Before Christmas this blog, along with a whole host of other distinguished UK bloggers, ran an alternative to the BBC Sound of 2012 competition, the fifteen acts on the initial long-list are listed here, it's now time to share the top five:
5. Daughter
A firm favourite of this very blog, Elena Tonra's Daughter combined sparse instrumentation, haunting vocals and an incredibly gifted song-writing talent to create two of the best EP's of 2011, with hopefully her full length debut and increasingly larger venues being filled by eager fans, 2012 promises to be something even more special. If beautiful, emotional song-craft is your thing Daughter is most certainly someone you should be following through the year.
4. French Wives
Scottish quintet French Wives combine bright, powerful harmonies and rich instrumentation in a non-dissimilar manner to fellow Scots Broken Records or dare I say it, Arcade Fire, expect pace changes a plenty, guitar jangles, strings and beautiful sunshine vocals.
I can see this young band having a very successful year and their high placing comes in this poll comes as no surprise.
3. Beth Jeans Houghton
Beth Jeans Houghton came to the attention of many through last years wonderful 'Dodecahedron' but she has in fact been around since 2009, with her debut album due early this year, it's probably time for her quirky, rich vocals and cinematic, chamber folk-pop to reach a wider audience.
The signs are the material is going to be good enough to win it over.
2. Theme Park
Theme Park were one of the most blogged UK artists of 2011 since they burst onto the scene six odd months ago with "Milk", writers both sides of the pond have been throwing endless superlatives at the London youngsters including The Guardian's New Band of The Day comparing them to Talking Heads...
Though a little bit on the jolly side foe me, fans of the tropical flavours of Vampire Weekend should lap these four boys; with groovy calypso, rhythmic beats and upbeat vocal harmonies.
1. Friends
Friends are another band who've been blogger favourites throughout 2011, "Friends Crush" was a luscious track, completely infectious and charming pop, it made the Brooklyn group one of the most hyped artists of the year and earned them a nomination in the official BBC Sound of list.
"I'm His Girl" doesn't really do it for me in all honesty, blending R&B, tropical rhythms and pure pop it is, no doubt, going to send them high up in the charts in 2012.
There you have it, as with all polls, a few choices I'd have differently myself but overall the fifteen acts represented in the inaugural blog sound show the strength and depth of new music at the minute. I for one am looking forward to seeing what they and all the other new acts I've mentioned here come up with in 2012...
Here again, is the list of bloggers that took part…
A Tidal Wave Of Indifference , Breaking More Waves, My Band Is Better Than Your Band,God Is In the TV, Sweeping The Nation, The Von Pip Musical Express, The Recommender, Faded Glamour, Drunken Werewolf, Flying With Anna, Not Many Experts, Under-classed Idle Ideas, Sonic Masala, Mudkiss, The Ring Master, Both Bars On, Music From A Green Window, Dots And Dashes, The Daily Growl,And Everyone’s A DJ, Kowalskiy! Just Music I Like, Cruel Rhythms, The Blue Walrus, Music Fans Mic, 17 Seconds, Eaten By Monsters,Seven Sevens, Unpeeled, NuRave Brain Wave, Peenko, Music Liberation, Song, By Toad.
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