We were really into Brooklyn based weird pop duo Sunglasses, so much so that we honored them with our Record olf the Month some time in 2012. The band split up shortly after, and the half known as Samuel Cooper started playing under his own name and working on his solo album, which will see the light of day in April. Here's a first taste of it.

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

We are really enjoying the record by recent Brooklyn "immigrants" Sunglasses (originally from Savannah). The band just premiered the video for the single "Swim" on Stereogum, check it out below.

Blending the complex harmonies of The Beach Boys with the gritty aesthetics of the new millennium's bedroom pop, Sunglasses add a new chapter to the Brooklyn DIY scene - which they recently embraced after moving from Savannah, GA. Whereas most current Brooklyn bands have a tendency to flirt with the decadent, self-indulgent atmospheres of the East Coast and European bands of the '60s and '70s, the duo's debut full length "Wildlife" is a collection of sunny and eclectic pop songs whose melodies quite unexpectedly flirt with jazz and lounge without sounding like either. The background is a kaleidoscopic accumulation of sounds that could be described as brilliantly organized chaos - a production style we also appreciated on Foxygen's latest record, and that can be traced back to the Beck-Animal Collective "influenceology tree" - but a chaos that works with the upbeat songwriting to create a super-fun party atmosphere. If Sunglasses are able to recreate this atmosphere on a stage, they might have a brilliant career ahead of them. I guess we'll find out tonight at Glasslands, when they'll be celebrating the release of "Wildlife."