Awestiners,
Our Deli jurors just finished rating all the bands that submitted to be considered for our Year End Best of Austin Poll for Emerging Artists - and here are the results for you to check out! The artists in this list will qualify for the next phase of the poll, starting early next week, and will be added to the bands nominated by our jury of local scenemakers.
1.GASHCATS
Gashat's music is a stunning carnival of sounds and influences, ranging from folk-rock to what we like to call avant-indie. Their tunes reveal a rare songwriting talent, paired with imagination in the arrangement department, where horns, synths and strings alternatively accompany the omnipresent power-rock instruments. Fun and musical craft amalgamated in one convincing package.
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2. THE WHITE WHITE LIGHTS
In the convoluted but somewhat predictable mind of an indie music lover, white light naturally recalls white heat, so we were expecting a very, very, very hot sound from a band called The White White Lights. Well that's exactly what we found. These guys play some of the most energetic, creative and tense post-punk we stumbled upon in recent times, and their front lady has a voice to die for. Check out this track if you don't believe us.
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3a. THE SAINT JAMES SOCIETY
The Saint James Society is not for the faint of heart. Brooding, tense and dark, these guys' songs draw inspiration from semi-goth bands from the new wave of the early 80s (early Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division) and develop them in an entirely new sonic direction, which flirts at once with stoner rock and apocaliptyc drone-rock.
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3b. WHALERS
We always like it when rootsy music sounds like new again. Whalers achieve this effect in the song "Cheat on Each Other" by introducuing some kind of early Beatles vintage-pop element in this otherwise tratidionally constructed tune, delivered with convincingly raspy vocals. But Whalers are not just that: their latest EP "Paddle Easy" showcases a band able to convey a wide range of emotions and styles.
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These runners up will also qualify for the next phase of the poll:
4a. EMPIRE MACHINES
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4b. QUIET COMPANY
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4c. TIGER WAVES
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7. BLACK BOOKS
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8. AUTO BODY
The Deli's Staff
If you live in or around Austin and during New Year's Eve celebrations you intend to escape that ubiquitous aural cheese also known as "generic party music," we recommend you spend the last few hours of 2011 at the Deli sponsored, 3 stage indie show at Cheer Up Charlie, featuring 9 indie Austin based artists, including 
