Deli Readers,

Every year, in the early months, The Deli polls several local "scenemakers" to ask their opinion about the best emerging Chicago based artists that got them excited in the previous year. We therefore list these artists on our local homepage, in a Readers’ Poll whose results contribute in deciding The Deli Chicago’s Artist of the Year.

In an effort to give you more time to check out all the nominated bands, this year we have decided to stretch the readers’ polls a little, and, instead of posting a huge list of artists all at once, we will activate one genre-related poll every five days or so.

We begin today with bands in the Revival Rock/Pop category! You can find the poll on the top right of our homepage and you can cast your vote here.

We see our yearly polls as a fun way to engage our readers and the artists involved, and we hope they will get both to discover new local bands deserving of attention.

The Folks at The Deli

P.S. To group all artists in these categories we had to "stretch" things a little for a few ones that didn’t precisely fit any of the wide musical umbrellas most other bands belonged to – we hope we can be forgiven for that.

Looking for a last-minute Valentine’s Day date idea? Here you go: Queens-based indie pop duo Imaginary Tricks plays Pianos in the Lower East Side on February 14th. Take a friend (or someone more than a friend) to hear catchy tunes from the group, who’ve opened for Dr. Dog and Jimmy Eat World, among others.

The band — led by Mike Visser — has quite a bit coming up in the weeks following their Pianos show. They head to SXSW in Austin, where they’ll play at Maggie Mae’s on March 16th. Then they’ll release a new record, "Skommel," on March 24th. You can stream a track from the record, titled "Bird", below. – Will Sisskind

Deli Readers,

Every year, in the early months, The Deli polls several local "scenemakers" to ask their opinion about the best emerging SF Bay Area based artists that got them excited in the previous year. We therefore list these artists on our local homepage, in a Readers’ Poll whose results contribute in deciding The Deli SF Bay Area’s Artist of the Year.

In an effort to give you more time to check out all the nominated bands, this year we have decided to stretch the readers’ polls a little, and, instead of posting a huge list of artists all at once, we will activate one genre-related poll every five days or so.

We begin today with bands in the Revival Rock/Pop category! You can find the poll on the top right of our homepage and you can cast your vote here.

We see our yearly polls as a fun way to engage our readers and the artists involved, and we hope they will get both to discover new local bands deserving of attention.

The Folks at The Deli

P.S. To group all artists in these categories we had to "stretch" things a little for a few ones that didn’t precisely fit any of the wide musical umbrellas most other bands belonged to – we hope we can be forgiven for that.

Describing themselves as “fiddle-infused pop/rock”, Richmond, VA band Griff’s Room Band has a tight and well thought out sound.  The songs are constructed with some care; with a solid rhythm section, good singing, and nice solos from the fiddle and guitar.  This is a band that sounds like it would be fun to see live.

Here’s Griff’s Room Band with the song “Tie Me Down”.

-Michael Dranove

We were glad to see Tom Petty’s name mentioned in the profile notes of NYC artist DL is OK, because we were going to mention it in this blurb, and sometimes artists don’t like their influences to be revealed (in particular when we get them wrong…) But, hey, there are a gazillion bands out there channeling The Ramones and Pavement, and some of them are nonetheless great and very original, just to say that influences means nothing. Point is, it’s actually very easy to be original and devastatingly boring, while writing a truly good song is a heck of a lot harder, even if you wear your influences on your sleeve. As far as Tom Petty is concerned, the man is incredibly underrated among emerging indie bands, so much so that hardly anybody seems interested in referencing his music. Truth is, he wrote some of the most timeless pop songs in the history of mainstream rock, without every sounding cheesy, forced or contrived. As far as we are concerned, we need more songwriters able to blend americana, pop and rock in earnest and memorable musical nuggets the way he could. DL is OK’s debut EP "Into the Flood" is a promising step in that direction – check out the titletrack below. The band just landed a residency at Pianos during the month of February, starting on the 7th.

We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best Roots/Americana songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

Computers sometimes make us do things we don’t mean to do – and that’s not always bad. I meant to assign a blurb about band Hiccup to our contributor Dave Cromwell, but my email was hijacked by an auto-complete function… the message reached instead Sonicscoop.com‘s founder/editor David Weiss (who never writes for us about bands). Unexpectedly, he went ahead and replied with this:

"Ready for some rockin’ rockin’ ROCK? Hold on to your rearview mirrors and prepare for a fast ride of poppy punk!!!!! ‘Imaginary Enemies’ by NYC trio Hiccup is FOR REAL, all drums guitar grit and gorgeous that descends on your ears like a beehive buzzzzzzzzzzzin’ with it.

Alex! Hallie! Piyal! Catch them on March 10th at SXSW, March 14th at Sidewinder in Austin, or back in our little cow town of NYC March 26th at Rough Trade. The latter especially apropos, because if you like it ROUGH – and lovely – then Hiccup is what’s up. And don’t keep that on the down low." – David Weiss (Sonicscoop.com)

P.S. Thanks David!

Bands, these days (electronic ones in particular) are not in a hurry to put out full length album. Many of them carry on releasing single after single, which are then gathered in EPs or compilation albums when enough songs have been churned out. Following the trend, NYC’s Salt Cathedral has been releasing celestial, world music flavored synth-pop since 2013, and they finally announced the ucoming release of their debut LP, entitled ‘Big Waves//Small Waves.’ They did so by unveiling a preview single entitled ‘Fragments," a song about the personal damage created by conflict, which confirms the band’s talent so many times we praised in this very blog. Take a listen below.

The Romantic Comedy is certainly a fitting name for the new project (by members of Brooklyn’s The Great American Novel), whose debut EP “Let’s Be Sad Together” was released in late 2016. The EP features coming of age songs about wasting time ("Ugh"), falling head over heels for someone ("The Thirst") and wanting someone you can’t have ("Let’s Be Sad Together," streaming below). Like in the movies the band’s moniker is inspired by, these struggles are approached with an upbeat optimism, which musically speaking means "power pop." It looks like the quintet will be headed to Austin in March for the SXSW music festival.

This artist submitted music for coverage here.

The side project of Gary Canino of the band Rips, Dark Tea plays a brand of introverted folk-pop that blends the soothing simplicity of The Shins with the playfulness of some of Syd Barrett solo albums. ‘Providence Sky,’ featuring the sugar-coated addition of Alexandra Savior‘s vocals, is their only truly finalized track to date, but sounds very promising to our ears – stream it below. You can check out a bunch of demos on their Soundcloud profile, and see the band live at Baby’s All Right on February 15th.

Bad Moves is part of what keeps DC punk moving forward. Infectious pop tinged with adolescent sadness, this is music for the young, hopeful and deeply discontented masses. Music full of yearning for a better society amidst the soul crushing mundanity of everyday life. And although DC’s alter-globalization movement has ceased to become relevant, punks like Bad Moves are keeping its spirit alive.

Listen to “Shitty Tomorrow” from Bad Moves’ self titled debut EP

Our Best of Austin 2017 poll has begun last week with the Electronic category and, after you-the-people cast your vote, we have the results to share with you!

Overall Poll winner (Jurors’ vote + Readers’ vote): Mobley

Readers’ Poll Winner (Readers’ Vote only): Mr. Kitty

We are superproud of these two Austin acts, that offer very different varieties of electronic music.

The full list of nominees for our Best of Austin 2017 Electronic Category can be found under the streaming tracks.

	Mr. Kitty		88%	186 votes
	Capyac		0%	0 votes
	Mobley		1%	3 votes
	SURVIVE		1%	4 votes
	Missio		0%	0 votes
	Eyelid Kid		3%	8 votes
	Thor & Friends		0%	2 votes
	NAM		2%	6 votes

If the ground were to one day crack open, and the sounds of Tartarus began to seep out of the earth, I’d like to imagine the hellish cacophony would sound a bit like King Woman. The San Francisco-based four-piece crafts the sort of doom metal that seems to herald the bridging of our dimension and the underworld. Kristina Esfandiari’s vocals envelop the band’s tracks with the precision of a hushed, siren song, while the band–composed of Colin Gallagher on guitar, Peter Arensdorf on bass and Joey Raygoza on drums–punctuate her ethereal singing with fuzzy, dark soundscapes and angular riffs. On the heels of their soon-to-be-released album, Created in the Image of Suffering, Collin and Peter were kind enough to share their current pedal set ups, and the techniques they used to get the visceral sounds heard on their album. – Olivia Sisinni

Read the interview here, and fon’t miss the band live at their new album release party at Starline Social Club on February 17.