Recent victors of The Deli’s Open Contest in the Alternative Rock/Metal category and this month’s nominees for the Emerging NYC/NJ Artist of the Month, The Shake shook down Crash Mansion at a semi-secret show on January 5. There was "a whole lotta shakin' goin' on" while the quartet highlighted several top tracks from their month-old release, “The Shake Go Crazy.” Consistently an ear-catching and energetic band, The Shake stood out with their on-stage chemistry, witty inter-song repartee, raucous guitar solos, and rebellious vibe evident in their volatile “Merry Musket,” fiery “Galleries,” and explosive “Timebomb.” An a cappella intro transitioned into a rousing “Your Idols,” that was followed by a galvanizing “Pop Goes the...” The Shake added a bit of disco flare to their penchant for rock ‘n roll, covering only the best, The Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” before closing the show with the soulful “Got No Soul.” –Meijin Bruttomesso

Rockers, Folkers and Poppers of all ages, sexes and hair colors,

The Deli's regional Year End Best of Polls for emerging artists are finally over and it's time to have a quick look at what's going on outside your local scene. Here's a recap of the winners of our nine polls with links to overall charts and readers' polls results:

AUSTIN - Winner: Stereo Is a Lie
Overall Chart - Readers Chart - list of jurors

CHICAGO - Winner: I Fight Dragons
Overall Chart - Readers Chart

LOS ANGELES - Winner: Local Natives
Overall Chart - Readers Chart

NASHVILLE - Winner: Those Darlins
Overall Chart - Readers Chart

NEW ENGLAND- Winner: Mean Creek
Overall Chart - Readers Chart - list of jurors

NYC - Winner: Talk Normal
Overall Chart - Readers Chart - list of jurors

PORTLAND - Winner: Explode into Colors
Overall Chart - Readers Chart - list of jurors

PHILLY - Winner: Reading Rainbow
Overall Chart - Readers Chart - list of jurors

SF BAY AREA - Winner: Girls
Overall Chart - Readers Chart - list of jurors

The Deli's Staff

The winners of our Best of NYC 2007 Poll Yeasayer (currently #21 in The Deli's Web Buzz NYC Top 300 Chart) keep building momentum towards the release of their sophomore album, entitled Old Blood and scheduled for release on 02.09.2010 under Secretly Canadian. The band just announce a second free mp3 from the album, which can be downloaded from their homepage. Yeasayer two New York shows this February have been sold out for months, but you can still catch them perform on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on February 10, 2010 (honeslt, we would have preferred to see them with Conan O'Brian but, hey...) Yeasayer will also appear at the Coachella Music Festival on April 16th, and have added another New York show at Webster Hall scheduled for May 4th.

Jessica Larrabee (guitars/vocals) and Andy LaPlant (drums) come from the no-frills school of rock basics. It's where a nasty blues riff and a backbeat come together to turn up the hairs on the back of your neck. They've been at the local circuit for a few years now playing showcases, and they have a release out on UK label Names Records. She Keeps Bees (currently has received press already from The Guardian and NME. The Deli spoke to Jessica while her band was overseas in Ireland. - read the interview by Simon Heggie here.

City Center (currently #6 in our Avant Indie NYC Web Buzz chart) formed in 2007 as the side project of Fred Thomas and Ryan Howard of Saturday Looks Good to Me. After just dabbling and recording over the past couple years, the duo recently released their self-titled full-length City Center. The album is beautifully diverse and swims with sound and experimental electronic loveliness. With brief guest appearances by Mary Pearson from High Places, other friends, as well as tons of sampling, City Center takes sounds that would typically be dubbed as noise or strange and makes something so much more fluid and meaningful. Their raw textures and busy electronic orchestration creates a watery, floating feeling and the vocals are clear, yet soft and blisteringly sweet with harmonies. The duo also has a really entertaining blog, which is apparently how the whole band began in the first place. - read the full interview here.