IT'S THE FUTURE, IT'S THE FUTURE: BBC Sound of 2009 'Longlist' Poll

eh ive heard like 3 of these and i guess i like passion pit most

MASTER SHORTIE - "spans the roles of grime MC, cool club kid and teen-friendly pop singer"

this one sounds like the worst by far

Go to the full article and you'll see that I missed a bit off the end of that sentence. A fairly big bit.

Went Temper Trap, reminded me of Paris Angels a bit. Thumbs also up-ish for Big Pink, Frankmusik and Little Boots. I really like the Kid Cudi track apart from his actual rapping. Not many of these seem to be brilliant in the way of songwriting, though - all of them have bits where they start flagging, usually after about 90 seconds.

F&TM sounds almost exactly like some other song I know, but I can't remember what...

The London-born, Paris-based singer caused a buzz with his radical reworking of US rapper Notorious BIG's song Hypnotize, featuring snippets of Rihanna's Umbrella.

this sounds groundbreaking

MASTER SHORTIE sounds like the brit version of the crop of next big thing rappers in terms of faux-genre spanning

crop of next big thing rappers IN THE US**

Either the BBC isn't looking as hard anymore, or I was more proactive this year. I've heard all of these minus two (Temper Trap, Big Pink). Usually these lists are all brand new to me.

I'm listening to it on his myspace...I'm not sure whether i like it or not. It's not a mashup, he's singing the lyrics. it's a good use of the sample though.

also, someone please define "credible pop"

the big pink are cool - sound kinda like kasabian but not shitty

sound kinda like kasabian but not shitty

These words could destroy the universe.

http://www.kkbox.com.tw/funky/album/71714.jpg

The Temper Trap....a few years ago they had the raw materials but put on a show like a poor Killers soundalike. The quality of the album surprised the hell out of me.

The London-born, Paris-based singer caused a buzz with his radical reworking of US rapper Notorious BIG's song Hypnotize, featuring snippets of Rihanna's Umbrella.

i heard this a while ago and it is maybe the worst piece of shit i've ever heard in my life. i mean that was obvious but it's even worse than you think.

hahaha

Little Boots is Kate Bush playing PacMan but nowhere near as brilliant as that sounds.

VV Brown - what Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings have been doing for the last decade except with a funny haircut.

Florence & the Machine - keel them.

"blissed-out space beats" DIE NOW

"Accompanied by a harp and scary clowns on stage"

Saints preserve us *crosses, clutches rosary and mutters distractedly*

I don't think I've heard anyone on this list. Like, at all.

Considering usually these lists are full of Winehouse clones/identikit haircut indie this qualifies as progress of sorts I suppose, and I quite like the idea of most of them. I'm sure when it comes down to the execution most of them will sound like MGMT or Ladyhawke though.

VV brown is the only one I've heard and she's awful.

Reading the bio I see that Empire of the Sun is a Sleepy Jackson spin off. They look terrible in the pic but if they can produce anything as good as 'Good Dancers' then it may be worth investigating.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45216000/jpg/_45216895_empire_poster.jpg

Clearly being a "maverick" is the in thing these days.

Empire of the Sun look dreadful but if they sound like Vangelis or Jan Hammer I will forgive them. I suspect they sound like the Flaming Lips though.

DAN BLACK - "uses samples and beats as his backdrop instead of guitars"

^^^this is the lead singer of The Servant who were a kind of "NEW ROCK REVOLUTION"/indie Goth crossover act who went multiple wood in the UK but were bizarrely popular in central Europe, who seemed to treat them as the Libertines/Rasmus hybrid act the world was waiting for.

Oh hang on they've been Photoshopped into those costumes right? That's alright then.

"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"
"cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles"

And Marcello is dead on here: VV Brown has the worst fucking haircut music has seen since the heyday of Maximo Park.

empire of the sun are literally mgmt

"Tipped as the next star of British hip-hop, the fluorescent Master Shortie spans the roles of grime MC, cool club kid and teen-friendly pop singer, with a dash of indie influence thrown in."

"We guarantee there'll be something you like, honest!"

Only one I've heard is VV Brown, definitely not my sort of thing at all. Northampton lass though - Dom I bet you're so proud. Avoid her barber though mate.

passantino - if you were locked in a room w/ the music of one of these, which are you choosing?

little boots right?

Which is the wussiest?

She's not from "proper" Northampton, she's from out in the posher village areas who ensure we always return a Tory MP at elections: Great Billing, Ecton Brooke, Sywell, Earls Barton. Somewhere around there.

xxp

passantino - if you were locked in a room w/ the music of one of these, which are you choosing?

little boots right?

― Bomb Sackantino (J0rdan S.), Friday, 5 December 2008 12:11 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Choosing for listening or for blapping?

ya i thought you'd get confused -- listening

"Like a British Kylie or a harder, shinier St Etienne"

Does this phrase actually mean anything to anyone under 40?

I previously called Florence and the Machine "the worst band currently going".

Mumford and Sons at the moment, but that kind faux-bluegrass folk indie shit is growing really old at the moment. Really surprised that Kitty, Daisy and Whoeverthefuck made it to an album.

xp

w/regard to Kid Cudi though, really stoked for the "HIPSTER-HOP: Alexis Petridis has an interesting take on it" article in the Guardian/GQ/Saga Magazine.

why of all the hipster rap dudes is kid cudi getting the attention? kanye?

why of all the hipster rap dudes is kid cudi getting the attention? kanye?

― Bomb Sackantino (J0rdan S.), Friday, 5 December 2008 12:19 (3 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

More like "first one to hire a UK PR agency"

What is Frankmusik like? Could be awesome, could be Mika covering Rick Astley.

Jacques Lu Cont should be a good sign but then I remembered he hasn't produced anything good in about two years.

Frankmusic is like Alphabeat for hipsters

He's rubbish

i knew Little Boots would be on dis ting

Haha it looks like Little Boots and my sister have a load of mutual friends which is not even remotely surprising.

DAN BLACK - "uses samples and beats as his backdrop instead of guitars"

Just imagine!

Out of all of these, White Lies are the ones who are having proper money thrown at them right? They are a bit like Editors.

A friend of mine turned up to a DJ gig armed with only a copy of the Big Pink record. I ddon't think they let him play.

I am going to waste my Friday night by listening to all of these.

kid cudi - oh it's THIS! the crookers rmx is banging. the original is bollocks.

all of these people are patting themselves on the back for their "cleverness" far too fucking hard

Empire of the Sun don't have anything to do with the Balearic revival do they?

Jeez not everything is Balearic guys.

vv brown seems to think she has to pull a face into a different "wacky" contortion for every syllable she sings which is hella annoying. VV CLOWN MORE LIKE. actually the chorus isn't so bad but the production is so rudimentary that i'm never going to actively want to listen to it.

the empires of the sun blurb promised me "blissed-out space beats"

THEY DID NOT COME THRU.

Skip the rest and go straight to Master Shortie. I want to see your reaction.

gaahh frankmusik is the new calvin harris, i lasted 20 seconds into that, horrible horrible horrible, STEP AWAY TINCHY

master shortie - unable to listen beyond the line "she had skinny jeans on, her little indie pumps" (ie the opening line) as i have to go and VOMIT

the others are just indie bands right? not wasting my time on that. need to cleanse ears w/some jazmine sullivan (who, incidentally, should be fucking at the TOP of this list)

No wait you have to get as far as the 'I know you like electro' bit.

i have to say, it's 6 AM here and i've been up writing a paper that is due in three hours, and i very much appreciate lex reviewing the songs of indie bands that we all know he is going to have violent reactions against. it is comforting and entertaining, and i thank u

u_u

i only bothered with the ones i thought weren't indie bands!

when is this "quirky" phase of pop culture going to end? it really needs to be soon.

when is this "quirky" phase of pop culture going to end? it really needs to be soon.

^i think this is otm actually - to expand it outward, i think this type of thing really started to take off amongst young people around time of the US office becoming increasingly popular here. of course, we inherited the 'quirky' humor and characters from the uk. in short, it is your guys' fault

and WHEN, WHEN, WHEN are magazines going to STOP doing shitty articles of "oh, let's get a bunch of female artists with nothing in common except their gender and throw them all together in a WOMEN IN MUSIC ISSUE (never mind the other 11 months of the year when its the same old same old blokes with guitars - or synths, as fashion dictates) to have an excuse to have BIG PRETTY PICTURES of them dressed up like FASHION MODELS which take up twice as much space as any actual writing about the music"

One of them is showing her knickers too

when has pop not been "quirky"?

i think lex is talking about a transparent/contrived quirkiness. the difference b/w, say, hot chip and boy george. im sure contrived quirkiness has always existed in pop, but it does seem a little suffocating nowadays. (btw i think this applies to all culture - see the explosion of the office amongst young ppl, or ppl on ilx expressing love for anything wrapped in bacon and fried etc etc)

contrived quirkiness in pop is a huge reason why we've had many discussion on ilm about what's wrong w/ the newly anointed next stars of rap (in the US at least), guys like charles hamilton and asher roth and mickey factz etc

Lex is only talking about quirkiness in artists he doesn't like dude, contrived or otherwise doesn't come into it. Boy George's image was infinitely more contrived than Hot Chip's is from where I'm standing.

But I can totally see why indie artists are doing this after years of Strokes/Libertines knockoffs. And at least this way round when it isn't good it will be unintentionally funny.

can't say i'm a huge fan of boy george either - and yeah i'm talking about self-conscious "wackiness" which pats itself on the back for surface quirkiness (like pulling contorted faces, or dressing in clashing bright colours) - it's too arch and mannered to be fun, and it's way boring too.

it's really obvious that some of the female acts on this list idolise kate bush, and they've noted very well how mental she is, and then to make their own music this is ALL they've learnt from her.

Like Tori Amos!

this thread only 16th result for 'BBC Sound Of 2009' so far

on Google

yeah but the thing is that's not what tori amos was about at all

xps

see many ilx posts passim by tim finney and myself

No thanks!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Man, I forgot to vote in this. Or rather, I couldn't find any artist worth shooting my wad over.

Yeah, what Lex was saying about contrived quirkiness is very OTM. That really bothers me. Actually quirky people don't need to shout about how quirky they are, they can't help be any other way. I'd say there was something very ... stage school about it. Except, well, if they had actually gone to stage school, they might be better actors and do a more convincing bonkers.

It's like the musical equivalent of Organised Fun - too regimented to actually be fun.

There is gonna be crazy-mad bitching about Flossie's Marvellous Medicine on here in the next year, isn't there? Can'thardlywait.

Have realised the song the La Roux is reminding me of most is "Stay Loose".

Well, Flossie does have the "coveted opening slot" on the next NME tour...

No way is there a band called Flossie's Marvellous Medicine. Delete music now.

Boy George is an interesting example. Does quirkiness = imprisoning rent boys? If so, very few pop stars make the grade!

"Florence and the Machine has been announced as the winner of the Critics' Choice award at the Brits 2009. The 22-year-old will be the second recipient of the award, voted for by a journalists and broadcasters from across the music industry. Florence, full name Florence Welch, is followed by electro-synth act Little Boots, real name Victoria Hesketh, and London indie-pop band White Lies in second and third place respectively."

No way is there a band called Flossie's Marvellous Medicine. Delete music now.

It is an affectionate nick-naming device due to me being twee.

Poor old Bat the Lashes, anticipating the bandwagon two years too early!

BFL sounds nothing like FATM tho right?

Flounce Against The Machine?

Little Boots won this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/entertainment/2009/sound_of_2009/default.stm

actually quite like the new FAT M

BfL comparison making more sense to me now

sort of like this too but vocals are a bit shit - would've preferred them to be more juan macleany (m/f duet style)

Did Master Shortie just get quietly dropped when the industry realised that Tinchy Stryder had already got there with his rubbish new direction?

recent Master Shortie single 'Dead End' is crap. still not heard a note of Dan Black whew.

dan black's cover of HYPNTZ has its charms. his other stuff isnt very good though

what charms would those be wtfffff how is that song remotely acceptable in any way????

Weirdly at the time I was like "ah well, at least there's only one generic haircut indie band in there and everyone else is at least trying to be interesting".

With several months hindsight White Lies are actually one of the least objectionable things in here due to just, well... being there. Being annoyed by White Lies would be a bit like being annoyed by a brick wall.

dan black's cover of HYPNTZ has its charms

Yeah we have to kill you now sorry dude

White Lies leans towards the well acceptable for me due to the singer reminding me of Julian Cope.

heyo Florence try making something like Maximum Joy's 'Silent Street' maybe