Psych Rock and related genres like Shoegaze and Dreampop belong to a very interesting musical niche with lots of loyal fans - NYC hosts a good share of them. Here is the list of bands from these categories who submitted to our Best of NYC 2012 poll and qualified to the next stage.

Total submissions in this category: 34

Artists Qualified to the Poll's Next Stage (starting around 01.10)

1. Lazyeyes - Average rating: 8.33
2. Eastern Hollows - Average rating: 8.16
3. Napoleon - Average rating: 8

Honorable Mentions:

4. The Ugly Club - Average rating: 7.83
4. The Widest Smiling Faces - Average rating: 7.83
6. dead leaf echo - Average rating: 7.66 
6. Sunglasses - Average rating: 7.66 
6. The Midnight Hollow - Average rating: 7.66 
9. Cave Days - Average rating: 7.5
9. HOUNDSds - Average rating: 7.5

Jurors: Dawn Reed (Deli DC), Ben Toledo (Deli Portland), Lucy Sherman (Deli Seattle)

The Deli's Staff

Just got out of a crappy relationship? Stop moping around! Everyone knows the best way to deal with hard times is to groove your way through it. This is what makes bands like Cave Days so necessary for broken hearts everywhere. Sure they complain about the limits of unconditional love in confessional tearjerkers like 'Unconditional,' but more often than not, they manage to transcend these problems with the lively and sweat-soaked 'Closer' and 'Kodachrome Beach.' Their latest self-titled EP is the sugar you take with the medicine.

Members Jonathan Murphy and Richard Thomas seem to have discovered the hidden formula behind emotional recovery: sun-soaked guitars, reverb-soaked harmonies, and tropical grooves. Whether shouting back at the pain with lo-fi drum machines (Beat Up Kids), or strumming through their mistakes in campfire duets like 'All Voices Just Noises,' the duo always brings an emotional lift to their complex experiences. Sometimes that's just what the doctor ordered. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)