Hey Portlanders,

We just finished collecting the nominations for The Deli Year End Best of Portland Poll for emerging artists from our knowledgeable and attractive panel of jurors - THE READER'S POLL IS NOW OPEN VOTE HERE! (full list of bands is on the right - If you’d like to learn more about our voting process, please check out the rules here.)

We are also ready to announce the winners of our Open Contest, which contributed to the nominations of artists for the poll. We’d like to thank all the artists who participated in our Open Contest. This was not an easy decision to make for The Deli writers, which is a testament to our amazing music scene. We are happy to announce that these Portland bands:

Housefire
Parenthetical Girls
Mint Chicks
Bombs Into You
Dr. Helicopter
Dropa

Have been selected to join our jurors’ list of nominees, and special congratulations to Housefire who were the overall winners of our Open Contest!

The Deli Portland Staff

P.S. Housefire guys, get us a nice picture of your faces!!! (instead of your feet...)

It’s New Year’s Eve, and you know what that means—an excuse for bars to jack up their drink prices and charge ridiculous covers because some shitty band will be butchering other bands’ music all night with a complimentary champagne toast. But have no fear, my fellow Portlanders, for if you sift through all the NYE bullshit, you will find gold. Below are some fantastic local NYE shows that will be worth the cover charge.

Doug Fir: The first time I read about this, I had to do a double take, but yes, Quasi is performing The Who for New Year’s Eve, and it’s going to be epic. What makes this show even more epic is the fact that other local folk monsters The Shaky Hands and indie darlings, Inside Voices, will be accompanying them. If you want to chill out and listen to some amazing Portland folk music (and good covers) this is the NYE celebration for you! Show starts at 9 p.m. $15.

Holocene: The theme of this New Year’s Eve bash is “NYE 102,010,” as in it’s set 100,000 years in the future. Portland’s spacey electro-pop trio Reporter’s synthesized beats paired with Guidance Counselor’s gritty, lo-fi electronica, not to mention a mess of local DJs, is a fitting lineup for such a premise. If you want to get hot and sweaty with people dressed like robots, or spacemen, or Neanderthals (you never know, the apocalypse could happen in the next 100,00 years) then this is the NYE celebration for you! Show starts at 8 p.m. $15.

Mission Theater: Two of Portland’s more melancholic indie bands, Weinland and The Dimes, are doing something very out of their element (or seemingly so) this New Year’s Eve. The bands have promised a dance off, where they will be performing “some of the best dance music of the last 40 years,” and though neither band seems to fit the mold for “dance music,” they each do an extremely good job of incorporating pop and melody into their music. If you want to witness quite possibly the most awkward (or surprisingly awesome) dance party of 2009, then this is the NYE celebration for you! Show starts at 9 p.m. $15.

Mississippi Studios: Portland’s morbid Americana-ers, The Builders & The Butchers, have been playing nothing but large venue shows this year, and though I wish them nothing but success in 2010, they are the type of band that is much more impressive in intimate settings where they can get the audience involved, so the quaint Mississippi Studios will be a perfect place for them to ring in the new year. Fellow swamp stomping blues boys Dr. Helicopter are also on the bill. If you want to feel like you’re celebrating the turn of the century in Louisiana, then this is the NYE celebration for you! Show starts at 10 p.m. $15.

There are other great shows happening at venues such as the Ash Street Saloon, Branx, Rotture, and Slabtown, just to name a few, so if none of these tickle your fancy, check out their NYE rosters.

-Katrina Nattress

Even though these guys have been slinging out records since the '90s, I hadn't heard of them until today.

Rollerball recently released yet another record, their 15th, called Two Feathers. I personally think that's a lot of records. I'm only just beginning to realize the depth and the assortment of layers of music this town has to offer.

From what I've read and heard so far, I would pitch their sound as extremely varied - ranging from experimental jazz influenced rock to slower tunes that are atmospheric and ambient. Their sound often seems to carry a reverberating presence, akin to the expansive spatial dome of a cathedral, and along with it, the same intensity and seriousness one might find under that type of religious dome. Some cool shit here.

Rollerball rocks rich, interesting and weird compositions with just piano, bass, drums, sax and female vocals. Take a minute and check it out.

- Joel Sommer

Looking for something to sate these winter wisps? Musee Mechanique is an excellent laid-back indie band who often incorporates a well-placed touch of folk influence. They very much remind me of a non-abrasive Blonde Redhead, both in song style and vocals on certain songs. I particularly enjoyed the tracks "Two Friends Like Us" and "Nothing Glorious," both of which can be found on their MySpace profile. The band seems to enjoy creating dreamy environments that soothe the soul and often bring in quality arrangements of strings, woodwinds or vibraphones to complete their compositions.

Check out the above fan video for their song "Our Changing Skins," off of the band's stellar 2008 debut, Hold This Ghost.

- Joel Sommer

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweethearts in Bands,

As usual, The Deli's Year End Poll (for emerging artists) will assign the cover of our Spring Issue 2010. The polling process is as complex as rocket science (if you want to try and get your head around it be our guest and go here).

The submissions for the open contest that will select minimum 3 artists for the next phase is now closed. We are currently receiving the jurors' votes. The next phase will be the readers' vote, which will start on January 3.

All the bands that submitted to our open contest were also added to our chart system for indie artists - which will get them some exposure in the future.

Here we are taking a little bit of a holiday break - we'll still have some content up in the next few days, but not as much. We will see you back in early January - in the meantime Happy Holidays to you all!!

The Deli's Staff
www.thedelimagazine.com