There's a B.E.A.F.(Y) rock'n'roll party happening tomorrow night at Silent Barn in Bushwick and No Shoes are part of it! These Brooklyn guys lay down thick delays on top of twinged out melodies and rockin' beats to create a story within every song. You can feel the wind at your back with each measure, it's almost like being tossed down a mountain of guitars, bass and drums. Just imagine if The Books, The Boredoms and Japandroids did a project together... Yet somehow, it comes together in the end and is thoroughly satisfying. - Joe Fish

"Avant Indie" is a term we coined to avoid the temptation of calling some rock bands "experimental," since we see experimental music as a separate genre from rock. Therefore in this list you'll find edgy bands that like to try new things - fun!

Total submissions in this category: 21

Artists Qualified to the next stage (Readers' Poll, starting soon):

1. Celestial Shore - 8.66 (out of 10)
2. Julia Easterlin - 8.5
3. No Shoes - 8.33
3. Christine Hoberg - 8.33

Honorable Mentions (scores above 7.16):

Tiny Hazard, The Beriberi, Pass Kontrol, Passenger Peru, Tauk, Andrew Rosciszewski, Throw Vision.

Jurors: Jason Behrends (Deli Chicago), Ben Toledo (Deli Portland), PDG (Deli NYC).

THIS IS THE LAST BATCH OF RESULTS FROM THE OPEN SUBMISSIONS, READERS POLL'S NEXT!!!

The Deli's Staff

One of NYC's new avant-rock quartets, named No Shoes, just put out a fresh, ubiquitous new single called "Party Poetry (Billy Milktruck Drops the Meth Bomb)" that has caught our attention. The band claims they offer post-apocalyptic pop, but their dissonant prog rock vibes, heavy use of track panning, and lack of open melodies place their music in the calderon of genres we call avant-indie - with an extra dose of math influences. The nature of their instrumentation, paired with distortion, odd time signatures and vocals sung by what sounds like a somewhat numb crowd, makes for a fun listen - including its puzzling finale. Check it out below! - Michael Haskoor (@Tweetskoor) - Photo by Rose Lou

New York needs a band like this. While Chicago has its share of insane math musician geniuses on Thrill Jockey, NY isn't known for this kind of showmanship. With No Shoes, you get all this along with a determined interest in such topics as Werewolves and honeycombs. The quartet can play their asses off, while making sure you're having filthy fun at the same time. Check out their half of a split EP made with Basal Gang. on their Bandcamp. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

Indie, indie... what an exquisite word! These days so many bands call themselves "indie rock" even if they sound nothing like indie rock (before we ranked this category we had to filter out all the songwriters and straight rock bands who tried to re-brand themselves as "indie" - WE CAUGHT YOU!). Of course, the word originates from "independent" - not "Indian" like your clueless friends often assume - but it's been used since the 80's to describe "non-mainstream" rock music (and record labels). Think tense and/or dark and/or experimental-ish mostly guitar based rock. Needless to say, in the late aughts Indie became huge, and many NYC bands (paradoxically signed to majors) like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol had a crucial role in bringing this genre to the masses.

Total submissions in this category: 45

Artists Qualified to the Poll's Next Stage (starting around 01.10):

1. Conveyor - 7.83 (out of 10)
2. ARMS - 7.66 
2. Modern Rivals - 7.66 

Honorable Mentions (above 7 out of 10):

Stone Cold Fox, These Animals, Wild International, Ballroom Jacks, No Shoes, Dear Comrade, ILLUMNTR, Their Planes Will Block Out The Sun

Jurors: Gracie Gutman (Deli SF), Jason Behrends (Deli Chicago), Lucy Sherman (Deli Seattle)

The Deli's Staff