Monday, January 05, 2009

BBC Sounds of 2009

The annual BBC Sounds of 2009 list is out. Actually it came out about a month ago, but I didn't notice. Anyway, last year's list had previously unknown now big name artists like Duffy, Adele, The Ting Tings, Santogold, Black Kids, MGMT, Glasvegas and The Vampire Weekend (they did a really good job picking them, didn't they?).

This week BBC is revealing who their top 5 picks are. They already released the longlist of 15 artists. One act on the list, Lady Gaga, needs no introduction, but there are quite a few other interesting acts this year. Here's a rundown of some that already interest me:

VV Brown

Don't mistake the double-V for a W (even though, linguistically speaking that's the same thing). Vanessa "VV" Brown is a British singer who's sung backup for Madonna and the Pussycat Dolls, finally stepping out on her own this year. Surely, "Crying Blood" will be one of the year's first big hits in Britain. It sounds tailor-made for UK radio. Adele with more sass? Lily Allen with better pipes? Perhaps. A great start.



Little Boots

Little Boots is the stage name for British singer/electronic artist Victoria Hesketh. Although she's connected to Hot Chip, whom I don't really care for, I'm really enjoying Little Boots' single "Stuck on Repeat." One of her trademarks will surely get old really quick--she likes to play a flashing Japanese electronic instrument called the Tenorion. Here's a live rendition:



White Lies

White Lies are the latest London rock band to take a page from '80s synth pop and add it to their indie rock sound. Here's "To Lose My Life," The first single from their debut album of the same name out January 19. "Death" is another good track and it's already available from US iTunes.



La Roux

Another female/male British electronic pop duo. She's 20 year-old Elly Jackson. He's Ben Langmaid, apparently much older, as he went to school with Dido's brother (Rollo Armstrong of Faithless). "Quicksand" is a pretty cool single:



It's my bedtime. I'll write more about these people later.

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