It’s that time of year again. End of year awards, lists, polls, and the like. The BBC Sound of 2009 longlist has been published, and the list is usually a pretty solid indication of who will be big in the next coming musical year. Last year for example had the top 4 artists as Adele, Duffy, The Ting Tings and Glasvegas. Love them or hate them (if anyone hates Glasvegas, I hope you fall down a well) you can’t deny that all 4 of these acts have had a decent amount of success in 2008. And any excuse to see more of Duffy is fine by me.

So, who are the contenders for 2009? The longlist (to be condensed into a shortlist sometime soon) is as follows:

The Big Pink

Dan Black

VV Brown

Empire Of The Sun

Florence And The Machine

Frankmusik

Kid Cudi

La Roux

Lady Gaga

Little Boots

Master Shortie

Mumford & Sons

Passion Pit

The Temper Trap

White Lies 

Hands up if you have heard more than half of them? Anyone? If you have, kudos to you. I only knew of Dan Black, VV Brown, Florence And The Machine, Lady Gaga and White Lies. I hear that Mumford & Sons is the side project of Laura Marlings’ drummer, but haven’t actually heard them. Dan Black has had a favourable review already on Gobshout, and Florence And The Machine have been seen live by a fellow Gobber.

I am disappointed by the lack of Detroit Social Club in the list, but I can let that slide. The list actually seems half decent, but you wonder if any will have the success of a Duffy or the credibility of a Glasvegas. Here’s a brief look at each band and what they have to offer.

The Big Pink sound like Jilted Generation-era Prodigy, only with wistful vocals over the top. They sound like they can do a good chunky dance/rock song, but I’m not sure if the vocals add anything to it.

Dan Black. The video alone is enough to make me hate him. Fortunately, the song doesn’t redeem him either. But no doubt he will sell loads, and be adored by everyone until he appears on Never Mind The Buzzcocks and gets slated by Simon Astell. We can only hope.

VV Brown. That’s more like it. Giving old-school doo-wop a nu-school funky twist is very refreshing. One to look out for.

Empire Of The Sun aren’t bad either. Like a more laid back MGMT, but unique enough to not be a complete rip off. The video for Walking On A Dream is unintentionally hilarious. Or maybe intentionally…

Any band that plays live with scary clowns gets a thumbs up from me, but quite why Florence And The Machine have them is anyone’s guess. Her moments of Bjork turned indie stomper are rather good. Kiss With A Fist is bloody good, almost sounding like she’s singing in front of The Libertines. Dynamite.

Have Aha gone electro? Oh, wait, it’s Frankmusik. I can see how it could be likeable, but he doesn’t really do it for me. Maybe he should stick to remixing. He’ll probably be all over the radio though. There’s no justice in the world.

Kid Cudi, a protégé of Kanye West, is at the moment making waves in the US. It’s hard not to like his mix of urban dance, and his sound could well mark him out for a big UK following. At least it’s something new and fresh, rather than the same old clichés. Interesting.

It seems like this list is heading down the electropop route, which is where La Roux fits in. I’m not sold to be honest. She’s like a bad version of Prince. Hmm.

Lady GaGa is like Britney Spears, only with underwear and face paint on. This could easily be a song by her, or the Pussycat Dolls, which should let you know what I think of it. If you don’t know, I’ll tell you. Toilet.

This is what the future of pop should sound like. Little Boots have catchy beats, pianos, and an instrument called a tenorion. Intriguing, but she certainly seems to have the skills to back everything up. Classy.

Ah, the token grime entry, although it’s not really grime, it’s more like UK R ‘n’ B from Master Shortie, with hints of electro and indie thrown in for good measure. Too good to be lumped in with the grime scene, and different enough to not be standard pop, more tunes like Dead End should see his star in the ascendancy.

Yeah, thought so. Mumford & Sons stick to the folkpop that he learned from Marling. Decent enough, but hardly original in a list that seems to be moving musically away from the norm.

And just to confirm that, here’s Passion Pit. Rightly compared to a cross breed of MGMT and Hot Chip, here is music to just make you happy. Anyone who can listen to Sleepyhead and not smile does not have a soul.

Finally, what the world has been waiting for – Australia’s answer to U2. They’re actually not that bad. The soaring vocals fit nicely over the lively instruments on Sweet Disposition, but you get the feeling that they don’t really have another string to their bow.

Last but not least, it’s White Lies. Sounding very much like Editors, I don’t think there’s enough about them to creep out from their influencers shadow. There’s quite a lot of buzz around them though, so who knows what they could achieve.

So there you have it, the pretenders to the throne for 2009. The list does seem to be short on actual star power, on artists who can fit so naturally into the mainstream as last years few. But there is talent in there waiting to be found, so hopefully this article will at least give you a nudge in the right direction.

Link to the BBC Sound of 2009 page

Posted In Features, Dec 05 2008. Words - Paul