Krust Toons: "What Are You Two Doing?" by Teddy Hazard - please feel free to drop him a line at teddandthehazards@gmail.com if you dig or have any funny ideas. You can also check out more of his illustrations and animation shorts HERE.

Check out the SXSW 2016 issue of The Deli Mag, now available online, and distributed in print next week in Austin during SXSW's Music Week. You'll find copies of it also at our SXSW Stompbox Exhibit and Synth Space!

Yes, we've done things a little differently this time: we shaped this rag the size of a 7" record, and created a "concept" issue almost entirely dedicated to Psychedelia, with a feature by our editor Brian Chidester about how this musical genre has become more and more influential in the new millennium. The two cover artists, Yonatan Gat and Lewis Del Mar, serve as the two extremes within which Psychedelia has expanded in recent years.

As usual, the issue also gathers:

- A lot of emerging artists (mostly psych this time),
- The winners of The Deli's regional Year End Polls for Emerging Artists,
- The winners of The Deli's Best of 2015 Readers' Polls,
- A section dedicated to the SXSW Stompbox Exhibit and Synth Space

We hope you enjoy the read and get to know some awesome new music.

The Folks at The Deli

Deli Readers,

Our Best of New England 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, but we have finally arrived at destination: we can announce the final results. This year we heave a very eclectic chart - at least for the top positions.

We are happy to announce that Boston's pop punk band Rebuilder, thanks to an accumulation of jurors votes, is The Deli New England's Best Emerging Artist of the Year, and will therefore be featured in our upcoming SXSW print issue (check out last year's one digitally, here). We have been following this unstoppable power-quartet since their beginnings in 2014, and it's been great to see them grow and mature with each release.Their 2015 album 'Rock'n'Roll in America' blends the melodic punk tradition of pioneers Husker Do with a more modern and epic sound, without ever letting the BPM slow down. Don't miss them live!

Thumbs up also for weirdly named, slow core trio Horse Jumper of Love, also hailing from Beantown, who placed second. Their sound - from what we can hear from the two songs available online - channels the slacker rock of the 90's in rather seductive and chilled ways. They have a full release coming up on March 11th, from which first single 'Ugly Brunette' (streaming below) was premiered by Stereogum just about two weeks ago. We found another of their tracks on Soundcloud, here. Promising band indeed!

In third place we have a truly unique artist - and yes, she is a Bostonian too. Her name is Ruby Rose Fox, and we are really, really tempted to label her as THE (or some kind of) new Nick Cave, an artist we regard as one the best of all times. As you may have gathered though, Rosy is a lady. Gifted with an incredibly deep and expressive voice, and confidence aplenty, Ruby plays slow to mid tempo noir pop that flirts with Americana - and trouble. You definitely want to keep an ear and an eye out for this one - check out her stunning latest video for single "Dance of Frankestein."

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

ALT ROCK - ELECTRO/OTHER GARAGE/DIY - INDIE POP - 
INDIE ROCK - PUNK ROCK -ROOTS/SONGWRITERS

BEST OF 2015 POLL FOR EMERGING NEW ENGLAND ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS - TOP TEN ******

ARTIST J OS W R TOT   1 Rebuilder 6.5     0.033 6.533 2 Horse Jumper of Love 5.5     0.007 5.507 3 Ruby Rose Fox 4.5     0.006 4.506 4 Cactus Attack 3     1.5 4.5 5 Danny Henry 2     2 4 6 Feral Jenny 3.5     0.003 3.503 7 Something Sneaky 3     0.061 3.061 8 Tigerman WOAH! 3     0.048 3.048 9 The Copacetics 3     0.045 3.045 10 Violent Mae 3         0.024 3.024 Legend: J = Jurors, W = Deli Writers, 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+ New England 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 New England produced in the year 2015, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

Many Thanks to our Jurors: Aaron Gray (Gray Skull Booking), Adam Blye (Mutiny on the Microphone), Adam Morgan (Surviving the Golden Age), Adam Parshall (Do617), Alyssa Spector (Lysten Boston), Dan McMahon (Deli NE Editor), Dave Crespo (WEMF Radio), Deep Thoughts (Deep Thoughts), Ellie Molitor (Allston Pudding), Erich Hagan (John Fleming Entertainment), Jacob Nathan (AS220), Jake (Boston Ska), Joseph Graham (NE Music Awards), Knar Bedian (Sound of Boston), Kristin Nicholls (Bishop & Rook), Lance Tobin (Brighton Music Hall), Lionel Train (The Middle East), llya Sitnikov (I Heart Noise), Malcolm Tent (Trash American Style), Paul Mayer (Cafe Nine), Perry Eaton (BDCWire), Radio Bean (Radio Bean), Ryan Agate (O'Brien's Pub), Salty Speakers (Salty Speakers), Samuel Potrykus (Boston Hassle), The Space (The Space), TJ Edson (Out of the Blue Too).

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

The Deli's Staff

The Deli New England Readers' Poll ended last week, and, after a few days churning the numbers and checking the votes, we can finally announce the winner and runners up!

1. Congrats to quirky Connecticut singer songwriter and pianist Danny Henry (pictured), who, nominated by one of our jurors (list coming soon), went to extreme(ly cold) lengths in promoting our poll, and broke the epic barrier of 1k votes to head the pack of nominated artists: he's The Deli New England's Readers Artist of 2015! Check out his single "Meliss" below, that manages to blend New Order and the sound of Motown.

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2. In second place, the roots music collective Cactus Attack surrounding Ryan "Stonewall" Jackson fought Danny tooth and nail, getting very close to the 1k vote threshold. These guys also shot a (hilariously earnest) video promoting our poll, check it out - we should totally do a contest of the videos next time! Cactus Attack released their charming and full of character self-title debut album in 2011 (you can listen to it here) but their Facebook profile shows them busy working on a follow up.

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3. In third place (with 548 votes) we have a female fronted alt rock group that, with their new single "Step Into The Light" (streaming) seems to be developing shoegazer overtones: Chaser Eight. Also hailing from Connecticut, this is a group whose music has been featured on TV and various radio station. Expect a new album release in the next few weeks.

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4. A few points below, at 540, stands our fourth place bands, Eldridge Rodriguez, a Boston quartet that plays rather epiuc rock with both electric and electronic elements. You can listen to theirr latest LP "The Castrati Menace" (released in October 2015) here.

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Also, don't forget to check out the top ten artists below, they all promoted this poll hard and deserve your attention for doing so!

5. The Hempsteadys
6. Mission Zero
7. Carissa Johnson
8. Able Days
9. Ceschi
10. Dr. Martino

AND! If you are really eacher to go in depth, here are the results organized by genre!
ALT ROCK - GARAGE/DIY - INDIE POP - INDIE ROCK - PUNK ROCK - ROOTS/SONGWRITERS

Thanks to all the bands and artists for promoting this unique contest, and thanks to readers and fans for voting: we hope you all had fun and got introduced to some new, awesome local music.

The Folks at The Deli