Consists of singer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt, and the producing team of Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, AKA Bloodshy & Avant, who have produced for Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and won a Grammy on Britney Spear's "Toxic". The debut album, "Miike Snow", is blowing up with a fresh sound and strong musical arrangements. The most complete and best album I've heard since Hot Chip's "Made in The Dark".
Essential Track: "Animal"
While some may be keen to these two already, they're still reasonably fresha nd had to be on the list. Discovery result of Vampire Weekend keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles. Bumping synths, auto-tune, and erratic drum machines make this by far one of the best and most original sounds of '09.
Essential Track: ALL...but if I had to choose one: "So Insane"
I wrote about these guys last week. Boston group breaking out with a true power synth pop sound sounding like Saved by The Bell meets DFA. Awesome.
Essential Track: Tuff n' Stuff
First Hip Hop act on the list. Rob Roy is a Florida native by way of L.A. Last year he was flipping frozen food at Trader Joe's. Now he's got Pharell on speed dial. Broke out with his sick video for "Fur in My Cap" and is only going to get bigger. Chunky yet minimal beats and a conversational drawl is his appeal, as well as the lighthearted and comedic themes of his rhymes.
Essential Track: "Fur in My Cap"
Remixer blowing UP. Has reworked the likes of Passion Pit, Lady Gaga, Little Boots and Digitalism. His remixes are all completely original sounding and with extremely tight production. Look for some work of his own being produced in the future, he's going to be major.
Essential Track: Sleepy Head (StarSmith Remix feat. Ellie Goulding)
Duke senior, and white boy extraordinaire Mike Posner defies pigeon holing. This kid is crazy. A rapper/R&B crooner with beautiful production skills and sound. This exceprt from his myspace bio says it all:
"In January 2009, Posner holed up in his dorm room and wrote, produced and recorded every track on his debut mixtape, A Matter of Time. The mixtape hit the Web in March, sparking a months-long label bidding war, where J Records emerged the victor. Even with all his musical accomplishments, Mike hasn’t abandoned his studies just yet, as evidenced by his hustle during finals week this semester. “Thursday and Friday I performed in Detroit. Saturday I performed at the University of Dayton. I had three finals on Tuesday, a show at Duke Wednesday, did a song with Wale and 9th Wonder Thursday, and Friday I had a meeting with Jay-Z.”
Essential Track: "Cooler Than Me"
Besides the disturbing name, these guys are the shit. Hailing from Brooklyn (what hot musical act isn't these days?) jumped onto the scene in a big way earlier this year. Post-punk electro rock. Shit is tight.
Essential Track: "Dressed to Digress" and "L'homme"
Now this band has an awesome name. Fucking Bear Hands. Awesome on several levels. Anyways, another Brooklyn outfit with a stripped down, bare bones Hifi sound. MGMT meets Flaming Lips and you have Bear Hands.
Essential Track: "High Society"
I've been singing this girls praises for about 2 years now, and with the drop of her fist full length LP "Ultraviolet", maybe she'll finally blow up to the expectations I had last year. The younger sister of one of the members of hard body DJ outfit "Flosstradamus", Kid is on A-Traks Fool's Gold record label, which nurtured and boosted the careers of Kid Cudi and the Cool Kids, and hopefully 2010 will be her year.
Essential (if old) Track: "Pro Nails"
First heard of this kid a few months back with his remix of Kid Cudi's "That New New" and was blown away by his technical proficiency in his remixes. Completely changes the sound from the original song, in my opinion the ultimate goal in a remix, and now has down re-works for acts like Amanda Blank, The Sounds, Schwayze, and Cut Copy among others. 2010's gonna be big for this Virginia (?) native.
Essential Track: Kid Cudi "Dat New New" (Viking Remix)
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