The Vandelles (who placed 22nd on our Best of NYC 2009 Poll) have just release a new self titled EP in the UK under SVC Records. The band’s sound (quite literally) reverberates with British noise pop influences reminiscent of Jesus and Mary Chain with an added blues, surf and… vampire edge ("vampire"? Is that a new genre? – we hear you ask. Yeah maybe… you know when the vocals sound like they are coming from… hell or something?). Don’t miss them tonight (01.22) opening for Serena Maneesh at Mercury Lounge.
We stubmled upon Shayna Zaid & The Catch last night at Southpaw and were charmed by their sunny and well performed rootsy pop. I guess we weren’t the only ones to be charmed considering that as of late the band signed not one but 7 tv Licenses and 2 ABC Family films. They are also doing an in studio perfromance next week on Break Thru Radio and Sirius. The band has a busy schedule ahead with a series of shows booked – including several performances at SXSW and a showcase tonight (01.22) at Rockwood Music Hall in the LES. Check them out!
Noise is back with a bang in the NYC music scene! Brooklyn turbolent Talk Normal are the winners of our Year End Best of NYC poll (the full chart, including 67 emerging artist, can be found here). The band gathered 8 jury and one Deli writers’ votes which allowed them to seal the poll’s 1st position – even if they obviously didn’t promote the readers’ poll (only 5 votes were cast in their favor in that department). Hey, we are cool with that! The fans’ vote, though, was instrumental in assigning positions from #2 to #7 – as these 6 artists all received 7 votes between the jury and the Deli writers. Freelance Whales and Bear in Heaven will therefore need to thank their fanbase for appearing on the smaller cover pictures of the Spring 2010 issue of The Deli. We’d like to bring to everybody’s attention that any of these 6 bands could have won the overall contest if they had placed 1st or 2nd in our readers’ poll – we are saying this because often readers and bands complain about the fact that in our system the readers’ votes don’t bear enough weight.
Curiously enough, Freelance Whales‘ 2nd place seems like a symbolic testament to how wide the NYC scene’s sonic spectrum is: where Talk Normal’s music literally couldn’t exist without electricity, the guys in Freelance Whales pride themselves of being able to play live shows without any amplification – not even microphones (that’s what they did during our packed CMJ party in October – although sure enough some people in the back couldn’t hear much…)
Bear in Heaven (in third place) complete our virtual podium with their texturally rich psych rock. In a rock scene as fragmented as ever (in which attitude more than genre has become the aggregating component) the psych rock and shoegazer community of artists represents an exception; they are part of probably the only genre-defined rock scene in NYC, developing a very defined sonic legacy. Bear in Heaven – an incredibly talented and hard working band – is definitely one of the best expressions of the current NYC psychedelic sound.
64 more bands are listed in our charts, from the world conquering, exotic experimentations of Dirty Projectors to the beautifully sparse and intimate songs of Callers (the two bands coincidentially share the same record label, together with our current cover band Glass Ghost). We will cover all these bands in the spring issue of The Deli and on our NYC site in the following months.
This is the final Top 20 chart of the Deli’s Year End Best of NYC Fans’ Poll for emerging artists – breakdown of the votes here.
On Wednesday we’ll publish the chart of the Best of NYC 2009 Poll, which will assign the cover of the spring printed issue of The Deli Magazine.
As we have 67 artists on this list, we are taking a few days to double check all the votes, which were assigned through a rather complicated system involving a jury of scene makers, The Deli’s writers, our readers, the bands’ fans, and also through an initial open contest – full rules can be found here.
We would like to say a big "Thank You" to all the jurors who helped us, with their vote, compile the list of The Deli’s Year End Best of NYC Emerging Artists.
The following Deli writers cast their vote as well: Andrew Spaulding, Erin O’Keefe, Nancy Chow, Paul Dunn, Ryan Henriquez, Liz Schroeter, Simon Heggie, Nicholas Palumbo, Joe Coscarelli, Lauren Piper, Charles Davis, Lindsey Goetz, Chloe Schildhouse.
Thank you to all the bands who participated to our poll either by submitting to the open contest or be simply being selected, and thanks to all the fans and Deli readers that animated our fans’ poll.
NYC Deli Editor in Chief Paolo De Gregorio also voted as part of the jury (we don’t really need to thank him, as he’s writing this!). Many other scene makers and Deli writers were asked to vote and – for a reason or another – they didn’t; we point this out because we want you all to realise that also this element (the missing votes) had a crucial influence on the results.
They might be called Sad Red but they definitely have a thing for blue – and math. This Brooklyn based quintet plays some kind of "avant-math-emo" rock, whose blue, melancholic atmoshperes match the dominant color of their debut album’s cover. The drums, guitars and keyboards rhythmic interplay recalls at times King Krimsons’ madly intricate interwoven patterns, while the overall atmosphere of their sound is alternatively not too distant from Radiohead’s moody exhistentialism and Soundgarden’s indie blues (there’s that color again). Other more relaxed tunes showcase an impeccable gusto for consuming songs that build in intensity and are not afraid to indulge in controlled guitar solos – like peeps used to do in the good old days, remember? Sad Red will celebrate the release of their CD "elder" with a show at Union Hall on 01.22, definitely worth checking out.
It was a long and complicated process, but our Best of NYC Poll has finally come to an end. We have gathered all the data from jurors, writers, and readers, and we have indeed the first verdict: Alt Rockers Midnight Spin are The Deli Readers’ Best Emerging Artist of 2009 – they took our Fans’ poll by storm with more than 1k votes. Congrats to them! The results of our Composite Chart (the one including the votes from the jury and the writers which will elect the artist that will grace the cover of our spring printed issue) will be announced on Wednesday, as we need a few days to organize it and add up the votes (yeah, we suck at math).
Congrats also to Cavalier Rose and The Shake – who placed 2nd and 3rd in the Fans’ Poll. These 3 bands will win some prizes offered by our sponsors, and Midnight Spin also a full feature in a future issue of The Deli.
Glass Ghost on the Cover + features on Lissie Trully, The Antlers, Langhorne Slim, Jones Street Station, plus lots of interviews including Small Black, Motel Motel, Girls at Dawn, Phenomelal Hanclap Band, Savoir Adore, She Keeps Bees etc. etc…
PHLUS!!!! Super slick new Kitchen section about guitar pedals and plug ins!!!
You can find it in many musical places in The LES, East Village, Chelsea, West Village, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Flatbush and Park Slope.
Ready for a little taste of good old Americana pie? Patrons at the Housing Works Bookstore and Café in New York City were on Dec. 9, when Brooklyn collective Jones Street Station invaded the used book retailer for a festive performance of folk/country/indie music. The show was packed to the venue’s wooden corners with hipsters who couldn’t help but sway to the beat of the group’s rustic instruments and harmonious synchronized vocals. Fans, shows, unyielding instrumentals and charming songwriting. What more could a band ask for? – Read Cecilia Martinez interview with the band here.
There’s definitely an excess of lo-fi “bedroom pop” acts floating around the Brooklyn music scene lately, but Small Black stands out from the rest for their impeccable songwriting skills and attention to sonic detail. The band’s songs drip hazy, summertime warmth, wrapped up in delicate layers of tape-hiss, samples, drum machine plunks and sanguine synth, all accompanied by laid-back and infectious vocals. The band is Josh Kolenik and Ryan Heyner, and live it consists of Pitchfork.tv contributors Juan Pieczanski and Jeff Curtin, who have since joined the band. They released a self-titled EP in October–which was fittingly recorded in an uncle’s Long Island attic–and have since garnered a lot of critical praise. From the Jesus & Mary Chain-channeling “Despicable Dogs” to the watery depths of the washed-out “Bad Lover,” Small Black delivers perfect noise-pop to brighten the winter months or keep pace with the summer. – Read Bill Dvorak’s interview with the band here. (video by Yoonha Park)
Dudes and She Dudes,