Thanks to all the artists who submitted their music to be considered for The Deli’s Best of Chicago Year End Poll for Emerging Artists. We had a record number of submissions from Chicago this year – 90! – thanks so much for the overwhelming response!

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2. Secret Colours – 7.5

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3. Sunjacket – 7.33

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4. SMOKER – 7.16

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4. Purrple – 7.16

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4. LWKY – 7.16

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Honorable Mentions (scores above 6.5)

The Avantist, COUGAR ISLAND, MISTER SUIT, Will Phalen, Impulsive Hearts, Absolutely Not, Dial In, the Textiles, My My My, Frances Luke Accord.

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WHAT’S NEXT: These results end the first phase of the poll. We have already unveiled full list of nominees that also includes the artists nominated by our local jurors (see left column here). It’s now time for our readers to influence this Year End Poll for Emerging Chicago Artists with their vote – look out for th readers’ poll on the right column of this same page!

The Deli Chicago

I’ll say off the bat that I’ve been listening to this band since high school, so you know already that I’ve got a personal connection to them.  Of course back then their best song was called “spliff song” so it’s not hard to see why I liked them; the reasons I like this band now are very different from back then.  Show Me The Body is a New York based three piece whose sound has been consistently developing into a progressive avant-punk aesthetic, equipped with dark imagery and basement scenes galore.  Frontman Jay Cashwan wields a 4-string banjo and an intense (almost threatening) stage presence, as if to say “come on, I dare you to fuck with my band,” dredging up images of a dark and sinister underground New York untouched by anything remotely clean or bourgeois.  But don’t let the muddy vibes fool you: although an undoubtedly lo-fi element is present, SMTB has been harnessing an increasingly specific and progressive sound, and they execute it perfectly on the stage.  You can catch them this year on their tour, with hip-hop up & comers Ratking, this Summer (Asbury Lanes on June 11th is their closest date to home). Hear their track “One Train” below. – Jake Saunders

Josephine and the Wildfront has the sweetest song about bloody knuckles that I have ever heard. She also has the most frustratingly brief teaser video for her upcoming EP, “Swallowed by the Ocean.” I would not mention it if the 3 songs available online weren’t so lovely and intriguing. The EP is due out in August, and I cannot wait to hear more of her unusual voice braced by synthesizers and reverb. They are playing a few shows this month in and around Nashville, including one TONIGHT at the Dollhouse. Get all the vital details here. – Terra James-Jura

Elk’s premiere EP “Cocoon” is intimate to say the least. Sounding more like bedroom demos rather than fully produced songs, their tracks manage to capture something nostalgic and inviting that many bands tend to loose in the recording studio. With a track like “Trails”, Elk shows us how lo fi and desserty that they can get, creating what can only be described as a wild west show down put to music. Oher tunes like “Mother Earth” display a dreamier side to them, revealing at times a noisier side reminiscent of The Flaming Lips. These ambient lo fi folk rockers are really on to something and we are really looking forward to hearing a full length in the future. – Sam Kogon (@samkogon)

Courtney Jane’s forthcoming album Love and Forgiveness, due out May 7, 2013, is her second independent release after leaving Island Records. Produced by Mike Wrucke (Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert), Love and Forgiveness boasts a cross-section of veteran talent including drummer Fred Eltringham (Dixie Chicks, The Wallflowers), bassist Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple), pedal steel virtuoso Greg Leisz (Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Springsteen), guitarists Josh Grange (The Jayhawks, Pistol Annies) and Neal Casal (Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson). Check out the official video for her first single, "Say Oh Say" here. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

It’s hard to place Wild Cub on a sonic scale. At first listen, we were reminded of the sound of Chic, with Nile’s Rodgers-esque guitar playing on “Wild Light”. At other times, we heard a little bit of early U2, shamelessly employing The Edge’s classic delayed guitar effect on “Colour”. After a listening to a few songs off of the band’s latest LP, “Youth”, it is apparent that these guys are going through a late 1970’s/ New Wave kick…and they know what they are doing. Tracks like “The Water “ and “Wishing Well” take some of the best sounds first used by Peter Gabriel and Genesis and deliver them to a younger audience. The entire record is full of subtle anthems that we think you’ll want to hear more than a few times. – Sam Kogon (@samkogon)

We hope you won’t think we are chauvinistic if we say that Heliotropes‘ brand of rock doesn’t often come from the fairer sex. Yeah because we are not just talking about ‘punchy’ stuff here, it’s more like… fury! The Brooklyn female foursome has an explosive debut record on the way, and a release show to celebrate it in one of the finest NYC venues. Glasslands will be abuzz with excitement for A Constant Sea’s release on 6/18, and with support from Bad Cop and Fan-Tan, the night promises to be interesting from the first act to the last. You don’t want to miss this one, but if you do, they’re playing at 4Knots this summer, so you’ll have another chance. – Zack Kraimer

The grungy, hardcore post-punk trio that is Verses Narrow hits your eardrums with rich, piercing guitar riffs, precisely driven drum work, and passionate indie vocals that all come together nicely to make for a well-executed sound that we think you should check out. Formed in Brooklyn in October of 2011, Bryan Louie, Sal DellAquila and Aaron Nice seem to borrow separate elements from the styles of their 90s band influences like The Jesus Lizard, Shellac and Quicksand to make a their own sound that they claim through their well-rounded execution. If you liked At The Drive In, check out Verses Narrow. They are set to play Pianos on 6/14 with Strangers, Lord Classic and The Gorgeous Hands. Listen to “Boredom” below. –Michael Haskoor (@Tweetskoor)