BBC Sound of 2009

I aten’t dead! And to prove it, here are some mini-reviews of the acts that form the long-list for the BBC Sound of 2009

  • The Big Pink: Glasvegas with synthesizers and drum machines. Which ought to be
    alright, but it leaves me a bit cold.
  • Dan Black: 80s electro-pop. There’s going to be a lot of this in 2009,
    apparently.
  • VV Brown: 50s pop. Entertaining and the single Crying Blood is decent, but will
    probably be pretty disposable.
  • Empire of the Sun: Very, very 1980s synthpop. Done well enough and not actually
    that objectionable to listen to, but you have to wonder why they bothered,
    given that the 80s already happened, and that.
  • Florence and the Machine: Wants to be Kate Bush. Probably isn’t, but hard to
    judge from the one song on the BBC’s website.
  • Frankmusik: Like Calvin Harris meets The Killers. Insanely, ridiculously
    catchy, self-conciously fashionable and has the kind of face that would look
    really, really great on the end of a fist. Guaranteed to be huge.
  • Kid Cudi: Hip-hop. I am ill-qualified to pass judgement on this genre, but it
    doesn’t sound like anything new.
  • La Roux: Prince, except with a girl on vocals. Hell, the single even sounds
    like When Doves Cry.
  • Mumford & Sons: Quick! Someone find me another band that sound exactly like
    Noah and the Whale! It seems the public are suckers for half-assed novelty
    folk!
  • Passion Pit: An annoying version of Bent, if they’d been listening to Battles.
  • Master Shortie: British hip-hop. Actually, fairly interesting. Likeable in the
    same sort of way Dizzee Rascal is.
  • Lady GaGa: A “hip New York party princess” who went to the same school as Paris
    Hilton. That’s all you need to know.
  • White Lies: File under Interpol or Editors. Particularly Editors. Catchy.
    Remains to be seen if they’ve got more than a single in them. Worrying
    propensity for swirly synths. If their album sounds like the single, I’d buy
    it.
  • The Temper Trap: Early U2. Uber-delayed guitars, 3-3-2 rhythms, lots of
    tom-rolls on the drums, picked bass. Far from terrible, but not exactly
    revolutionary.

So there you go: Next year’s hottest music, comprehensively dismissed as being a bit “meh” by a man who is rapidly approaching 30 and wants the world to know it.

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