This five piece Toronto rock n roll band seem to be just about ready to explode. Sun K have released a brand new music video for “Back to Massachusetts”. This tune is a classic rock n roll tune with a psychadelic influence that makes me think of The Who or the Stones. There is some definite Beatles qualities in the vocals as well.  Great harmonies. This tune was co-written by Tom Thacker of Gob and produced by Cone Mcaslin of Sum 41. Sun K’s new record “Bleeding Hearts” is due out this year and they return to the Horseshoe Tavern on February 8^th. – Kris Gies

This weekend at Fort York is the Toronto Urban Roots Festival! Along with my some of my favorites Matt Mays, The Sheepdogs, The Sadies and Corb Lund is a local band from right here in Toronto creating a big buzz these days. Sun K consists of 5 talented musicians, most of whom play multiple instruments on their tunes. Influenced by the likes of Neil Young and The Band they have major roots influence in their rock n roll. Whether you wanna get messy on a Friday night or take it easy drivin' home on Sunday Sun K will have a tune for you. They play TURF on Sunday at 2:10 on the Battle of York Stage. - Kris Gies

Deli Nation,

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

Congrats to loud rock duo Teenage Kicks (pictured and streaming below) for winning the aggregate chart (see below) and therefore becoming The Deli Toronto's first Emerging Artist of the Year! Because of this they'll be featured in our SXSW print issue (10k copies of it will be distributed in Austin during Music Week - read last year's edition here).

Thumbs up to retro-pop starlet Laura Cole and Lou Reed-esque quintet Sun K, also winners of our Readers and Fans Poll, who placed respectively second and third.

In case you are wondering how our poll works, here's a quick explanation:

1. First, we let the local bands submit their music (for free), and got our Deli editors to pick the nominees.
2. Then we polled a list of 20+ Toronto scene expert (our jury) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each.
3. Then we polled our writers, then we polled our readers and writers.

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 subtleties 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 Toronto produced in the year 2013, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

BEST OF 2013 POLL FOR EMERGING Toronto ARTISTS ****** FINAL RESULTS ******

ARTIST J OS W R TOT   1 Teenage Kicks 6.5     0.004 6.504 2 Laura Cole 2 2   1.5 5.5 3 Sun K 2 1   2 5 4 Weaves 4.5     0.003 4.503 5 The Pick Brothers Band   2 1 1 4   The Zilis 3   1 0 4 7 Brothers of North 3     0.126 3.126 8 The Box Tiger 3     0.072 3.072 9 Ferraro 3     0.052 3.052 10 FAT AS FUCK 3     0.04 3.04 11 JJ and the Pillars 3     0.033 3.033 12 Alvvays 3     0.017 3.017 13 Kira May   3   0.012 3.012 14 The Sunbelly Band 3     0.009 3.009 15 Century Palm 3     0.005 3.005 16 Brave shores 3     0.004 3.004   Lowell 3     0.004 3.004 18 Do Good Assassins 3     0.002 3.002   Sumo Cyco 3     0.002 3.002 20 Black Baron 3     0.001 3.001   Marcellus Wallace 3     0.001 3.001 22 Growing Irons 3     0 3   Sweet and Lowdown 3     0 3 24 River Tiber 2.5     0 2.5 25 Mumbai Standstil 2     0.135 2.135 26 Harlan Pepper 2     0.071 2.071 27 Streetlight Social 2     0.065 2.065 28 The Galacticats   2   0.038 2.038 29 Flamingo Bay 2     0.03 2.03 30 ASMR 2     0.022 2.022 31 The OBGM's 2     0.011 2.011 32 Poor Young Things 2     0.009 2.009 33 Christian Punk Band 2     0.005 2.005   Fresh snow 2     0.005 2.005 35 Breached 2     0.004 2.004   Dilly Dally 2     0.004 2.004   Pkew Pkew Pkew 2     0.004 2.004 38 Bad Channels 1   1 0.003 2.003   frankie and jimmy 2     0.003 2.003   New fries 2     0.003 2.003 41 Blonde Elvis 2     0.002 2.002   Jaunt 2     0.002 2.002   Petra Glynt 2     0.002 2.002 44 Grand Format 2     0.001 2.001   Hidden Cameras 2     0.001 2.001   Lyon 2     0.001 2.001   THE SOUL MOTIVATORS 2     0.001 2.001   Wish 2     0.001 2.001 49 Greys 2     0 2   Jonny Debt 2     0 2   Lids 2     0 2   Absolutely free 2       2 53 South of Bloor 1     0.5 1.5 54 Dear Blackwolf 1     0.034 1.034 55 Jessica Bundy   1   0.019 1.019 56 Sam Cash & The Romantic Dogs 1     0.018 1.018 57 Sun Stone Revolvers 1     0.012 1.012 58 Lindsay Barr Band 1     0.009 1.009 59 The Honeyrunners 1     0.004 1.004 60 Deforesters 1     0.003 1.003 61 JUICE 1     0.001 1.001 62 Pete Van Dyk & the Second... 1     0 1   The Taste 1     0 1   tongue fu 1     0 1   VCR 1     0 1 Legend: J = Jurors, W = Deli Writers, R = Deli Readers, OS = Open Submissions

 
Thank you to all our Jurors!

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

The Deli's Staff

Deli Readers,

The Deli Toronto's Best of 2014 Readers and Fans' Poll for local emerging artists is over, thanks to all those who cast their vote in support of the emerging local bands and artists in our list of nominees. 

We happily announce our top three local emerging artists Sun K, Laura Cole and The Pick Brothers Band! Whoo-Hoo!! This was an incredible experience! We thank you for all your Deli support!

1. Sun K (pictured)

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2. Laura Cole

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3. The Pick Brothers Band 

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Here's this poll's top 10 chart, full results can be found here. 

BEST OF TORONTO 2014 - READERS' POLL RESULTS   Artists Votes   1  Sun K 470 2  Laura Cole  393 3  The Pick Brothers Band   344 4  South of Bloor   188 5  Mumbai Standstill  135 6  Brother of North  126 7  The Tiger Box   72 8  Harlan Pepper  71 9  Streetlight Social  65 10  Ferraro  52

Stay tuned for the composite chart, to be released soon, which will include details about the point nominees accumulated from the jurors and Deli writers' votes, and will crown The Deli's Best Emerging Toronto Artist of 2014.

The Deli's Staff

Thanks to all the artists who submitted their music to be considered for The Deli's Best of Toronto Year End Poll for Emerging Artists.

After tallying our editors' ratings for the Open Submissions stage, it’s time to release the results. Please note that to avoid conflicts no local editor was allowed to vote for bands in their own scene

Total submissions from Toronto: 15

Jurors: Natan Press (The Deli DC), Jordannah Elizabeth (The Deli SF), Paolo De Gregorio (The Deli NYC).

Acts advancing to our Readers/Fans Poll:

1. Kira May - 7.33

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2. Laura Cole - 7.16

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2. The Pick Brothers Band - 7.16

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4. Sun K - 7 

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4. Jessica Bundy - 7

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Honorable Mentions (scores above 6.5)

Clara Engel, The Gnarly Ones, Dear Blackwolf, Triangle & Seed, The Young Novelists.

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WHAT’S NEXT: These results end the first phase of the poll. We have already unveiled full list of nominees that also includes the artists nominated by our local jurors (see left column here). It's now time for our readers to influence this Year End Poll for Emerging Toronto Artists with their vote!

—The Deli Toronto