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

"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

It's nearing the annual Deli Magazine Best Emerging Artist of 2010 Poll, a first this year for DC/Baltimore, and with our vast jury still getting in their votes and bands continuing to send in their submissions, we thought we'd let you in on the top 3 selected artists found through our SonicBids open call. First up is the Maryland born, Virginia raised avant-garde hip-hop maestro Atari Blitzkrieg who's released 3 albums & 15 EP's (in over a 3 year time period!), and has been in the game since '95 recording and producing with many major names in underground hip-hop. He was also selected as one of Urb Magazine's Next 1000.

Atari Blitzkrieg - The Maturation of Nothingness (Produced by Daedelus) by Godsendant Music

We also dig the lovely alt. soul folk sounds of Ally Way, a native of DC born into a musical family of a gospel singer mother and instrumentalist father. Singing since a toddler, Way draws inspiration from Joni Mitchell to Nirvana and more.

 And the 5-piece pop rock DC band The Silver Liners rocked the loudest on our list of Sonicbid submissions, who've recently released their second EP (S/T). Their first EP "Just Like the Rest" came out April 2010, and critics compared it to bands like Foo Fighters, My Bloody Valentine, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Awesome.

 And a mentionable found through our open-call is the ambient new age cellist T.A. Zook, from Arlington, who creates masterpieces of ambient classical soundscapes perfect for planetarium soundtracks, and in fact is working on a soundtrack for an upcoming IMAX film, "Outside In the Movie." Party! -Dawn

Deli readers, indie bands and artists,

This year, our local Year End Emerging Artists 2010 Polls are proving to be more challenging than ever, with 10 US scenes involved and 1,500+ submissions between our own system and the Sonic Bids applications. We spent a significant portion of the recent Holidays listening to your music (thanks for that by the way!), and we haven't even had the chance to check out the bands selected by our jury of local promoters, bloggers and scene makers yet...

ANYWAYYYY... we have the results of the Open Submissions at hand and we are slowly going to publish them in the next few days. Sonic Bids selections coming soon. Whether you were selected or not, always remember that in 1961 The Beatles were rejected by Decca with the following gems: "guitar groups are on the way out" and "The Beatles have no future in show business." Just a friendly reminder that there is no final authority on music, despite what pitchfork.com would have you believe.

Year End Poll Next Phase: The Fans' Poll
The next phase of the Poll - a vote open to the fans - is likely to start towards the end of this week and the end of the next. We'll spread the cities out a little bit to minimize contemporary traffic spikes that repeatedly brought our site down last year. So stay tuned. We should have the final results for our two separate final charts (fans poll and composite chart including the jurors' vote) by the end of January.

Also, of course all this is possible also because of our sponsors - many of them are providing free studio time and prizes for the winners. Here they are God Bless 'em!

LIST OF PRO AUDIO PRIZES FOR POLL WINNERS HERE!

The Deli's Staff