The Walking Sticks are The Deli DC’s Best Emerging Artist of 2015! 2nd California Death! 3rd Manzara!

Dear Deli Readers,

Our Best of DC Area Poll for Emerging Artists has been – as usual – a lengthy and painstaking journey which took us through prairies of numbers, horizons filled with band names, and a dense, (mostly) joyous rain of music. We have finally reached our destination and we can announce the final results!

Coming in first for 2015 is DC’s premier velvet pop trio The Walking Sticks. Comprised of outstanding vocalist Chelsea Lee and brothers Spencer and Max Ernst, this group possesses a standout electronic base layered with funk and the stadium-quality voice of a siren. They have a show tomorrow night, 2/10, with Wylder and Tigers Are Bad For Horses at the W Hotel.

Barely a year out from releasing their first LP, Richmond psych rockers California Death landed at number two. Mellow and dreamy, this quintet makes a splash with their beachy, lo-fi shoegaze music in the Old Dominion. Nostalgic and feel-good, these guys have a show at Gallery 5, 2/28.

Number three on the list, Manzara lays out their heavy, atmospheric post rock to great aplomb, also hailing from Richmond. This spacy and mystifying threepiece doesn’t have much music on the books, but keep an eye on them as they build their following. Their next gig is at the Hardywood Brewing Company, 2/20.

Check out our poll’s top ten below, and don’t forget to get even deeper, exploring all the finalists organized by genre:

Alt Rock – Hardcore/Metal – Hip Hop/World – Electronic – Indie Pop – Indie Rock – Post Punk – Roots Music

BEST OF 2015 POLL FOR  EMERGING NDC Area ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS – TOP TEN ******

ARTIST J OS R TOT   1 The Walking Sticks 4.5 3 0.004 7.504 2 California Death 5.5   0.064 5.564 3 Manzara 4.5   0.002 4.502 4 Dr Robinson’s Fiasco 3   0.124 3.124 5 Goldrush 3   0.088 3.088 6 The Milestones 3   0.04 3.04 7 Spirit Plots 3   0.019 3.019 8 Beauty Pill 3   0.004 3.004 9 Stronger Sex 3   0.003 3.003   The NRIS 3   0.003 3.003 Legend: J = Jurors, W = Deli Writers, R = Deli Readers, OS = Open Submissions

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If you wonder how this chart came into existence, here is how it all went down: first, we let the local bands submit their music (for free), and got our Deli editors to pick the nominees. Then we polled a list of 15+ DC Area scene expert (our jury) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each (3 points for the top choice, then 2 and 1). Then we polled our readers. We tried to keep things open for each single genre, from Indie Rock to Roots Music to Hip Hop.

If you are a geek interested in all the subtleties related to how this poll works, you can read the rules here (happy reading!). But if all you care about is the awesome new music DC Area produced in the year 2015, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

Many Thanks to our Jurors: Josh Sisk (photographer), Craig Boarman (Ottobar), Brandon Wetherbee (Brightest Young Things), Alley Gibson (photographer), Lynda Lu (DC Rocks), Mike Rutz (WRIR), Katie Bowles (DC Music Download), Andrew Cothern (RVA Paylist), Chris (DC Heavy Metal), Jennifer Vinson (DC Setlist), Nestor (Velvet Lounge), Mark (Strange Matter), David Hintz (DC Rock Live), Kevin Hill (Chunky Glasses), Chris Naoum (Listen Local First), Jonathan Goodwin (The Deli Magazine). Many other jurors were asked to send us their preferences but elected not to do so.

Hope you’ll find some awesome new artists you weren’t aware of!

The Deli’s Staff