We have a strong suspicion that Reverb Nation is "stealing" our musical genres – after incorporating the Deli-invented "Mellow Core", we noticed they are now also using our "Avant-Indie" category. It’s all good, as long as we get the credit in the "History of Indie Music Journalism" books to come!
But anyway, with the word "Avant-Indie" we refer to artists like Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear that push the indie "envelop" without venturing in 100% experimental territory (because here the word "experimental" next to "music" makes us think about Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn etc. etc. – not indie artists). Electro rockers Arpline conquered the first position here by some distance, and will therefore join the other nominated artists for the final phase of our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll.

Categories: Avant Indie + Electro Rock
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli Chicago and SF Editors

1. Arpline – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
2. Home Video
3. Binary Marketing Show
4. Zambri
5. Swingset Committee
6. Kristina Supergenius
7. Great Tiger
8. Mon Khmer
9. Ultraviolet Astronomy
10. PAS

The "race" for the Alt Folk section of our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll was extremely close and this makes us suffer – the 7 bands in the top 3 positions (5 of them tied on 3rd) all averaged ratings equal to or above 8 out of 10. Due to limited spots we can only take the top two bands to the next phase of the poll: Pearl and the Beard (top picture) and their heartfelt and perfectly harmonized folk, and HUFF THIS! and their sparse and atmospheric songs.

Categories: ALT FOLK
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli Chicago and Philadelphia Editors

1. Pearl and the Beard – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
2. HUFF THIS! – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE

3. Great Elk
3. Lucinda Black Bear
3. Nightmare River Band
3. StickLips
3. The Whispering Tree
8. Like, Mountains
9. Whale Belly
10. Backwords
10. Guitars

Results for the Indie Pop open submissions to our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll are in! Curiously enough, the two top artists represent two opposite extremes of our pop scene: The Loom (top picture) won this category with their percussive, abrasive and home crafted orchestral pop, closely followed by Danish import Oh Land and her sophisticated and richly textured pop. Check out the other bands in the top 10, there are some real gems in there, sorry we won’t be able to take them further in our Best New Music of NYC Poll.

Categories: Indie Pop, Orchestral Pop, Mellow Core
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli LA, Nashville and Philadelphia Editors

1. The Loom – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
2. Oh Land – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE

3. Mama Bear
3. Shortwave Sunshine
3. Sinem Saniye
6. Patrick Bower & The World Without Magic
6. The Lives of Famous Men
6. The Secret History
9. Field Mouse
10. Violens
10. Xylos
10. Hailey Wojcik

 

 

The Chance gained the most votes for the DC/Baltimore based artists that submitted to be considered for our Best of DC/Baltimore Poll 2010. They will therefore access the next stage of our poll.  

 

The current alternative rock duo the Chance have been making regular treks up to NYC recording a new EP due to be released in the very near future.  This will be the followup to their previous release Dimensions that received awesome critic praise; “…this is an incredibly full and almost epic sound with a lot of ambience and intricate composition.” Matt Stabley, NBC4. “…an expansive sound that melds vocals that are both brooding and forceful…” Crispin Knott, Roll Magazine.“The four tracks on “Dimensions” are sonically challenging and equally fulfilling.” Robert Fulton, OnTap Magazine.

Categories: All Genres

Region: Washington DC + Baltimore

Jurors: Deli Austin and San Francisco Editors

Top 10 Artists From Open Submissions

1.The Chance – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

2. Cobra Collective – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

3. The Last Monarchs– NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

4. Thee Lexington Arrows – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

5. Lara Supan

6. The Treading Lemmings

7. Stars and The Sea

8. Death by Sexy

9. Ihsan Bilal

10. Heather Renee

This category gathers pretty much all the NYC Year End Poll submissions we received outside the rock and and folk realms. Disco duo French Horn Rebellion earned the top spot (and nomination for the next round) with their groovy and somewhat cheeky reinterpretation of the dancefloor sound of the 80s. Kudos to Infernal Devices and Gangstagrass who were strong runner ups.

Categories: HIP HOP, DANCE, REGGAE, WORLD, OTHER
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli Chicago and Philadelphia Editors

1. French Horn Rebellion – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE
2. Infernal Devices
3. Gangstagrass
4. Tayisha Busay
5. Emily Warren & The Betters
6. The Beatards
7. nine11 thesaurus
8. Shinobi Ninja
8. The Times
10. Deathrow Tull

This year we grouped Psych Rock and Shoegazer submissions to our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll with Noise Rock ones, although it was mostly artists from the first genre group that rose to the top positions. Invisible Days (top picture), after catching the attention of the NYC staff with their new single "Solitary Time", they also impressed The Deli’s out of town editors selected to rate bands in this category, and they qualified to the next round together with Kordan (whom we also decided to promote to the next phase because they got an outstanding average rating of 9 out of 10). All the artists in this top 10 received really good ratings and it breaks our hart to get only two of them through to the final stage of our poll.

Categories: Psych Rock, Shoegazer, Noise Rock, Lo-Fi

Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island

Jurors: Deli Washington and New England Editors

1. Invisible Days – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE
2. Kordan – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE



3. Dead Leaf Echo
4.Young Boys
5. FOOD S†ΔMPS
6. Elika
7. Backlights
7. Pet Ghost Project
7. Quiet Loudly
10. Quilty

Lily & The Parlour Tricks (top picture) and Kagero from the "Mixed Roots" category submissions qualified for the next round of our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll (Alt Folk artists and Songwriters were rated separately and the top 10 will be announced soon).

Categories: Rootsy Pop + Americana + Folk Rock + Alt Soul

Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island

Jurors: Deli SF and Nashville Editors

1. Lily & The Parlour Tricks – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE
1. Kagero – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

3. The Debutante Hour
4. The Third Wheel Band
5. Shayna Zaid & The Catch
6. Reverend John DeLore
7. Alec Gross
8. Bern & the Brights
9. Abby Payne
10. Caleb Hawley

"Undreamt" is the genius debut EP from DC’s Painted Face, the solo project of Allie Alvarado (formerly of Telepathe and Blood Lines) in collaboration with producer Alvin Risk.  Fans of Kate Bush and Bat For Lashes ought to include this gem in their collection of pop shoegazey-driven dance anthem albums, with swirly chants found in every hit after hit track on this "I can’t believe she’s not playing arenas yet" EP.

The title track ‘Undreamt’ oozes lushy synths with layers of spiraling keys over a beat that urges your whole body to let go as Alvarado’s bewitching voice croons "So if you feel it, you better make the first move…"

‘Favorite One’ is a beautiful ballad delivered over spasms of glitch melting into ‘Sum of Me’, an energetic track where Alvarado questions "did you ever know the truth, did you ever try?" 

Ending the EP is ‘Girls in Love’, which transports you to mid 80’s pop in the first few seconds before taking a giant leap back to the future of electronica and riding the synth waves ’til the end, where you just want more.  Until an LP is revealed, we can always just hit the repeat button.  Love it.

Catch Painted Face, along with Raindeer and Stout Cortez @ the Velvet Lounge on Jan. 15 at 9 PM ($8). -Dawn

Black Taxi gained the most votes for the Alternative Rock category amongst the NYC based artists that submitted to be considered for our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll. They will therefore access the next stage of our poll.

Listening to their music, we gather traces of bands as diverse as The Clash and Daft Punk – probably because of the band member’s diverse histories (they are the sons of rail workers, Olympians, Mennonites and sheep farmers). The final product is thick with tribal beats colliding with bold melodies, held together by catchy backing vocals. Our favorite songs are “Do What You Gotta Do” and “Shoeshine” – check them out live, they have a great show! – Leah Tribett

Categories: Alt Rock + Revival Rock + Power Pop

Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island

Jurors: Deli Austin and Philadelphia Editors

TOP 10 ARTISTS FROM OPEN SUBMISSIONS
1. Black Taxi – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE
2. TAB the Band
3. Blackbells
3. Cavalier Rose
3. The Click Clack Boom
6. Black Suit Youth
6. The Telephones
8. The Shake
8. Wormburner
10. Apollo Run

In anticipation of the forthcoming EP We Scatter Light, Brooklyn-grown Soft Black, announce the release of a music video for the track ‘Lions’, shot during CMJ 2010 for the Green Screening Project. The song was featured on the band’s 2009 debut album "The Earth is Black". See them live at Brooklyn Bowl with Shilpa Ray on 01.21.

Exaggerating news has always helped selling newspapers – as testified by the immortal editor in chief of NYC’s own Daily Bugle. Monday Night Japanther‘s show at the Lincoln Center was described by some as ending in a "riot", with quotes from attendees saying that they feared for their lives, but things don’t look exactly that way from this footage of the performance’s last few minutes before the interruptions. Let’s just say that the kids went a bit too crazy…

 

Members in the rotating lineup of The Davenports have rightfully played alongside such icons as They Might Be Giants, Fountains of Wayne, and Rhett Miller. Considering their peers, it’s no surprise the band’s claimed a steady fan-base. While their sound is based in power pop roots, lead singer Scott Class sounding like a mix between Ben Folds and Ok Go’s Damian Kulash, the band refuses to conform to expected composition, offering alternatively Beach Boys-y vocal arrangements, horn and accordion orchestrations in the styling of Beirut, and occasional overly saturated guitar stabs in an overall very well crafted and clean indie pop production. The band will play a release party for their latest album on January 19th at NYC’s Living Room. – Katie Bennett