Picked to Click: Lucky 13

Forget McCain and Obama—this year's closest election came down to two righteous local ladies: Lucy and Sarah. One is the leader of ukulele-tinged Gypsy/folk/jazz group Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles, while the other, Sarah Nienaber, fronts noisy pop band Gospel Gossip. It was a tough fight, as the two stayed neck-and-neck during the counting of more than 100 ballots, but ultimately Lucy Michelle reigns supreme in this year's best-new-band poll.

Here's how the voting worked: In our biggest poll yet, we asked 105 writers, DJs, club bookers, sound guys, musicians, photographers, and record-store clerks to send us their top five favorite new local bands. How they defined "new" was left up to them, but we asked that they give preference to bands that had broken onto the scene in one way or another during the previous 12 months. Each voter's number-one pick received five points, the number-two pick received four points, and so on. If a voter didn't rank his choices, each band was given three points. The band with the most points was declared the winner.

Due to an unusual number of ties, we ended up with a whopping 13 finalists in the top 10 this year—the most winners ever. And only one band broke up before the issue hit the stands! Ladies and gentlemen, our Lucky 13:

1. Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles (74 points)

2. Gospel Gossip (72)

3. France Has the Bomb (39)

4. The Wars of 1812 (35)

5. (tie) Lookbook, Private Dancer (32)

6. (tie) The Dynamiters, Voyager (31)

7. Bouncer Fighter (30)

8. Muja Messiah (24)

9. Yer Cronies (22)

10. (tie) Black Audience, the 757s (21)