You’ve probably noticed, but shit is damn weird out there in America these days. In the midst of all the violence, oppression and division comes new Austin hip-hop act OTC3 (Out There Conscious Commercial Concepts) with a deeply striking new music video calling for us all to band together and fight the evils in this modern world. Called “Black Rose,” this video is striking both visually and mentally, pairing a gorgeous high contrast look of all blacks and whites with a high concept message of people of all colors- black, white, brown and everything else there is- joining in solidarity against oppression and injustice. “We don’t want to fight/We will, we will, we will” sings featured artist and soulstress Tree G in the song’s hook, which plays over the rooted, heartfelt reggae bass that is the track’s backbone. It’s just some good come together music with a nice 90s hip-hop style “talking straight to the viewer,” up in the camera approach, plus some nice interpretive dancing and a very fun little funksoul part at the end. It looks like they filmed that part right out in the middle of a downtown street, and much of the rest on the steps of the Texas State Capitol itself, lending an immediacy of place and a further edge to an already powerful video. It’s heady, it’s good soulful shit, and it bodes well for this trio that just came together themselves last year. We look forward to seeing more from OTC3, and we stand with them in their mission of solidarity and change for the good of all people. Check it below.

Beat maker Vapor Eyes has released his latest album, Invocation, which features a ton of great beats and surprising samples.

You can catch Vapor Eyes on March 11th at Double Door with LWKY, Edamame, and Harris Cole.

Deli Readers,

Our Best of SF Bay 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!

Heartwatch

The Bay Area has spoken and the local indie pop band, Heartwatch has not only won this year's overall poll, but they dominated the Deli SF's Reader Poll as well making them our undisputed Artist of the Year! We can tell why with their dancible brand of pop music and admirable work ethic. It all paid off this year!

Emily Afton

Emily Afton's sultry, soulful style of indie pop melds elements of pop, soul and electronica to create original and penetrating modern ballads. She didn't come in too far after Heartwatch. She deserves a huge congratulations and we look forward to seeing more from her.

Annie Girl and the Flight

Well, Annie is nothing but pure rock and roll! We're thrilled to see her come in third place as she's been a relentless force in the local underground rock scene. A great songwriter, composer and live musician is something that is sorely needed in the Bay Area right now. Congrats to Annie Girl and the Flight!

Check out our poll's top 15 below, and don't forget to get even deeper, exploring all the finalists organized by genre:

AVANT INDIE - ELECTRONIC - INDIE POP - PSYCH- REVIVAL POP/ROCK - ROOTS MUSIC

BEST OF 2015 POLL FOR EMERGING SF BAY AREA ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS - TOP 15 ******

ARTIST J OS R TOT   1 Heartwatch 5.5   2 7.5 2 Emily Afton 5.5   1 6.5 3 Annie Girl and the Flight 3.5   1.5 5 4 The She's 4.5   0.009 4.509 5 Eight Belles 2 2 0.029 4.029 6 The Seshen 3.5   0.015 3.515 7 Zodiac Death Valley 3.5   0.004 3.504   Night Shapes 2 1 0.054 3.054 9 Bells Atlas 3   0.015 3.015 10 Waterstrider 3   0.009 3.009 11 Wicked Man   3 0.005 3.005 12 Useless Eaters 3   0.004 3.004   Cellar Doors 3   0.004 3.004 14 Fuzz 3   0.003 3.003   Cathedrals 3   0.003 3.003 Legend: J = Jurors, 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+ SF Bay 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 subtelties related to how this poll works, you can read its rules here (happy reading!). But if all you care about is the awesome new music SF Bay Area produced in the year 2015, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

Many Thanks to our Jurors: David A Sikorski (Writer at SF Weekly), Doug Kinsey (The Night Light), Dace James Hines (Writer for SF Critic), Anisa (Sofar Sounds), Barry Smyth (Brick and Mortar Music Hall), Dennis Gonzales (POW Magazine), Jason Black (Writer for Beatport), Aisah Gemora (Sofar Sounds), Derek See (Indie Record Collector/Retailer), ​Sam Lefebvre​ (East Bay Express), Audra (Thee Parkside), Ash Reiter (Founder of Hickey Fest), Bob Patterson (SF Critic Managing Editor), Jordannah Elizabeth (The Deli SF).

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

The Deli's Staff

The Deli Magazine Reader's Poll Results are completed! Congratulations to the winners, especially the amazing Heartwatch who came in first, stealing the hearts of The Deli Mag Bay Area Readers! We wish all the bands the best of luck in their endeavors!

Heartwatch

 
Annie Girl and the Flight

Emily Afton

Lost Dog Found

And a huge shout out to our honorable mentions!

Kendra McKinley
Keyan Keihani
Night Shapes
Debbie Neigher
Dangermaker
The Soft White Sixties

You can see all the nominated artists organized by genre here:

AVANT INDIE - ELECTRONIC - INDIE POP - PSYCH- REVIVAL POP/ROCK - ROOTS MUSIC

The Deli's Staff

Whew boy y’all! The Readers’ Poll for the 2015 Austin Deli Artist of the Year contest has done gone and finished, and what a hell of a thing it was. We deeply appreciate all of the nominated artists and the fans taking the time to put your votes in, and we think the results are pretty darn interesting.

1. Wonderbitch

Wonderbitch takes the whole shebang for the Readers’ Poll after mobilizing their fan base, which is obviously ravenous for the hard prog-psych riffs and heady concepts this group offers up. Wonderbitch made a big splash on the scene in 2015 with their eponymous record, and it’s obvious that it hit big with the fans from the way they voted their little clicking fingers off for the group.

2. The Cuckoos

Young psych rockers dominate this list, and none are younger or of a purer old-school psych sound than The Cuckoos. A very new band, big things loom in the future for this Doors-esque act that elicited some truly impassioned commenting from fans on their poll page. It was close there for a while, but a steady push of voting bolstered by a late-game surge saw The Cuckoos take the crown in the Psych Rock category this year.

3. Daniel Eyes & The Vibes

Few bands have shot to local glory as quickly as Daniel Eyes & The Vibes, whose first EP is barely a month old but who already have a huge fan base in the city. Riding some intense hype from live shows and early singles, this true rock ‘n roll band has stormed through Austin this Winter, and it’s very likely you’ll be hearing their name no matter the season for a while to come.

4. The Bishops

The all-family silky smooth hip-hop act The Bishops has barely been around in its current form, but the three members each have a damned extensive catalog of top notch music as solo artists and in collaborations, often with each other. They’ve barely been together officially as a named trio, but heads around the city and far beyond have had the beats and the bars from these kids on repeat for a while. This group is pretty much destined to hit it big- they almost certainly have by far the most listens on SoundCloud across their four accounts out of any of our nominees bar none)- so if you voted for them here, feel proud of yourself for getting in on the ground floor with one of the city, and the nation’s, most exciting young groups.

5. Kev Bev & the Woodland Creatures

Apparently the answer in fair ole Austin to that timeless musical question, “Who wants the funk?” is “We want the funk.” Welp, it's a good thing then that Kev Bev & the Woodland Creatures are here to turn this mother out with their big funk jams. Turning out big time is also what their fans did to the Hip Hop + Funk poll, where they slid in just barely behind newcomers The Bishops to take second in that poll and fifth overall. In terms of just straight-up fun music, Kev Bev et al. are second to none in the city, however, nor do they slack on the number of members front. This is the kind of band that almost needs to be seen live to really know them, and luckily for us all, that’s an opportunity Kev Bev & The Woodland Creatures provide in spades to the city of Austin.

6. The Halfways

The Halfways found themselves in a hell of a contest against upstarts The Cuckoos in the Psychcategory, and it’s not a damn little piece of surprising to us that they made our top 6 after the year they’ve had. Excellent, frequent shows, a few dead-on newpsych singles and one of the best-received and more critically acclaimed records in the city with EP The Halfways were what led this band to dominance in the burgeoning Austin psych scene this year, but in reality, it’s the hazy, dreamworld sound they cull from the ether to play in your ears like a hippy in a good sunny field that make them one of the top acts working in Austin today.

Honorable Mention: The Cover Letter, Sophia Johnson, Annabelle Chairlegs

Once again: enormous and buttery thanks to all of the acts and bands who promoted the poll, and to all of you loverly fans out there with your awesome ears to hear this good stuff with and your fingers to choose what you like the best. You really da bes.

By the way, if you’re interested in the details of each poll by category and would like to see how it all went down, here are the links to each genre’s results:

ALT ROCK - FOLK ROCK - HIP HOP + FUNK - INDIE POP - INDIE ROCK - PSYCH - PUNK/METAL - ROOTS MUSIC - SINGER-SONGWRITER

Congrats to everyone who came up big in the poll, and stay tuned to this site to find out what act is our overall Deli Austin 2015 Artist of the Year. We’ll be releasing that as soon as we add the tally together for the juror votes and the Readers’ Poll combined, and we guarantee it’ll be some damn fine music.

It is Austin, after all.

The Deli Austin Staff