Instrumental music is hard to nail if you're looking for a decent audience in the contemporary age. Either you're way too technical and/or conceptual, or you're putting an excessive focus on being weird and experimental, and you alienate a huge number of listeners. Or, you could be Austin duo Chipper Jones, and you somehow both make music that's both named after a hell of an Atlanta baseball player and which is also instrumental while still being fresh to death and not boring for a second. Their latest work, the Tropics | COSM EP, is not really post-rock, though it can go there in parts of songs like the end of stand-out track "Tropics," it's not jazz or anything else so well-worn, and it's not fully pop (that'd take way more of a standard radio structure and some vocals), but it's somewhere between all of that in all the best ways it could be. At the very least it's instrumental music with some fucking real energy and little for an ear to apologize for, and you should certainly give the badass "Tropics" a try if you're a person who can get with the non-vocal music even a tad bit. It's better than that, but damn, we know it's hard to convert some of you vocals-needers to the ways of the instrument-only sound. Music is music, g'damnit, but we get that sometimes you just like what you like. Aforementioned all-inclusiveness aside, Chipper Jones is one we think is likely to be a hit with most anyone willin' to take a swing, and you can below with "Tropics," or you can listen to the whole EP here.

Deli Nation,

Our Year End Poll for Emerging Austin Artists was - as usual - a painstaking (and somewhat excruciating) process, but we pulled it off with remarkable flair!

Kudos to intense rockers Löwin (pictured and streaming) for winning the poll, check out their noteworthy last single "Best Laid Plans," released just a month ago.

Thumbs up also to wicked electro-choral trio Keeper (we featured them in this blog a few days ago) who placed second, and to textural and adventurous post rockers Chipper Jones, who came in third. Here's some of these folks music:

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+ Austin scene expert (our jury) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each. Then we polled our writers, 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 Austin produced in the year 2013, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

BEST OF 2014 POLL FOR EMERGING AUSTIN ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS ******

ARTIST   J OS R TOT   1 Löwin   7.5   0.5 8 2 Keeper   4.5   0.014 4.514 3 Chipper Jones   4.5   0.005 4.505 4 Skyline   2   2 4 5 Comforter   2   1.5 3.5 6 Grace London     3 0.5 3.5 7 Illustrations   3   0.019 3.019 8 Sphynx   3   0.013 3.013 9 Robert Banta   3   0.009 3.009 10 Other Lovers   3   0.003 3.003 11 The Golden Dawn Arkestra   3   0.002 3.002 12 Applied Pressure   3   0.001 3.001 13 Modern Medicine   3   0.001 3.001 14 Eyelid Kid   3   0 3 15 The Boxing Lesson   3   0 3 16 Zettajoule   3   0 3 17 Leah Nobel     1.5 1 2.5 18 The Stargazers   2   0.027 2.027 19 Popper Burns   2   0.017 2.017 20 A. Sinclair   2   0.009 2.009 21 Timberos Del Norte   2   0.008 2.008 22 Kalu James   2   0.007 2.007 23 Casual Strangers   2   0.006 2.006 24 Night Drive   2   0.005 2.005 25 Crooked Bangs   2   0.004 2.004 26 Roger Sellers   2   0.004 2.004 27 Peterson Brothers Band   2   0.003 2.003 28 Sweet Spirit   2   0.003 2.003 29 Other Lovers   2   0.003 2.003 30 Beat Imprint   2   0.002 2.002 31 Tameca Jones   2   0.002 2.002 32 Tele Novella   2   0.002 2.002 33 Holiday Mountain   2   0.001 2.001 34 Magna Carda   2   0.001 2.001 35 Taylor & the Wild Now     2 0.001 2.001 36 Hard Proof   2   0 2 37 The Ghost Wolves   2   0 2 38 Whiite Walls   2   0 2 39 Anya   1   0.02 1.02 40 The Nightowls   1   0.007 1.007 41 Molybden   1   0.005 1.005 42 Emily Wolfe     1 0.001 1.001 43 Gold Beach   1   0.001 1.001 44 Gumbo Ce Soir   1   0.001 1.001 45 Young Tongue   1   0.001 1.001 46 Ben Ballinger   1   0 1 47 Dark West   1   0 1 48 Que Pasa   1   0 1 49 Wrenfro   1   0 1 Legend: J = Jurors, W = Deli Writers, R = Deli Readers, OS = Open Submissions

Jurors List: Tyson J Swindell (Red7), Howdy Darrell (White Horse), Dianne Scott (Continental Club), John Laird (Side One Track One), Adam Mason (Scoot Inn), Amanda Garcia (austintexas.org), Brian DiFrank (Wet Stone Audio), Marcus Lawyer (Mohawk), Margaret Galton (C3 Presents), Gillian Driscoll (Sound Dessert), Eva Mueller (Spider House Ballroom), Jeff McCord (KUTX), Maggie Lea (CheerUp Charlie's), Brittany Campbell (The Parish).

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

The Deli's Staff

This Friday, Cheer Up Charlie's is hosting a show of some of The Deli Austin's favorite local bands, all leading up to the release of the new EP from Hikes.  Hikes came on our radar last year after the release of what looks like the most fun video shoot of all time.  Do yourself a favor...

HIKES / Like Ripples / OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO from Lobo Sucio Creative on Vimeo.

Pair that with what is some of the most heartfelt and ambitious music coming out of Austin and needless to say, we're excited to hear the new record. It's a long night of music and DJs starting with Nathaniel Red and sets from Chipper Jones, Big Bill, Happy Hell and Young Tongue.  All great bands and an amazing, eclectic line-up of local talent.  Get there early and stay late.  

Chipper Jones consists of friends James Lambrecht and Charlie Martin. Together, they create melodic, mostly instrumental songs reminiscent of Delicate Steve. James contributes a few vocal accents here and there, but the focus lies on the diverse and dulcet tones that emerge from drums, guitar and a touch of synthesizer.

The pair recently released the ten song EP Two Rooms, recorded in two days at Big Orange Studio. The album consists of live recordings – the band’s primary focus, plus five improvised sketches, highlighting how good this duo can be in the moment. “Sketch Five: Two Rooms Live” at almost 11 minutes, really lets you dive deep while the soundscape “Wild Senna” at just over a minute, shows off Chipper Jones’ playful, experimental side. The pace really picks up on “Scout” which inspires, at minimum, foot tapping if not full on groovin’.

Give Two Rooms a listen and get lost in the melodies.  - Gillian Driscoll