Post by ManicKangaroo on Dec 7, 2009 5:03:57 GMT 1
Fifteen of the best rising music stars have been named on the longlist for the BBC's Sound of 2010.
The list is designed to highlight the most exciting musical talent for the coming year and the artists have been picked by 165 UK-based tastemakers.
They each named their favourite three new acts and those with the most votes were put on the list. The top five and winner will be unveiled in January.
1 Ellie Goulding
2 Marina & The Diamonds
3 Delphic
4 Hurts
5 The Drums
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daisy Dares You
Sixteen-year-old Daisy Coburn makes bubblegum punk - impatient, impudent teen pop about friendship and families and fancying boys.
Coburn names Kurt Cobain and Karen O among her idols and her album includes an oikish cover of Who Will Buy from Oliver! There was a record label bidding war for her signature and her debut single features chart-topper Chipmunk, with whom she will tour in February.
Delphic
Indie guitars and euphoric electronica have rarely been gone together well, but this Manchester group make them a natural fit. Hypnotic songs are driven by pulsating beats as frontman James Cook sings infectious hooks. Their motto is: "The guitar is dead, long live the guitar."
This is what would have happened if New Order embraced ambient techno, or Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant had spent his time at raves. Their broad appeal is demonstrated by the fact that they have supported acts from Orbital to Kasabian.
Devlin
Rapper Devlin is one of the hottest names on the underground grime scene, having steadily risen through east London's ranks with relentlessly gritty tracks featuring rapid-fire lyrics about crime, violence and poverty.
The 20-year-old from Dagenham, Essex, spent 10 weeks at number one on digital TV channel Channel AKA's chart with London City, a celebration of a boisterous night out in the capital, and is currently putting the finishing touches to his first album Bud, Sweat & Beers.
The Drums
One of the most talked-about new guitar bands of recent years, this Florida-via-New York quartet borrow apparently unconnected bits from musical history. On some songs, they mix the surf pop of the Beach Boys with the eerie romance of The Cure, while on others they sound like Lou Reed or Iggy Pop covering 1960s girl groups.
On stage, their contagious energy has won over fans. Singer Jonathan Pierce wildly gesticulates like Ian Curtis swatting a fly, while sidekick Jacob Graham wields a tambourine like Bez's hippy brother.
Everything Everything
Both deliberately arty and unashamedly catchy, Manchester band Everything Everything could point to a way forward for the stale indie scene.
Frontman Jonathan Everything (that is what he calls himself) put the band together in 2007 with friends from school and university. The quartet name Radiohead and The Beatles as their chief influences and say their number one rule is to "avoid cliche at all costs".
Giggs
South London rapper Giggs, AKA Nathan Thompson, knows the thug life he writes about, having been sentenced to two years in prison on gun charges several years ago.
Known for his slow, menacing delivery, he beat Dizzee Rascal and Chipmunk to win best UK act at the BET hip-hop awards in Atlanta last October. He has worked with The Streets and recently signed to respected record label XL, home of Dizzee and MIA.
Gold Panda
Gold Panda is a left-field producer and remixer called Derwin who makes instrumental soundtracks to half-remembered, dreamy summer days. He scours charity shops for old records and VHS tapes to turn into distorted samples, and wraps them in minimal, warm beats.
He is obsessed with Japan and its culture, and once sold his entire record collection to pay for a Japanese diploma at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, before moving there for a year.
Ellie Goulding
A solo female singer-songwriter with a strong personality and a cutting-edge style, 21-year-old Ellie Goulding, brought up in Powys, could fit in well with the current pop scene.
If Kate Bush, Bjork and Stevie Nicks shared a flat in Shoreditch in 2009, but were a little bit more sane, this noise would emerge. Goulding's distinctive high-wire voice carries passionate lyrics, occasionally being cut and spliced with club-friendly electro results.
Hurts
A moody and exceedingly stylish duo from Manchester, Hurts inhabit an enigmatic, cinematic black & white world where they construct melancholic 1980s-inspired electro-pop. They resemble Tears For Fears, as shot by Anton Corbijn.
Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson were in (scruffier) bands Bureau and Daggers before, the latter of which supported Gary Numan. But on a trip to Italy, they discovered "disco-lento" (slow disco), became fixed on adopting a more austere and elegant European aesthetic and Hurts were born.
Joy Orbison
Twenty-two-year-old Pete O'Grady from Croydon, who goes by the name Joy Orbison, is one of the hottest dance producers around. Yet he still works as a "dogsbody" in a music publisher's mail room, saying he prefers music to be a relief from work, rather than work itself.
O'Grady has been DJing since the age of 12 and his sound is a lovingly-crafted late-night evolution of house and UK garage, with soft bass, hypnotic home-made percussion and distant chopped-up vocals.
Marina & The Diamonds
The quirky and flamboyant Marina Diamandis is gaining a following for her inventive songwriting, theatrical stage shows and dazzling style. If a young Liza Minnelli was starring in a Broadway musical telling Tori Amos's life story, it might sound like this.
The half-Welsh, half-Greek singer uses her deep, dramatic voice to create overblown pop. She gets inspiration by studying DVDs of Britney Spears and covers Gwen Stefani on stage.
Owl City
Last summer, Adam Young, 23, was living with his parents in Owatonna, Minnesota, and had never left the Midwest. Last month, he played packed dates in China and finished a sold-out North American tour.
The singer and producer's single Fireflies appeared to come from nowhere to reach number one in the US in November. He says he was inspired by the boredom of his home town and the twinkling laptop-made beats and soft, innocent vocals evoke faraway fantasies and innocent daydreams.
Rox
Roxanne Tataei is a half Iranian, half Jamaican Londoner who makes nourishing soul music and counts Lauryn Hill and Sade as her biggest inspirations.
Her musical training came at church as a child before she enrolled in the Brit performing art school, the former stomping ground of Leona Lewis, Adele, Kate Nash and Amy Winehouse. With a powerful jazzy voice, she is likely to get his year's Amy comparisons, and has also performed live with Mark Ronson.
Stornoway
To have one set of brothers in a band is nothing new, but Oxford five-piece Stornoway contain two sets. Crafting hearty bloke-folk using banjos, violins and brass, they headlined the BBC Introducing stage at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in May.
Having come together at Oxford University, one of their number has a PhD in duck ecology while another has a masters degree in Russian literature. They also once released a single called The Good Fish Guide to encourage people to eat fish ethically, with all profits going to the Marine Conservation Society.
Two Door Cinema Club
This upbeat art-pop group from Bangor, Northern Ireland, comprise three guitars, some jaunty keyboards and no drummer. Well, they had no drummer until a month ago, instead making beats on their laptop, but have now recruited a sticksman to beef up their live show.
The youthful group, together since early 2007, gave up university places after things started taking off and have been signed to hip Parisian label Kitsune.
The list is designed to highlight the most exciting musical talent for the coming year and the artists have been picked by 165 UK-based tastemakers.
They each named their favourite three new acts and those with the most votes were put on the list. The top five and winner will be unveiled in January.
1 Ellie Goulding
2 Marina & The Diamonds
3 Delphic
4 Hurts
5 The Drums
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daisy Dares You
Sixteen-year-old Daisy Coburn makes bubblegum punk - impatient, impudent teen pop about friendship and families and fancying boys.
Coburn names Kurt Cobain and Karen O among her idols and her album includes an oikish cover of Who Will Buy from Oliver! There was a record label bidding war for her signature and her debut single features chart-topper Chipmunk, with whom she will tour in February.
Delphic
Indie guitars and euphoric electronica have rarely been gone together well, but this Manchester group make them a natural fit. Hypnotic songs are driven by pulsating beats as frontman James Cook sings infectious hooks. Their motto is: "The guitar is dead, long live the guitar."
This is what would have happened if New Order embraced ambient techno, or Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant had spent his time at raves. Their broad appeal is demonstrated by the fact that they have supported acts from Orbital to Kasabian.
Devlin
Rapper Devlin is one of the hottest names on the underground grime scene, having steadily risen through east London's ranks with relentlessly gritty tracks featuring rapid-fire lyrics about crime, violence and poverty.
The 20-year-old from Dagenham, Essex, spent 10 weeks at number one on digital TV channel Channel AKA's chart with London City, a celebration of a boisterous night out in the capital, and is currently putting the finishing touches to his first album Bud, Sweat & Beers.
The Drums
One of the most talked-about new guitar bands of recent years, this Florida-via-New York quartet borrow apparently unconnected bits from musical history. On some songs, they mix the surf pop of the Beach Boys with the eerie romance of The Cure, while on others they sound like Lou Reed or Iggy Pop covering 1960s girl groups.
On stage, their contagious energy has won over fans. Singer Jonathan Pierce wildly gesticulates like Ian Curtis swatting a fly, while sidekick Jacob Graham wields a tambourine like Bez's hippy brother.
Everything Everything
Both deliberately arty and unashamedly catchy, Manchester band Everything Everything could point to a way forward for the stale indie scene.
Frontman Jonathan Everything (that is what he calls himself) put the band together in 2007 with friends from school and university. The quartet name Radiohead and The Beatles as their chief influences and say their number one rule is to "avoid cliche at all costs".
Giggs
South London rapper Giggs, AKA Nathan Thompson, knows the thug life he writes about, having been sentenced to two years in prison on gun charges several years ago.
Known for his slow, menacing delivery, he beat Dizzee Rascal and Chipmunk to win best UK act at the BET hip-hop awards in Atlanta last October. He has worked with The Streets and recently signed to respected record label XL, home of Dizzee and MIA.
Gold Panda
Gold Panda is a left-field producer and remixer called Derwin who makes instrumental soundtracks to half-remembered, dreamy summer days. He scours charity shops for old records and VHS tapes to turn into distorted samples, and wraps them in minimal, warm beats.
He is obsessed with Japan and its culture, and once sold his entire record collection to pay for a Japanese diploma at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, before moving there for a year.
Ellie Goulding
A solo female singer-songwriter with a strong personality and a cutting-edge style, 21-year-old Ellie Goulding, brought up in Powys, could fit in well with the current pop scene.
If Kate Bush, Bjork and Stevie Nicks shared a flat in Shoreditch in 2009, but were a little bit more sane, this noise would emerge. Goulding's distinctive high-wire voice carries passionate lyrics, occasionally being cut and spliced with club-friendly electro results.
Hurts
A moody and exceedingly stylish duo from Manchester, Hurts inhabit an enigmatic, cinematic black & white world where they construct melancholic 1980s-inspired electro-pop. They resemble Tears For Fears, as shot by Anton Corbijn.
Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson were in (scruffier) bands Bureau and Daggers before, the latter of which supported Gary Numan. But on a trip to Italy, they discovered "disco-lento" (slow disco), became fixed on adopting a more austere and elegant European aesthetic and Hurts were born.
Joy Orbison
Twenty-two-year-old Pete O'Grady from Croydon, who goes by the name Joy Orbison, is one of the hottest dance producers around. Yet he still works as a "dogsbody" in a music publisher's mail room, saying he prefers music to be a relief from work, rather than work itself.
O'Grady has been DJing since the age of 12 and his sound is a lovingly-crafted late-night evolution of house and UK garage, with soft bass, hypnotic home-made percussion and distant chopped-up vocals.
Marina & The Diamonds
The quirky and flamboyant Marina Diamandis is gaining a following for her inventive songwriting, theatrical stage shows and dazzling style. If a young Liza Minnelli was starring in a Broadway musical telling Tori Amos's life story, it might sound like this.
The half-Welsh, half-Greek singer uses her deep, dramatic voice to create overblown pop. She gets inspiration by studying DVDs of Britney Spears and covers Gwen Stefani on stage.
Owl City
Last summer, Adam Young, 23, was living with his parents in Owatonna, Minnesota, and had never left the Midwest. Last month, he played packed dates in China and finished a sold-out North American tour.
The singer and producer's single Fireflies appeared to come from nowhere to reach number one in the US in November. He says he was inspired by the boredom of his home town and the twinkling laptop-made beats and soft, innocent vocals evoke faraway fantasies and innocent daydreams.
Rox
Roxanne Tataei is a half Iranian, half Jamaican Londoner who makes nourishing soul music and counts Lauryn Hill and Sade as her biggest inspirations.
Her musical training came at church as a child before she enrolled in the Brit performing art school, the former stomping ground of Leona Lewis, Adele, Kate Nash and Amy Winehouse. With a powerful jazzy voice, she is likely to get his year's Amy comparisons, and has also performed live with Mark Ronson.
Stornoway
To have one set of brothers in a band is nothing new, but Oxford five-piece Stornoway contain two sets. Crafting hearty bloke-folk using banjos, violins and brass, they headlined the BBC Introducing stage at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in May.
Having come together at Oxford University, one of their number has a PhD in duck ecology while another has a masters degree in Russian literature. They also once released a single called The Good Fish Guide to encourage people to eat fish ethically, with all profits going to the Marine Conservation Society.
Two Door Cinema Club
This upbeat art-pop group from Bangor, Northern Ireland, comprise three guitars, some jaunty keyboards and no drummer. Well, they had no drummer until a month ago, instead making beats on their laptop, but have now recruited a sticksman to beef up their live show.
The youthful group, together since early 2007, gave up university places after things started taking off and have been signed to hip Parisian label Kitsune.
