Lindsay Pitts and Clifford John Usher together form the avant-garde group GEMS. Their debut album, out October 30th, will include a set list of sulky, ingenious and mystical pop. Kill The Ones You Love includes the engulfing single "Soak", which starts off with dreamy guitar strums and finger snaps until it ignites into entrancing synth transitions once the chorus hits. GEMS has a way of hypnotizing their listeners with powerful lyrics on loss of love, fighting the pain and treading the water in order to save yourself. Anyone suffering or who has suffered from heartache can connect to the lyrical compassion of "Soak", trapping us in the haunting drops of every beat and capturing the essence of what it takes to move on.

GEMS begins their North American Tour on October 9th at the Troubadour. For Fall dates head on over to their website as well as their Soundcloud to hear more from Kill The Ones You Love. - Kayla Hay

GEMS expoloded onto the DC scene last year, winning the Deli's DC Area Emerging Artist of the Year in 2013 with almost all of the juror votes. Their chill sounds, the beautiful voice of Lindsay Pitts and solid production combine to give the local listener a band they can cheer for as GEMS speeds along towards national recognition. In this interview, we tried to find out how GEMS was able to do so much in such a short time, and how they developed their thoughtful style and professional work-ethic. You can catch GEMS tomorrow, March 1st (7pm, the early show), at U Street Music Hall as they head out on tour towards SXSW and beyond. Tour dates below: 

03.01.14 – U Street Music Hall – Washington, DC
03.06.14 - Majestic - Madison, WI
03.07.14 - Double Door - Chicago, IL
03.09.14 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
03.11.14-03.16.14 – SXSW – Austin, TX
03.17.14 – Bronze Peacock Room – Houston, TX
03.19.14 – The Parish – Austin, TX
03.20.14 – House Of Blues – Dallas, TX
03.22.14 - Terminal West - Atlanta, GA
03.23.14 - Music Farm - Charleston, SC
03.25.14 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
03.27.14 - Sinclair - Boston, MA
03.29.14 – SAT - Montreal, QC
05.10.14 - Sweetlife Festival - Columbia, MD

Deli Nation,

Our Year End Poll for Emerging DC Area Artists was - as usual - a painstaking (and somewhat excruciating) process, but we pulled it of with remarkable flair! Kudos to GEMS (pictured) for winning it!

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+ DC Area scene experts (our jury, list at the bottom) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each. Then we polled our writers, 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 the DC Area produced in the year 2013, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

BEST OF 2013 POLL FOR EMERGING DC AREA ARTISTS ******* FINAL RESULTS *******

ARTIST J W R OS TOT   1 GEMS 11   0.009   11.009 2 Margot MacDonald 1 1 1.5 2 5.5 3 Priests 5   0.002   5.002 4 Walk the Plank 3   2   5 5 Young Summer 4   0.068   4.068 6 Drop Electric 3 1 0.006   4.006 7 Joy Buttons 4   0.003   4.003 8 The Last Bison 3   1   4 9 Kindlewood     0.105 3 3.105 10 The Cowards Choir 3   0.052   3.052 11  Elikeh 3   0.021   3.021 12 Widows Watch 3   0.015   3.015 13 Sweet Leda 3   0.01   3.01 14  Drugs Of Faith 3   0.009   3.009 15  Iris Divine 3   0.007   3.007   Young Rapids 3   0.007   3.007 17 Protect U 3   0.004   3.004 18 Diamond Youth 3   0.003   3.003 19 The Walking Sticks 3   0.002   3.002   Pree 3   0.002   3.002 21 Dead Professional 3   0.001   3.001   Highway Cross 3   0.001   3.001 23  The Capital Hearings 3   0   3   The Chance 3   0   3 25  The Sea Life   1 0.004 1.5 2.504 26 Pasadena 2   0.141   2.141 27 Black Clouds 2   0.063   2.063 28 Derek Evry and His Misanthropes 2   0.047   2.047 29 True Head 2   0.011   2.011 30  Honor By August 2   0.005   2.005 31  Redline Graffiti 2   0.004   2.004 32 Cherry Tree Band 2   0.003   2.003   The Mean Season 2   0.003   2.003   The Raised By Wolves 1   0.003 1 2.003 35 Sunwolf 2   0.002   2.002 36 The Grand Candy 2   0.001   2.001   Phil Ade 2   0.001   2.001   PLOY 2   0.001   2.001 39 Old Lines 2   0   2   Primitivity 2   0   2   Technophobia 2   0   2 42 Bumpin' Uglies 1   0.5   1.5 43 Bonnie Rash 1   0.046   1.046 44 Dance For the Dying 1   0.019   1.019   Pleasure Curses     0.019 1 1.019 46 Me and Karen     0.0013 1 1.013 47 Typefighter 1   0.012   1.012 48 The Mellish     0.009 1 1.009 49 Caz & The Day Laborers 1   0.005   1.005   J. Roddy Walston and the Business 1   0.005   1.005 50 Heavy Breathing 1   0.002   1.002   Midnight Eye 1   0.002   1.002   Ravagers 1   0.002   1.002   Smoke Green 1   0.002   1.002 55 Black Checker 1   0.001   1.001 Legend: J = Jurors, W = Deli Writers, R = Deli Readers, OS = Open Submissions

List of Jurors: Jon Meyers (The Vinyl District), Boo Valdez (Rams Head Baltimore), Brandon Linton (Rams Head Baltimore), Kisha Shorter (9:30 Club), Stephanie Williams (DC Music Download), Chris Buresh (DCHeavy Metal.com), Paul Vodra (Hometown Sounds), Neal Becton (Som Records), Christopher Naoum (Listen Local First DC), David Hintz (DC Rock Live), Jennifer Vinson (The Hamilton/DC Setlist), Matty (The Sidebar), Don Zientara (Inner Ear Studios), Dawn Reed (Deli), Renee Schapiro (9:30 Club), Vincent Brown (Freedom Village), Jimmy Rhodes (The Fillmore), Catherine (showlistdc), Ora Nwabueze (The Dunes), Staff (Velvet Lounge).

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

The Deli's Staff

I wonder if this decade will be remembered as the "Dream Pop" years - these days the genre seems to offer an endless reservoir of new acts coming out to grab the spotlight, from The XX to Beach House and so on, which means there's a growing public out there appreciating this sound. DC's GEMS are one of the dream pop bands of the moment, thanks to two gorgeous singles "Sinking Stone" (streaming) and Pegasus, plus a string of other above average songs already available online. There's a lot of anticipation about their first official release, which will be celebrated with two shows at DC's U Street Music Hall on November 14 and at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg on the 11th.