BBC Sound of 2010

The BBC ‘Sound of 2010’ long list is up and we can now all breathe easy knowing who and what will be big in the coming year. The list is 15 acts long and is a good indicator of the coming year in music (or at least the first six months). Looking at it and comparing to my own (which is essentially why I did my own in the first place), then 6 out of my 10 made the long list. A ratio of 60%, which is acceptable.

The Long List (in alpabetical order)

• Daisy Dares You
• Delphic [got it]
  
• Devlin
• The Drums [got it]
• Everything Everything
• Giggs
• Gold Panda
• Ellie Goulding [got it]
• Hurts
• Joy Orbison [got it]
• Marina and the Diamonds [got it]
• Owl City
• Rox
• Stornoway [got it]
• Two Door Cinema Club
  

The list is pretty much the usual mix of landfill- indie rockers (The Drums and Two Door Cinema Club), token rapper (Giggs), post-punkers á la Joy Division (Delphic), new folkers (Stornoway), synth poppers (Hurts and Ellie Goulding), etc.. This time though, they have thrown in a few leftfield electronic acts who probably won’t be huge commercial successes, but will probably strike a chord critically (Gold Panda and Joy Orbison). Still, to be honest, some of the acts featured are kinda… well, shit. Three in particular are really shit.

First off, there is Owl City. Owl City is a guy called Adam Young, and, to be honest, I thought of putting him on my list so fair play. But it is not really much of a bet as he already has an album out and a #1 single in the states. Really a non- prediction like Lady Gaga last year… And, oh yeah, his music is shit. Sorry, but it is. According to BBC Mr Young was " inspired by the boredom of his home town and the twinkling laptop-made beats and soft, innocent vocals evoke faraway fantasies and innocent daydreams". In reality it is just a subpar poor man's version of the Postal Service. Owl City manages to get that ethereal feel to the music, which the Postal Service nailed, but instead of making it sound loving it just sounds cheap. Worse are the lyrics… middle- school ‘tween’-ish navel gazing nonsense.

Owl City - Fireflies [embedding disabled so you will have to click the link... or better yet don't...]

Second, there is Giggs, who is just plain bad. Case in point Slow Songs. How many times can you rhyme down with down? You are a rapper, mix it up a bit. While you are at it, try mixing up your rhyme scheme a bit as well. Surprise me... and then there is the delivery... so incredibly slow. Mike Skinner’s verse steals the song, which is no surprise. It is a simple matter of talent.

Giggs - Slow Songs (feat. The Streets)


Finally, there is Daisy Dares You. Daisy dares me to do what? Throw up in my mouth? Because that is what I did when I heard her for the first time (oh snap!). At least Owl City decided to be a subpar poor man's version of something good, but a subpar poor man’s version of Avril Lavigne? They say hate is a strong, but it seems just about right here.

Daisy Dares You - Daisy Dares You [creative, right? ed.]


On the positive side, the addition of Hurts and Everything Everything is great. I considered them too, but did not think they had enough going for them. Pleased to see that they made the list though.

Noticable absentees? Well, I was dead sure that by forgetting Wolf Gang and Fenech-Soler I had missed out on two sure- fire additions. Guess I was wrong. These are probably the two most obvious ones, though I'm hearing shouts for Frankie and the Heartstrings.

Fenech-Soler - Lies [Just to have some good music too ed.]


Wolf Gang - The King And All Of His Men [and some more of that good stuff ed.]



Wolf Gang | MySpace Music Videos

All in all though, I think it's a good list and judging by the results of previous years it will no doubt turn out to have predicted correctly. Congratulations are therefore in order to the lucky fifteen... and there are after all some genuinely interesting artists on the list. I'm looking at you Ellie Goulding, Everything Everything, Marina and the Diamonds, Joy Orbison, and Gold Panda.