Eight mercifully un-hyped new and returning acts we're rather excited about
1. Anna Calvi
The mark of, if not a great, then at least an interesting artist is that when they emerge blinking into the public eye, they have a sound that's already, unmistakably, their own. Londoner Anna Calvi manages to establish her sound within three songs of her self-titled debut (out 17 Jan). Hers is a a baroque style that whirls theatrically; her influences range from Maria Callas to Edith Piaf to Jeff Buckley and you can hear Ennio Morricone and PJ Harvey in there too (she shares a producer in Rob Ellis). She may have been longlisted for the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll, but she's miles away from Ellie Goulding. There are moments here that could soundtrack a bloody moment in a Coen brothers thriller or the first waltz at Nick Cave's wedding.
2. The Streets
When Mike Skinner was dumped by the fictional Simone on 2003's Dry Your Eyes, at least she did it to his face. On Computers And Blues (out 7 Feb), a relationship is ended by the changing of a Facebook status. The world, acknowledges Mike, has moved on, and now it's time for The Streets to bow out gracefully on this final LP. Cs&Bs sounds like a valedictory notice, incorporating echoes of Mike's previous albums, from the garage BPMs of Original Pirate Material to the funky guitar lines of the underrated Everything Is Borrowed. And his lyrical smarts remain undimmed: "You're too down/ I'm one across the room", he riffs, crossword style, at one point. We'll miss him.
3. Cults
The problem with the internet, beside putting bookshops out of business, is that it's ripped the sheath of mystery from pop music's skin. So well done to San Diego-born duo Cults ? Ryan Oblivion and Madeline Follin ? who managed to retain an air of mystery in 2010 as the 60s-summer-pop-with-a-dark-heart of Go Outside (featuring samples of genocidal cult leader Jim Jones) began to course through the web like poisoned Kool Aid. We'll find out all about them soon, no doubt. Not only have they signed to a major, they've revealed a telling biographical tidbit: Follin's mother was Dee Dee Ramone's art dealer.
4. Toro Y Moi
2010 was the year that chillwave's founding father Ariel Pink made the leap from bedroom-bound cult secret to inspired pop dreamer gurning at the edge of the mainstream. Could Toro Y Moi follow him into the sunshine in 2011? Toro is the recording project of South Carolina's Chazwick Bundick, who made ripples with last year's Causers Of This, and should make an even bigger splash with its follow-up, Underneath The Pine (out 21 Feb). More song-driven than its predecessor, it offers a dreamy, fairy-dust blend of 80s MOR pop, 60s psychedelia and blunted, downbeat hip-hop invention. Chillwave has come of age.
5. Odd Future
Odd Future ? or, if you want their full title, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All ? are a 10-strong crew of LA skate rats out to give hip-hop a bad name. A string of mixtapes and albums by the likes of Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis and Tyler The Creator (available for free download at oddfuture.com) have set out their stall: a hallucinogenic cocktail of brattish bad vibes and blacker-than-black humour: think Eminem meets Clipse. It's unpalatable to some, but indie giant XL hosted their recent UK debut show, so eyes are on them, and rightly so.
6. Cornershop
Ben Ayres and Tjinder Singh's duo may not have been prolific since their 1997 breakout hit Brimful Of Asha, but Handcream For A Generation (2002) and Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast (2009) firmed up their credentials as one of Britain's more consistently smart indie bands. Their new album, Cornershop & The Double 'O' Groove Of (out 7 Mar) sees Tjinder dish out most the vocal duties to Bubbley Kaur, the Indian singer he overheard performing in his local launderette before asking her to guest on the band's brilliant 2004 single Topknot. An album of Punjabi folk began to gestate after that and if the free taster track, United Provinces Of India, is anything to go by, the final product will be worth it.
7. Creep
Young Turks, the label that unleashed the xx on the world, is not only putting Creep's spooky witch house calling card Days out as a single (25 Jan), it's also lent them the south Londoners' Romy to provide vocals. (Like the xx, Creep also have a track called Intro; there's something going on.) Witch house might be the silliest name for a genre ever (except for the joke one once listed on Creep's Myspace page, rapegaze), but Creep's spooky, horror-movie minimalism thoroughly deserves the moniker. It makes previous witches like Zola Jesus and Salem sound positively chirpy. Not quite Glee chirpy, but still ... We also quite like that one of the best songs on their MySpace page is called Empty Chruch and it might not even be a spelling mistake. That's how cool they are.
8. Jam City
There's been a lot of great music crammed into the fissure between dubstep, house, UK funky and synthetic R&B recently, and some of the best of it has been made by Jack Latham, AKA Jam City. Like Burial and Joy Orbison before him, Latham finds poignancy in the neon haze of south London subways that drew him to the city from suburban Redhill. Yet Jack's tunes are thicker, bouncier: spry, kwaito-esque rhythms festooned with layers of luxe sci-fi synth. He's currently prepping an album of his self-proclaimed "violent but emotional club trax" for release some time in 2011, before heading off on tour with the rest of the Night Slugs posse, who include fellow ones-to-watch Girl Unit, Kingdom and Jacques Greene.
Christina Milian Kelly Brook Robin Tunney Kate Groombridge Dania Ramirez
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