"Tropical grit pop" sounds like a tough concept to get your head around, but it actually fits Ghost Beach's sound quite neatly. The "tropical" comes in their bright, sun-kissed melodies that recall pop titans The Police, while the band throws a layer of grit on top with sludgy guitar lines and jarring electronics. It's an interesting mash-up that Brooklyn duo Josh Ocean and Eric "Doc" Mendelsohn are pioneering, and one that, according to Ocean when I spoke to him about the group's sound, wasn't necessarily intentional. Still, the band has mined their unique style over two EPs and several singles that have been warmly embraced by an ever-growing fanbase. The latest of which (featuring Noosa and streaming below) went straight to the top of The Hype Machine. - Read Dean Van Nguyen's interview with the band here.

This year 28 NYC "scene experts" helped us with our Best of NYC Poll 2012 for Emerging Artists by choosing their 3 favorite up and coming NYC acts. These jurors are comprised of local venue agents and other industry people who work with many local bands throughout the year (full list coming soon). Their votes this year produced a list of 68 artists, which means that - as always - most jurors voted for different bands. But some bands appeared more thans once in the "ballots": below we compiled a list of the artists who accumulated more points through the jurors vote only. Kudos to Foxygen (already on the cover of our 2012 CMJ issue) for getting the top spot.

The Best of NYC 2012 Readers and Fans' Poll - including all the nominees - will start in a few days - stay tuned (since we have one of these polls happening in each scene we cover, we need to schedule them carefully to avoid to overload our server - thanks for your patience!).

ARTIST     1 Foxygen   2 Spirit Family Reunion   3 DIIV   4 Ambassadors   4 Ghost Beach   4 MS MR   7 Hunters

The emergent Brooklyn sound in the aftermath era of lo-fi electro from successful acts such as Small Black and Violens seems to be bigger, bolder, more anthemic choruses. "Modern Tongues," the debut EP by Ghost Beach, goes one further, blurring the lines between disparate genres like yacht rock, electro-funk and (amazingly) boy band rubbish. The appropriately-titled EP starts out with “Miracle,” whose chiming guitar licks recall the Smiths, until singer Josh Laviolette unleashes a riotous chorus worthy of Rivers Cuomo’s most throat-shedding vocals. “Tear Us Apart,” the lead single from Modern Tongues, shimmers like Simple Minds at their medieval peak, layered over an industrial backbeat that feels defiantly current, despite its retro proclivities. “Been There Before” (streaming) is the EP’s best moment, a song of such joy and pathos that it’s destined to send live crowds through the roof. Clocking in at just under 22 minutes (five songs), I found myself running to start the whole EP over, as my living room crowd was having far too much fun to switch to something new just yet. To join the party see the band live at The Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 08. - Brian Chidester