2009: “Ones To Watch”

Forget the NME, BBC Sound of 2009, The Observer etc etc, this is the essential 4or The Record list of our tips for artists and bands most likely to make a BIG impact on our willing eardrums in 2009.  BUT ours is a top 20, because 10 just ain’t enough…… Remember we told you!

PART UNO… The First 10……

The Virgins

www.myspace.com/thevirginsnyc

New York modeling quartet The Virgins, consisting of Erik Ratensperger, Donald Cumming, Wade Oates and Nick Zarin-Ackerman have an impressive art-based history. Opening for Patti Smith on their third show during Paris Fashion Week, they’re hot-to-trot, and are the latest ‘it’ band in Manhattan. You have to wonder why is it, in the lord’s name that Patti Smith was at the fashion showcase.

Their single ‘Rich Girls’ has been voted number 68 on Rolling Stone’s top 100 songs of 2008, taken from their 2007 EP and firmly rooted as pop single on their 2008 album. The song compounds their funk based indie-pop, and acts as a pre-cursor for the brilliant but not entirely original One Week of Danger.

They are yet another guitar driven band, they’ve been described as ‘sexy’ and ‘very likely to dump you for another girl by Friday’ by Entertainment Weekly (you can take what you want from those lovely tidbits), but they may just wooo you, because they put on a good show. A very fashionable good show we might add, even though some call them unpretentious. How could this be so, they’re apparently the house band for TV’s Gossip Girl. Cumming, although it has been said a million times before, is, however, a charismatic son-of-a-bitch. Go and see them, for your self.

Words: Alice White

Florence and The Machine

www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic

Florence and the Machine is the name on everybody’s lips. Heck, she’s even won a BRIT award already. There’s just no way 2009 isn’t going to be massive for her.
 
Florence first sprung to a sub-stardom level last year with the radio-friendly number ‘A Kiss with a Fist’ – if I had a pound for every time I’d heard it in a club or on Radio One I’d be using it to buy a ticket to see Florence on her forthcoming NME Tour – and subsequent material has only improved upon that most sturdy of starting blocks. Recent release ‘Dog Days Are Over’ is an excellent piece of music, showing an aptitude for more complex structure and the ability to deliver that package with style and downright sexiness, whilst ‘Between Two Lungs’ represents her at her most instantly accessible. This is beginning to sound like a proposal isn’t it? I’m digressing.
 
Back to the music and it’s testament to both her quality and further potential that Florence has been given a place shoulder-to-shoulder with the more established Friendly Fires and Glasvegas on the aforementioned NME extravaganza and I don’t expect her to show her relative inexperience – live she cuts a confident and charismatic figure, a ball of pop energy determined to get you dancing alongside her all year along. I’m on board.

Words: Benjamin Coley

Esser

www.myspace.com/esserhq

London's Esser is amongst some fine company on current label Transgressive Records. The Shins, Iron And Wine, Foals, The Young Knives are just four of his label mates, and numerous bands have left to go on to bigger and better things, Subways, Regina Spektor, Mystery Jets for example. So he clearly must have something about him. He's also soon touring with The Kaiser Chiefs after impressing their drummer and no matter what you might think of them, it's definitely a massive slot.

The name might sound familiar, debut single 'Headlock' was something along the lines of a success last year, the chorus hook is so catchy it was never going to be anything less, and it's the kind of crossover track that would be as welcome in the dingiest indie club as it would be in the cheesiest of nightclubs.

There's more than a hint of The Specials in his sound, but he's no one trick pony, mixing real instruments with drum machines and synths and a whole load of effects. The former Ladyfuzz drummer's next single, 'Work It Out', should be massive, a slow burner of cool techno back beats with an effect heavy, multi-layered vocal line that fits perfectly in the finely crafted three minutes or so. It's the sort of song where your head starts nodding along without you even knowing. If the rest of the songs on his album, 'Braveface', due for release in May, are half as good as Work It Out then he is onto a certain winner.

Words: Jack Philips

Cheeky Cheeky and The Nosebleeds

www.myspace.com/cheekynosebleeds

2009 just has to be a big year for Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds, right? Any band with the melodies and harmonies of this 5-piece deserves their place amongst the music elite, make no mistake, and Cheeky Cheeky are already well on their way. The hard work put into their fascinating live shows in 2008 has secured them a slot alongside LA's Iglu & Hartley on the NME Awards tour, one that will see them play London, Glasgow and Manchester on three consecutive days in February, all in preparation for further releases in the summer and, I hope, that long awaited album.
 
I first began to take notice of Cheeky, well, because of their shirts and specs, but then I heard their debut single ‘Slow Kids’. Wow. What a record. How did the county of Suffolk produce such outstanding alt-pop music? Simply delivered yet melodically distinguished, catchy and effective - this is instant sing-along stuff, the type whose words run around your head well after the bell tells you playtime is over. Playtime is the name of the game for Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds, and in 2009 I expect we’ll all be joining in the fun. Catch them while you can before you’re watching them in one county and the queue starts in the next.

 Words: Benjamin Coley

Ariel Pink

www.myspace.com/arielpink

29 year old Ariel Rosenberg (aka Ariel Pink) has been around for quite some time. He’s yet another act to tour with Animal Collective this year signed to their Paw Tracks record label, and we’re sure his lo-fi fuzz fest will be quickly and deeply engrained in your walkman, if it isn’t already. Rosenberg may be one of many fucked-up broken-home kids (or so they’ve been pitched) to be touring the world, along with the boys from Black Lips. But his ethereal and genuinely disconnected pop seems to strike a chord with the misfit inside and conveys the sophistication and poignancy that may also come in the human form of Bradford Cox.

Rosenberg has released a Haunted Graffiti series, which is a collection of 10 albums that create avant-garde soundscapes from beatbox and recording on cassettes and CD-Rs. His 1999 release, 'The Doldrums', presents a stark contrast to 'House Arrest', his newest recording, as, due to unfortunate circumstances, he now depends on self-medication. Ariel also refuses to involve himself with hip or scene communities, and prefers to dwell in obsession with music history and its’ social refugees.

His music would be difficult to play with other people, though, as it is so intricately layered and is indicative of a project that demands constant technical tinkering. Ariel Pink is one of those modest acts that exists purely because Rosenberg made it in his bedroom, and not because of shallow inspirations or dreams of achievement. He probably won’t be disastrously huge but he’s someone you should definitely tune into as he personifies the rare, honest and eccentric individual in today’s music biz.

Words: Alice White

Golden Silvers

www.myspace.com/thegoldensilvers

Current purveyors of the indie-pop ones to watch chalice for 2009 are North London trio Golden Silvers with their glorious Beach Boys esque 3 part harmony love songs, prevalent synths and retro charity shop garb.

Favoured by the Hoxton set thanks to the monthly installments of their popular Bronze Club nights, they came to tastemakers attentions last summer after charming the Eavis’ and ultimately winning the Glastonbury unsigned competition in 2008.  Fast forward to Glastonbury itself when the band played a staggering 4 times during the festival and were picked up by Radio 1’s Rob Da Bank and Huw Stephens who proceeded to lavish praise on them for the remainder of the year.

First single release ‘Arrows of Eros’ came out on Young & Lost in the summer and had regular appearances all over the airwaves, with it’s foundations of shimmering synths and raw pulsating basslines exciting enough to win fans amongst the pop and indie fraternities respectively.

Dazed and Confused declared Golden Silvers as making the kind of music that makes you feel better when you have got a hangover, but despite the sickly undertones of that statement their heady mix of all pops old greats (think Prince, Sly Stone and er… Squeeze?) with the poetic values of Dylan and their own lyrical imagery is the individuality that all bands crave, and yeah it could possibly make you feel better!

Amongst the syrup, darker moments exist whilst they maintain the theme of big tunes with big choruses on tracks like ‘Fade to Black’ and the brain stomping ‘Train for Brain’, all the while proving that guitars aren’t essential in music today and that pop music is nothing to be ashamed of. 

Golden Silvers WILL be huge this year, just how huge is yet to be seen.

Words: Francesca Strange

Passion Pit

www.myspace.com/passionpitjams

Hmm, so Passion Pit have probably been blogged about by everyone under the sun, but there are no two ways about it, this band are absolutely fabulous and deserve nothing less than to be absolutely huge this year; particularly in the wake of their superb debut 6-track EP ‘Chunk of Change’ originally put out on small independent label French Kiss and their subsequent signing to Columbia over here.

I honestly think this bunch of young gentleman from Cambridge, Massachusetts (think Boston) are going to "be this years MGMT/Vampire Weekend/some other band who blew up in a ridiculous fashion in 2008".

Passion Pit come across like something original which has been created out the sum of various influences and great big dollops of ingenuity. You can hear elements of acts such as The Postal Service, MGMT and other such lauded, successful and influential acts thrown into the mix. However, don't take this as a slight that they are mere copycats riding into 2009 on coattails. No no. Having been discussing the lack of a MASSIVE breakthrough trend, really, since The Strokes blew up and everyone decided they'd to make us listen to garage rock for far too long, could Passion Pit be the ones to break dreamy synth-pop to the world? Feasibly.

As soon as the swirly synth melody in ‘Sleepyhead’ you'll be hooked, if you're not... I swear you have no soul, love of melody or sense.

‘Chunk of Change’ is the perfect soundtrack for optimism; a fabulously ethereal, dreamy, melodious and wonderful record, so buy it asap, I can not urge you strongly enough!

Words: James Hoste

Emmy The Great

www.myspace.com/emmythegreat

Hailing from the same London neo-folk scene which in the past few years has produced acts like Jeremy Warmsley and Laura Marling, Hong Kong born Emmy the Great hides youthful melancholy behind acoustic charm and pretty little melodies that lull you into a false serenity.

Her new album, 'First Love', is due out February 9th, and promises more of the wistful beauty of previous releases 'Secret Circus' and 'My Bad' – records that have garnered Emmy a loyal cult following since her arrival in early 2006, augmented by internet leaked demos and live tracks.

Collaborations with artists like Lightspeed Champion, on whose 'Falling Off The Lavender Bridge' she provided backing vocals, have also raised her profile.

The first single from the album, 'We Almost Had A Baby' (released November 10 2008), blends cutesy music with harrowing lyrics telling the story of a child that almost was. You could almost find yourself swaying peacefully along to allusions of sexual abuse, which comes as something of a shock when the words are given closer attention.

Emmy’s music is intelligent and provocative as well as catchy, earning her critical acclaim for both recordings and live shows such as supporting slots with Martha Wainwright and appearances at the Glastonbury and Green Man festivals, amongst others.

A UK tour is planned to coincide with the release of the 'First Love', kicking off on January 31, with her regular backing band including Euan Hinshelwood of Younghusband and Tom Rogerson of Three Trapped Tigers along for the ride. She is also expected on the Camden Crawl tour in April.

Words: Andrew Fowler

Filthy Dukes

www.myspace.com/filthydukes

Filthy Dukes are the latest band to become masters of blurring the genre lines, in an age of pigeon holing groups and artists, the artists that will have a great year in 2009 will be the ones that you can’t pigeon hole to one specific genre and Filthy Dukes certainly have that accolade.

They comprise of Olly Dixon and Tim Lawton, who make up two thirds of the band. They started off as a couple of friends DJing and now they have a band. And there sound is amalgamation of so much they fail to get pigeon holed and that probably suits them. 

In recent years they have had very successful night at Fabric in London called Kill em all and have had some the world’s best DJ’s playing alongside them including Justice, Bloc Party and Erol Alkan to name a few.

They sound like the bastard child of all their past club nights, hip hop woven into dirty, fuzzy bass lines a la Justice and seeded with 80s synth pop hooks.

In February they will release their first album called 'Nonsense In The Dark' details are sketchy at best at for the moment, but the band have said that their will some collaborations with friends that have featured on the Kill em all night at Fabric, maybe a Justice collaboration who know what this space!

Their album, like most personal art forms is a result of their influences, ranging from Tangerine Dream to Hot Chip, Can to SMD, Roxy Music to Soulwax, Hip Hop to Krautrock.

One thing is for sure these guy know their music, especially their old synths they recently bought a mixing desk that was used by Konrad Plank who is probably the most important German producer ever, and his creativity as a sound engineering helped to forge some of the most creative works form the Krautrock 70's scene.
 
Plank is most reputed for being the producer of Kraftwerk's early records, helping to configure their innovative and revolutionary sound.

With help from one of the Jedi’s of Electronic music Filthy Dukes look like to they will enjoy even more success and hopefully a whole new live show should cement them as permanent fixture of electronic music.

Words: Andrew Rafter

White Lies

www.myspace.com/whitelies

One look at White Lies’ MySpace page will tell you a lot about this band. One: They may be fresh faced and youthfully exuberant but they have a dark, sinister secondary side. Two: It seems quite a lot of people think they’re rather good and three: They’re playing a gig just about every day for the next three months. Yes, they have all the ingredients and every last ounce of the attached hype, of that there is no doubt.
 
With astuteness for epic indie-rock coupled with a penchant for disturbing subject matter, the London-based trio have a lot of bases covered – they will appeal to those wishing to latch onto a melody, to fans of good old fashioned stadium filling rock and to students of words and innuendo. It says much for the band that their influences are not easy to pin down with one spin of their record; early-80’s pop choruses crop up here and there, interspersed with echoes of more recent alt-indie song-masters Interpol and Editors, but White Lies, well, they just sound like White Lies. It’s like they’ve got some great ideas, some massive plan, but they want to let them out piece-by-piece and earn their place amongst the headline acts instead of rushing up there and planting their flag hastily.
 
The release of highly-anticipated debut album ‘To Lose My Life’ might just have them running up to the top of the hill sooner then they would wish. Buy it.

Words: Benjamin Coley

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