We've been talking up our hot tips for '09 for a minute now, but we decided it was high time we took action and threw together a proper list. Here are some bands you're going to give a fuck about over the next 12 months.
You can't stop Giantess, you can only hope to contain them. Say what you will about them being an electro boy band or "a less fit version of MGMT", but these dudes can fucking play. "Tuff 'n Stuff" is one of the biggest songs we've ever heard and we're over the moon to be officially dropping it on Neon Gold next month. Enjoy it now before it takes the world by storm.MP3: "Tuff 'n Stuff" - Giantess
We don't know much about these New Villager dudes, other than that they split their time between Brooklyn and San Francisco and are crafting some of the most refreshing beats we've heard this side of 2009. Their fresh to death debut single "Rich Doors" is out this month on Two Syllable Records and is one of the most exciting things to grace our hi-fi in a minute, bursting at the seams with anthemic energy and just the right amount of good-trip psychadelia.MP3: "Rich Doors" - New Villager
If one thing's for certain it's that 2009 is the year of the female pop star. Between Little Boots, Marina, Florence & The Machine and now La Roux, '09 is shaping up to be a legendary one for girl pop enthusiasts worldwide. We were all ready to peg La Roux as a future also-ran, but then "I'm Not Your Toy" off her sparsely-circulated sampler rolled up on 18" rims and let us know it had every intention of being one of the best pop songs we've ever heard. That future smash is being kept under wraps by the powers that be for the time being, but "Fascination" sounds like a 21st century electro touch up of "Sweet Child of Mine" and that's pretty damn okay by us.MP3: "Fascination" - La Roux
We wrote about Two Door Cinema Club's fresh faced brand of upbeat-as-fuck indie and their self-released EP a little ways back, but it's their amazing debut single proper "Something Good Can Work" that hasn't left our speakers since coming across our radar last November. We'd previously been asked to keep the lid on things, but this shit just can't be contained. Sure to go down as one of the finest debuts of 2009.MP3: "Something Good Can Work" - Two Door Cinema Club
Rounding out this first installment of our finest bets for the new year is Ellie Goulding, who's shaping up to be the darkhorse to outshine everyone else in the crowded race for female pop supremacy in '09. Not since Marina Diamond pirouetted out of our dreams and into our stereo have we been this excited about girls and pop music, and Ellie just might give our Neon Gold homegirl a run for her money in the months to come. If the Frankmusik-produced "Wish I Stayed" wasn't enough to get you all hot and bothered, then try "Guns + Horses" on for size and see if it doesn't rock your world a little bit. Then take a deep breath, hear us when we tell you we've heard some of the newer material coming out of the Ellie Goulding camp and that these tracks are barely the tip of the iceberg, and then start believing in Ellie as the new what's next.MP3: "Guns + Horses" - Ellie Goulding