Last year was a pretty good year in local music. We've seen many faces tackle few genres, battling it out for the top spot in all our rotation of shows we attend, merch we buy and band pages we like. Of all the Portlander crusaders in Indie Pop, Reptaliens won the yearly reader's poll for the category, but there are a handful of other bands that caught the eye of our jurors and voters. 

At the top of that list is Little Star (pictured), the Good Cheer Records band that pulls the best from 90's college radio indie and emo, giving a modern spin to the classics of sad pop. Spawned from the ashes of a romanticized detriment, as are some of the best contributions to music ever, Little Star's small but estimable discography models moments of tender affection and soft aggression sonically and lyrically as a well rounded product to share with the masses. 

---

Next up we've got Mini Blinds, whose angelic twee pop quickly made them a favorite. Just in their first year of existence, their debut release Air Signs captures an innocence many long to hold on to.

---

Newer to the Portland scene, synthpop duo My Body hauled their danceable beats across the country from New York to share their creations with us. We couldn't be more happy about it, or their Seven Wives EP, released yesterday.

---

With one of the best guitarists in the city right now, Two Moons is an enigma of sorts. Their albums reflect a temperate delivery, but their live shows are a brute force to be reckoned with. They'll surprise you in all sorts of ways, but all of them pleasantly.

---

We've can't forget to show some love to our Honorable Mentions Small Million, Plastic Cactus and Point Juncture, Wa as well! 

Good Cheer Records has essentially taken over Portland. The somewhat new label has already given us damn near all of the most poppin acts in the scene right now and thank goodness the label will be giving us the gift of seeing a handful of them live for the holidays.

Originally planned for last week but moved to tomorrow due to weather, Good Cheer's takeover of Holocene consists of two stages and six bands worth of all ages action. Turtlenecked is doing a solo set, current Artist of the Month nominees Alien Boy will take to the stage like they're "At Goth Easter," and Cool American will make our ears dusty with their Dorito pop. A dark heaviness comes our way from Two Moons, but the ultimate noisiness will be coming from the label's breakout stars of the year drowse (who is subbing in for Mayhaw Hoons and the Outsiders) and Floating Room.

Just $7 gets you into the bash, with proceeds going to Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington, an arts-in-education organization.

s

It's been two years since we were gifted Lubec's lauded The Thrall and finally today, we get their second full length with Cosmic Debt.

Thematically exploring karmic debenture in life, Cosmic Debt gifts us the Lubec we've grown to love over the years; dreamgaze personified by reverbed string riffs, eruptive drumming by Matt Dressen and vocals that call for attention.

Four fuzzy instrumental-like interludes break up a pleasant distortion of tracks, led by layers of Eddie Charlton's ripe vocality. Piano playing by Caroline Jackson adds a slightly delicate but necessary element which, coupled with her sometimes rawly spurted vocals (like in the album's title track), round out the sound that separates Lubec from other "gazey" acts in town.

Lubec's release show for Cosmic Debt is tomorrow at Blackwater with supporting performances from Talkative, Dog Thieves, Two Moons and Radler. 

Stream Cosmic Debt below and be sure to stop by Blackwater tomorrow to celebrate.

This last round of the Deli Portland Artist of the Month poll resulted in a tie between two different nominees. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does it shows the wealth of good music offered in the city that just can't be ignored. That being said, both Two Moons and Arbor Daze are artists deserving of more than just local attention.

Arbor Daze, a solo project by Aspen Koch, is actually quite indicative of the moniker itself, educing the state of calm often felt while taking in the beauty of a forest. Koch illicits a certain halcyon ambiance, dressed in a doleful cloak. Her interesting usage of looping adds texture to Arbor Daze tracks, taking them to a whole other level of interest and turmoiled relation.

Two Moons bring out a different sort of reaction with their songs of heavier broodiness. Guitarist and vocalist Aaron Liu takes the term "shredding" to a whole other level, using his guitar as a fierce weapon supporting his at times emotionally savage vocality that's especially heard during live sets. While not necessarily always applying the "loud, quiet loud" structure to their songs, Two Moons have proven they've mastered just the right amount of force to strengthen soft songs and the appropriate amount of delicacy to abate benevolently porcine tracks.

Congrats to both Arbor Daze and Two Moons, the latter of which will be playing their next show Sunday at Kelly's Olympian with Fringe Class. The newest round of the Deli AOTM poll features Bruhn, the Empty, Seahorse C-Section and Toothbone, so be sure to give them all a listen and vote for the one(s) you dig!