Blog Sound Of 2012

Every year the BBC makes up a list of what it thinks is “the definitive annual list of exciting new artists to watch out for” – as the list has been created by a number of industry “tastemakers”. They’ve been doing this for years, and I’ve been commenting at various points along the route.

This year, however, 32 of the finest music blogs around have come together to pick our favourites for the coming year. We’ve been wading through neck deep in the hype, and each picked five highlights for the next year, and these were then aggregated into the list you see below. Big shout out to all the Walrus friends and lovers involved – namely Breaking More Waves, God Is In the TV, Sweeping The Nation, The Von Pip Musical Express, The Recommender, Faded Glamour, Drunken Werewolf, Flying With Anna, Not Many Experts, Underclassed Idle Ideas, Sonic Masala, Mudkiss, The Pop Cop, The Ring Master, Both Bars On, Music From A Green Window, Dots And Dashes, The Daily Growl, And Everyone’s A DJ, Kowolskiy, Just Music That I Like, Cruel Rhythm, The Blue Walrus, Music Fans Mic, Seventeen Seconds, Eaten By Monsters, Seven Sevens, Unpeeled, New Rave Brain Wave,Peenko, Music Liberation and Song By Toad.

And which gems did we collectively pick as our Sound of 2012 longlist?

Houdini Dax – Psychdelic indie with a good few nods to the better parts of Brit-Pop
Houdini Dax – O.L.L. by See Monkey Do Monkey

Lianne La Havas – Soft and soulful acoustic beauty with a little tinge of jazz
Lianne La Havas – Gone (Live in LA) by Lianne La Havas

Theme Park – Tropical and danceable indie pop with a nod to the 80s [coverage]
Milk by Theme Park

French Wives – Uplifting and heart-warming indie from Glasgow
Numbers by French Wives

The Good Natured – Female fronted trio of electropop [coverage]
Video Voyeur by The Good Natured

Alt J – Groove filled, quirky, and slightly obscure but very catchy sounds from Leeds [coverage]
Breezeblocks (demo) by alt-j

The Jezabels – Soaring indie rock from Australia
Mace Spray by thejezabelsband

Lucy Rose – Sweet, subtle, and joyous acoustic beauty
Lucy Rose – Middle Of The Bed by Lucy Rose

Bastille – Soaring electropop that should get anyone to the dancefloor [coverage]
FLAWS by BASTILLE

Friends – Rhythm focused pop with an almost-carnival/ R’n'B sounds.
Friends – My Boo by LuckyNumberMusic

Meursault – Folktronica with songs built of beauty and noise [coverage]
Meursault – Flittin’ (Demo) by Song, by Toad

Daughter – Soft, slow, spacious and often haunting folk [coverage]
Daughter – Love (taken from ‘The Wild Youth EP’) by ohDaughter

Beth Jeans Houghton – All kinds of oddities rolled into an alt-folk package [coverage]
Beth Jeans Houghton – Dodecahedron by ronnierocket

Outfit – Wild Beats-esque exquisitely crafted indie.
Every Night I Dress Up As You by OUTFIT

Rachel Sermanni – Communion-supported Folk songstress with one of the best voices I’ve heard all year.
The Fog by Rachel Sermanni

This, ladies and gentleman, is a list and definitely worth a listen alongside the BBC’s own version.
Special thanks to Andy Von Pip for putting it together.

Who have we missed? Let us know in the comments.

UPDATE 02/01/2012: The winners have been announced…