Musical peoples from Chicago and beyond,

A few weeks are left before the end of 2009, and the time has come for our end of year musical "summary". Yes, you got that right: The Deli’s "Best of (emerging) Chicago 2009 Poll" is upon us!

This year we’ll have an overall chart including the votes from Jury, Writers and Readers, and a Readers’ charts including only the readers’ votes.There will be other prizes in vouchers, software and studio time for all the top artists in both charts.

We have a lot to tell you about this, but as this poll couldn’t happen without sponsors, we’ll start by listing them all, and by thanking them for being part of this.

 Instructions about the poll coming soon!

PREMIUM SPONSORS

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OTHER SPONSORS

Software

providing a total of 18 audio plug in for the pool of prizes (9 iZotope, 9 IK Multimedia) 

Recording Studios
  
providing free recording for the pool of prizes

Mastering
 
providing free mastered songs for the pool of prizes 

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If your company is interested in sponsoring "The Deli Year End Best of Poll" it’s not too late! Just contact us here.

The Deli Staff
www.thedelimagazine.com 

The ninth entry on our Top 15 Chicago tracks of 2009 countdown is a fun song and video from the dynamic duo of Yea Big & Kid Static. The track "Bots" comes from their sophomore release The Future’s Looking Grim.

The Christmas tunes just keep rolling in from Chicago’s best, and what would Christmas be with the sounds of NES controllers and video games in the background. That’s right I am talking about our favorite comic book geeks and dragon fighters. I Fight Dragons has pull off a Nintendo charged cover of Fountains of Wayne’s song “Alien For Christmas”. I don’t know what else they would have covered, but a Christmas song about aliens.

Daniel Knox has the type of voice that makes you believe what he is saying. I truly believe he wants me to have a merry little Christmas (listen to that cover here). I am sure you will feel the same. Listen to his cover of “Last Christmas” below. The song appears on the free Holiday album from Tight Ship Records.

Daniel has two shows scheduled in January. Monday, Jan 4th, he’ll be back at the Hungry Brain for a You, Me, Them, Everybody event with special guests from the Classical Revolution Chicago outfit performing pieces for 2 flutes, bassoon and piano. Then he’ll join Can.Ky.Ree and Singing in the Abbey (album release) at the Hideout on Thursday, Jan 14th.

The tenth song on our countdown comes from Flosstradamus. "Big Bills" features Caroline Polachek and was released as a single early in 2009. 

For a special performance of "Big Bills" feature Kid Sister tune into IFC’s "Dinner With Band" tonight at 10pm. The crew and Kid Sis also help host Sam Madison make some spicy curry and play "Control" from Ultraviolet. You can find a sneak peak of tonight episode here. 

Bullets In Madison will debut some new tunes from their forthcoming album, We Became Your Family When You Died, at the Empty Bottle tonight, December 22nd. Have a listen to a brand new sampler track from the album (mp3) and come on out to the show. Camera and Milk At Midnight will also be performing. This 21+ show gets started at 9pm and tickets are $5. – Brendan Losch

Number eleven in our top 15 Chicago tracks of 2009 comes from Dave Davison and his side project Cast Spells. The song "Glamous Glow" is taken for the Cast Spells debut Bright Works And Baton which was released in July (Sargent House).

“From the dirty streets of Chicago to your bedroom”, this is what newcomers Mickey screamed over the top of their gritty guitar riffs for their recent HoZac Records radio spot. Whether or not Mickey’s view of Chicago is grounded in reality or not is not really the point, their back-alley garage punk sound is what has landed them on label that is also home to the like minded blog darlings The Smith Westerns. With scream-sing vocals from Mac Blackout, aggressive drumming from Christmas Woods, or the contribution from Mick Swagger, Dirty D, or Brent, the band is playing an angle, but has the talent to match.

HoZac announced this morning via twitter that they are releasing the bands debut 7” “She’s So Crazy”, and I would image they would have copies with them as they take the stage tonight at The Whistler for The CHIRP Radio Benefit. Modern Primitives are also performing tonight. The show starts tonight 9:30pm.

How can you possibly not attend something billed as the greatest show ever? Well, if you don’t want to take the bills word for it the bands involved have given you several incentives to dig a little deeper. The first thing you need to do is visit the show’s website (yes, it’s a website dedicated to just this show). Once you are at the site you will be able to download free albums from three of the four bands involved. Who are the bands involved you ask? Picture Books, Venna, Crayolala, and Kid, You’ll Move Mountains. You can find eps from Venna and Picture Books, and the full-length debut from KYMM all for free. Also, on the site you will find a ticket that will grant you free admission if you arrive before 9pm. If you need a little more from Picture Books, a live session from them was posted today over at Coach House Sounds. What more could you want really? 

Four great local bands, January 2nd, at The Metro for free (before 9pm). It truly is the greatest show ever.

As I begin to receive a few Christmas covers from Chicago musicians I feel as though I have missed an opportunity to do something bigger. Maybe next year there will be a Deli Christmas song project or something. Regardless, the Christmas spirit has infected Brendan Losch and I am happy to share with you his interpretation of the classic "White Christmas".

Number twelve is the wonderfully inventive song and video from Volcano! "So Many Lemons" which was released as a single back in March.

Our number thirteen selection comes from the BBU crew. "Chi Don’t Dance" no only captures a snapshot the hip hop scene in 2009, but also focuses on a style of dance that is original to the city.