Saturday opened with an overcast morning that blossomed into balmy summer weather for downtown Pasadena — with an expected turnout of over 50,000 the conditions were perfect for this year's Make Music Festival. Parking was ample and spread out: structures capped event parking at $20, and streetsmart locals snagged meters on Raymond Ave. and others. Food and drink were plenty with specialty trucks lining major streets. Every café, restaurant, and pub had all hands on deck to offer a cornucopia of tastes from lobster rolls to microbrews and milk tea. Six main stages were raised mere blocks away from each other and nearly two dozen venues dotted around them, delivering folk and punk and alt rock and blues. With pop-up shops on every other curbside, and even good vibes from security and the boys in blue, any SoCal music fan would have wondered: why aren't more cities getting in on Make Music?

But if you were holed up last weekend, don't worry — The Deli got down and dirty in the press pit to bring you photos of some great acts throughout the day. Beach balls and sunburn aside, Old Pasadena lined up some of the best performances of Make Music's history, and we are grateful to have covered it.

Check out more photos from the show here. - Ryan Mo

 Kera and The Lesbians

DARK FURS

Kishi Bashi

How To Dress Well

Crystales

Sir Sly

Draag

Photo Credit: Michelle McCausland, Ryan Mo

LA County's kickoff festival is here: Make Music Pasadena is happening tomorrow, June 6th, with over 150 bands playing at the heart of downtown Pasadena! Along with main stage big-timers like Kishi Bashi, How To Dress Well, Sir Sly, Nick Waterhouse, and rising stars Jr., Kera & The Lesbians, and Autumn in June, music & arts collectives around the county will also curate some of the tastiest home-grown acts. The main stage activities end with Pasadena Symphony & Pops' grandeur performance, but these side venues will be going strong late into the night.

You can find the complete schedule here on MMP's site, and we definitely recommend hitting up these side-stages below:

All Scene Eye presents two live stages at Armory Center for the Arts: check out Kat Myers & The Buzzards, The Electric West, Draag, Holland Belle, Tashaki Miyaki, and more.

Sherpa Music MGMT, One Question Sessions, and De La Vie TV presents at Old Towne Pub: DARK FURS, Crystales, Sanglorians, LA Takedown, Le Cos, and more.

For Friends Of Sound presents at Der Wolfskopf in the evening: OYLS, Kid Bloom, Slow Graffiti, GDNA, and more.

Montecito Music and Media presents at Shoppes at Stats: Shattered Skyline, Cool Face, The Wild Reeds, Valley Queen, bed, and more.

Open Kanvas presents at Club 54: Veteran Assassins, Noah V, Kennis Clark, Born Allah, and more plus a surprise headliner.

Remember: this music festival is FREE and starts at 11 AM. Parking structures are dotted across the city, but will definitely fill up soon, so make it out early! - Ryan Mo, photo credit: Chris Molina

Thanks to all the artists who submitted their music to be considered for The Deli's Best of Los Angeles Year End Poll for Emerging Artists. We had a record number of submissions from Los Angeles this year - 72! - thanks so much for the overwhelming response!

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 his/her own scene.

Total submissions from Los Angeles: 72

Jurors: Travis Leipzig (The Deli Portland), Roxy Morrison (The Deli Toronto), Paolo De Gregorio (The Deli NYC).

Acts advancing to our Readers/Fans Poll:

1. Kiev (8 out of 10)

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2. Sex Helicopter (7.83)

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3. Valley Queen (7.5)

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4. Hearty Har (7.33)

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5. Afternoons (7.16)

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5. Dalton (7.16)

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5. Fellow Bohemian (7.16)

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5. Hi Ho Silver Oh (7.16)

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5. Dark Furs (7.16)

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Honorable Mentions (scores above 6.83)

Twin Oaks, Vokab Kompany, Meg Olsen, Brooklyn Pets, Lady Low, Wages.

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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 Los Angeles Artists with their vote - look out for th readers' poll on the right column of this same page!

The Deli Los Angeles

We've tallied the results for the Open Submissions stage of our LA Area Year End Poll. All of the submissions were ranked by Deli Editors from other scenes, and the list of acts that have advanced to our Readers’/Fans’ Poll phase are below. We will also be releasing the list of nominees chosen by our local "scene expert" jurors very soon. 

Thanks to all the rad folks who submitted their heart and soul to us - we never received as many submissions from LA as this year! Our open submissions pool was truly a celebration of the LA Area's talent and diversity.   

Total submissions from the LA Area Scene: 85  

Qualified to the final phase of the Best of LA Area Poll:

1. Little Red Lung - 7.6 (out of 10)
2. Fake Furs - 7.5 
3. The Morning Birds - 7.5 
4. So Many Wizards - 7.3 
5. I Hate You Just Kidding - 7.3 
6. Cotillon - 7.16 
7. Nightmare Air - 7 
8. Dark Furs - 7 
9. IAMEVE - 7 

Honorable Mentions (Score above 6.5): The Smoking Trees (Psych Pop), Maston (Indie Pop), Hi Ho Silver Oh (Folk Rock), megachoir (Electronica), of Verona (Electro-pop), The Cigarette Bums (Garage) 

Jurors: QD Tran (Deli Philly), Brandi Lukas (Deli contributor), Paolo De Gregorio (Deli NYC)

The Deli Staff