This is the category gathering NYC based bands who play roots music in all its traditional glory. Or at least that's what we intended it to be - a couple of bands in the list (namely, Sewing Machines and The Balboans) obviously mis-categorized themselves when submitting for this poll...

Total Submissions in this category: 23

Artists Qualified to the Poll's Next Stage (starting soon):

1. Swear and Shake - 8.16 (out of 10)
2. The Ludlow Thieves - 7.66
3. The Courtesy Tier - 7.5

Honorable Mentions (score above 7):

Sewing Machines, The Balboans, Ten Ton Man, Runaway Dorothy, Zak Smith, Mail the Horse, Alana Amram & the Rough Gems, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, David King + The Confirmed Bachelors, Elijah Ocean, This Old Ghost, Thomas Bryan Eaton.

Jurors: Ben Toledo (Deli Portland), Jacqueline Caruso (Deli LA), QD Tran (Deli Philly)

The Deli' Staff

The third day of CMJ is the festival’s Humpday. Once Day Three ends, the festival is already more than half-over. Now that I’m halfway done with running the CMJ Marathon, I feel pretty good about my journey towards the finish line, although I realize that while my marathon numbers are solid, they aren’t as good as Paul Ryan’s. Of course, Ryan made up his marathon times on the spot, so at least I’m winning in the endurance department. - Read the full report by Josh S. Johnson here.

DETAILS ABOUT THIS SHOW + STREAMING
COMPILATION OF ALL THE BANDS HERE

This is going to be the longest list of this whole series of announcements. On Thursday, we're once again taking over both floors of The Delancey with upstairs, a line-up of electro up-and-comers from all sides of the spectrum and downstairs, some creative pop gems fitting under the Avant Pop label, for a total of.. NINETEEN acts! So enough chit-chat, let's get to the list, because that is sure going to take up enough space.

Opening the (free!) upstairs show, Thomas Simon's ghostly mixes, followed by the bizarre folk-tronic experiments of Max Horwich's Sewing Machines, Cultfever's chaotic outputs and Railbird's more intimate creations. Next up, we've got three out-of-towners, i.e SF's Maus Haus, Philly's electro/hip hop artist Lushlife, and finally, Anomie Belle, from Seattle, co-headlining the show with NYC's own Dynasty Electric. Then, taking it to the later hours of the evening, Ducky, and Drop Electric (coming from DC).

Downstairs, our two headliners will be Dinosaur Feathers (top picture) and Wildlife Control, who both released this year a delicious new album, second for the former and a first for the latter. We've also got, on this stage, three acts coming from Los Angeles: openers American Royalty, shoegaze-pop band Letting Up Despite Great Faults, and Kiven, who will be closing the show. Add to this Columbian transplants Il Abanico, Conveyor, whom we covered in our last print issue, the catchy jams of five-piece Modern Rivals and finally, Santah, coming from Chicago, and.. I believe WE'RE DONE! In the pictures: Dynasty Electric & Wildlife Control.

If Brian Eno produced a slightly more Americana version of TV on the Radio, you might get a band sounding something like Sewing Machines. The group has a penchant for sculpting beautiful and natural soundscapes out of the most synthetic of sources. Keyboards and drum machines overlay functionally tweaked vocal energy... and still, all of it is catchy as hell. But if there's one thing to separate the band from the legions of loop machine tinkerers surrounding Brooklyn, it's the unexpected humanity and simple fun the band always make sure to include in their experiments.

If this duo is halfway serious about their band name, they could not have done any better. Between the inspired, and heavily looped banjo and violin work of Sam Moss, and the well positioned vocals (and drum machine madness) of co-conspirator Max Horwich, this band is more than apt to cut and purl their way to an entirely new means of utilizing sonic materials. Check out their new album 'February' on their Bandcamp profile. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)