devil’s Workshop", this album has been Wes’ driving force and he is finally ready to make it available. "A lot of love, hard work, good times and not so good times went into it. I stuck with it until it was exactly the way I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to rush this one." says Kirkpatrick. The album documents the transition of leaving his friends and family in Colodrado and the process of adapting to life in Chicago.

Naps & Nightmares will be released on March 1st by My Forlorn Wallet Records, and a Chicago release show should be announced shortly.