Paper Crows
This trendy but odd-looking duo from Brighton may be the protegées of Preston from The Ordinary Boys/Big Brother but they have a fairly good chance of escaping the uncoolness of that association, as they’re also working with Future Cut, one of the UK’s best hitmaking teams. Their biggest success was Lily Allen’s first album but they’ve also led artists ranging from Professor Green to Olly Murs into the charts. They’ve signed Paper Crows as their new pet project, which means they’re certain to be getting a lot of attention when they eventually receive their proper launch. For now their music isn’t exciting me very much. It sounds quite like Bat For Lashes, who I’m a fan of, but a really boring version. Lead singer Emma does have an interesting voice but their structureless songs are almost unlistenably introverted. They even have a dubstep influence on some of their songs, just to make extra sure I don’t tarnish their coolness by giving them a good review. Nonetheless I will be keeping an eye on them simply to see whether or not Future Cut actually know what they’re doing with this one.
Poptasticness: 27% Hit potential: 42%
Bastille
It feels like a very long time ago when I used to count a number of indie artists among my favourites, but I reckon with pop nearing the end of its reign we should see some more promising indie-pop come forward over the next year, as people start to hanker for pop music which isn’t so heavily produced. I’m feeling that way myself at the moment as the charts are filled with music (the Black Eyed Peas and David Guetta’s hits for example) which only sounds like pop to someone who has no idea that a strong melody is a necessity for a song to truly be a pop song. British indie-electro-pop act Bastille certainly know how to write a pop song. Catchy choruses, interesting vocals and fun backing music all work together to make some very appealing tracks, Flaws being my recommendation for your first listen. It’s not as promising as a brilliant new proper pop act, but a really good indie-pop act is so in need at the moment I’m actually rather excited about this discovery. I think Bastille could be very successful if things fall into place as they should.
Poptasticness: 88% Hit potential: 82%
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