This Must Be Pop brings you Future Pop! (Issue #15)

 

 

Until this week, Swiss Lips were probably the best unsigned band in the UK, and now they're one of the best signed bands! The Mancunian electro-indie-pop group announced their four album deal with Epic a few days ago. I've been listening to their three songs U Got The Power, Danz and Grow a lot recently. They remind me of bands such as Under the Influence of Giants and Protocol, who both deserved much more success than they had in the mid-'00s. Hopefully this time around music fans will be more interested in this sound, but whatever happens as long as we get an album and a London gig I'll be happy.

 

Mali (Warner Bros)

 

 

If you recognise the name Mali-Michael McCalla, it's probably from his appearance on X Factor 2008 when he reached the judges' houses stage at age 15. Sadly he's not quite as cute as he was back then, but his incredibly mature, deep singing voice is still a surprise to hear from him. His career has taken a much cooler path in the past few years as he featured on the Chase & Status hit, Let You Go. He's been signed as a solo artist to Warner for about a year and no music has been released or even posted online so far, but with Mali's talent, background and natural coolness I'm hoping they're just waiting for the exact right song to make him a huge star.

 

Clock Opera (Island)

 

 

I really liked Belongings, Clock Opera’s first single released early last year, but I'd totally forgotten about them until they started being talked about again this month among the onslaught of ‘big in 2012’ bands. Their music is quite melancholy so they’re constantly treading the line between beautiful and boring. However, I think they will do very well with serious people, and maybe even some fun people will listen to them on more serious days. I predict their debut album will be critically acclaimed, they'll perform on Jools Holland and be nominated for the Mercury Prize, and if this happens it could easily translate into commercial success.

Future Hits

This week my playlist is kind of back to front, as these are the songs that I think are going to sorely disappoint the artists and labels releasing them in the next few months aka Future Flops!

Click here to watch

Tracklisting:

Thanks for reading – I'll be back next Monday with more Future Pop! In the meantime don't forget to email and tweet me with your thoughts on the songs and artists above, and any suggestions for next week. Plus it would be great if you could spread the word about Future Pop to anyone you think might enjoy it and encourage them to subscribe for more.