The Psych-Pop girls of Snow Angel, doused with hard hitting drums, bass, omnichord, guitar, keys and electric sitar turned all the way up to 11, are back with more sunshine, funkier jams and full moon, crystal power in the year of the monkey! In short, a technicolor rainbow cheer party, sing-a-long, group hug with a happy ending. Eight girls strong, can't go wrong!

Snow Angel, originally from Oakland, is the brainchild of Gabby La La, who is most famous for touring with Les Claypool's Fancy Band. Claypool also produced and released La La's first album "Be Careful What You Wish For..." on his record label.

Snow Angel self-released their first 7" record in April 2015, and the girls will release their first full-length album in 2016 on cassette and digital. Partnering with Off Planet VR, the girls will couple the debut of their first album with a virtual reality experience, artfully joining the past and the future into a unique musical experience. The virtual reality segment of their release will tell the story of the girls of Snow Angel as flower cats in space, protecting a cat nebula, getting blown away by a cosmic wind to Earth, and finding their way back home.

Flowers, cats, space, all tied together with unstoppable positivity and girl power—all available to view in a 360° virtual reality experience—what’s not to love? By contributing to their Kickstarter campaign, you get an all-access pass to “Snow Angel in VR”, all while supporting music and women in the arts.

We've got another new track to share with you today at the Deli, and it's from our most pleasantly animated solo artist Coco Columbia. "Weight on Limb" is the first track off her upcoming album When the Birds Begin to Walk due out this summer. Inspired by underground poppy jazz and soul hits, the rhythmically intriguing "Weight on Limb" features layered arrangements that not only pique you interest but keep you hanging on their every movement. Coco Columbia worked with Sacha Miller on the engineering and production of the track and will continue to collaborate on the rest of the album together, so we can look forward to When the Birds Begin to Walk being just as masterful.

A single release show for "Weight on Limb" is happening tomorrow, March 9th at the Goodfoot. A music video will also be out soon, but until then, enjoy below.

-Cervante Pope

Grood (formerly Savvy) is the work of primarily Charlie Otto and Kasey Foster. They are preparing to release their debut EP, Singles Volume 1, on March 23rd.

You can catch Grood at Martyrs with Nootka Sound and Wild Earp on March 23rd.

There's been quite the buzz flying around the Mt. Portland compilation, and that buzz could not be more warranted. An idea turned reality, solo musician Joel Magid saw how transmuted Portland and its music scene have become, and decided to capture it one track at a time. Featuring 13 of PDX's most beloved and brightest, like the Century, Talkative and what very well may be the last recording from Grandparents to name a few, the Mt. Portland compilation doesn't even come off as such thanks to its production. Each original, previously unreleased track was recorded at Buzz or Howl Studios by owner Stan Wright. Though the bands on the comp aren't bred of the same genre, Wright's analog recording technique melded each contributed track seamlessly, resulting in a collection that's more cohesive than just compiled. Both Wright and Magid fronted recording time, pressings and all other costs themselves, keeping the compilation not for profit and free for us to consume.

Stream the compilation below and check out the Mt. Portland release show tomorrow at Rontoms, for free. Performing will be Boone Howard and Michael Finn (the Domestics), Candace, Joel Magid himself and headlined by And And And. 

-Cervante Pope

Deli Readers,

Our Best of SF Bay Area 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. We have finally reached our destination and we can announce the final results!

Heartwatch

The Bay Area has spoken and the local indie pop band, Heartwatch has not only won this year's overall poll, but they dominated the Deli SF's Reader Poll as well making them our undisputed Artist of the Year! We can tell why with their dancible brand of pop music and admirable work ethic. It all paid off this year!

Emily Afton

Emily Afton's sultry, soulful style of indie pop melds elements of pop, soul and electronica to create original and penetrating modern ballads. She didn't come in too far after Heartwatch. She deserves a huge congratulations and we look forward to seeing more from her.

Annie Girl and the Flight

Well, Annie is nothing but pure rock and roll! We're thrilled to see her come in third place as she's been a relentless force in the local underground rock scene. A great songwriter, composer and live musician is something that is sorely needed in the Bay Area right now. Congrats to Annie Girl and the Flight!

Check out our poll's top 15 below, and don't forget to get even deeper, exploring all the finalists organized by genre:

AVANT INDIE - ELECTRONIC - INDIE POP - PSYCH- REVIVAL POP/ROCK - ROOTS MUSIC

BEST OF 2015 POLL FOR EMERGING SF BAY AREA ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS - TOP 15 ******

ARTIST J OS R TOT   1 Heartwatch 5.5   2 7.5 2 Emily Afton 5.5   1 6.5 3 Annie Girl and the Flight 3.5   1.5 5 4 The She's 4.5   0.009 4.509 5 Eight Belles 2 2 0.029 4.029 6 The Seshen 3.5   0.015 3.515 7 Zodiac Death Valley 3.5   0.004 3.504   Night Shapes 2 1 0.054 3.054 9 Bells Atlas 3   0.015 3.015 10 Waterstrider 3   0.009 3.009 11 Wicked Man   3 0.005 3.005 12 Useless Eaters 3   0.004 3.004   Cellar Doors 3   0.004 3.004 14 Fuzz 3   0.003 3.003   Cathedrals 3   0.003 3.003 Legend: J = Jurors, 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+ SF Bay Area 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 SF Bay Area produced in the year 2015, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

Many Thanks to our Jurors: David A Sikorski (Writer at SF Weekly), Doug Kinsey (The Night Light), Dace James Hines (Writer for SF Critic), Anisa (Sofar Sounds), Barry Smyth (Brick and Mortar Music Hall), Dennis Gonzales (POW Magazine), Jason Black (Writer for Beatport), Aisah Gemora (Sofar Sounds), Derek See (Indie Record Collector/Retailer), ​Sam Lefebvre​ (East Bay Express), Audra (Thee Parkside), Ash Reiter (Founder of Hickey Fest), Bob Patterson (SF Critic Managing Editor), Jordannah Elizabeth (The Deli SF).

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

The Deli's Staff