Ten Acts to Watch in 2010

Florence Welch, Lady Gaga, La Roux and Little Boots were the "new" headline figures in music in 2009. These feisty females certainly kicked up a storm in terms of sales figures, gossip column inches and controversy, but the story behind those headlines was much more complex.

If music in 2009 was about anything, it was about everything. Music-making was mongrel and promiscuous, genres swapping notes with each other or inter-breeding and experimenting with startling results. This year ended with a Kings of Leon song on 'The X Factor,' Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O up for a Golden Globe for 'Where the Wild Things Are,' and an 18-year-old Rage Against the Machine single as the UK Christmas No. 1.

The new year takes up where the last one left off. As the following 10 tips make clear, 2010 will, musically, be a case of anything goes.


Why We Love Them: Apparently, the 'J' is silent, so it's just pronounced rather boringly as "Wooden Ships," but the music this San Franciscan four piece makes is anything but. Wooden Shjips have been around for two years or so, releasing limited but cultishly acclaimed 10-inch and 7-inch EPs, the latest being the Sub Pop single 'Loose Lips.' Their frenetic live shows which bring out their Spacemen 3 crossed with Velvet Underground sound, has won them many fans already. Not least Pavement, who have invited the psychedelic/garage band to play with them in the UK next year.

Listen: 'We Ask You to Ride'




2. The Drums

Why We Love Them: From Florida and New York, the Drums' are building up to releasing an already anticipated debut album in the spring, covering all bases from Joy Divsion to the Beach Boys. That may sound a bit passé in a world where we already have MGMT, Passion Pit, et al. The Drums, led by Jonathan Pierce, somehow breathe fresh air into their faultless sunny indie songs about love and heartbreak. Really, the Drums will catch you out with their brash but unassuming confidence when you hear them.

Listen: 'Let's Go Surfing'



3. Ellie Goulding

Why We Love Her: A lot is going to have to go wrong for 22-year-old Herefordshire lass Ellie to not make it big in 2010. Already chosen as the winner of the 2010 Critics' Choice Brit award, and now working with Katy Perry starmaker Starsmith, Goulding is poised to take on the female electro popstar baton with the February release of her debut, aptly named 'Starry Eyed.' Like the feisty-voiced stars of 2009, she also channels Kate Bush with her vocals.

Listen: 'Under the Sheets'



4. Vivian Girls

Why We Love Them: 2010 may be here, but the Brooklyn scene ain't over quite yet. Welcome the Vivian Girls, already kicking up a live storm across the US and Europe with their over-the-top punky, shoegazey music. The trio have been hyped since a series of 7-inch singles, and now the recent release of their independently released second album, 'Everything Goes Wrong,' has managed to capture their punk greatness just as viscerally as it comes across live. Album tracks 'Can't Get Over You' and 'Out for the Sun' would be a great intro to these geeky-looking girls' sound.

Listen: 'Tell the World'



5. Tim Ten Yen

Why We Love Them: Try and imagine a one-man 'Divine Comedy.' That's roughly one way that Tim Ten Yen can be described. The South Londoner's storytelling has heaps of imagination, and builds simple yet catchy melodic structures around his narrative. The beguiling, always nattily dressed Tim Ten Yen has already been called a "cult figure of the future" by the likes of Steve Lamacq, and we dare you to listen to his debut 'Everything Beautiful Reminds Me of You' without smiling and dancing to the easy-styled and unique pop.

Listen: 'Sea Anenome'



6. Deer Tick

Why We Love Them: This Rhode Island quartet summon the grizzly, broad sounds of the Replacements and Green on Red, even though they are all only in their twenties. Deer Tick have already been quietly finding their way onto Americana albums-of-the-year lists in 2009. However, 'Born on a Flag Day,' their second album proper, is bound to win a much larger audience. Simply listen to the tracks written by John Joseph McCauley III (yes, he says his name in full, at all times), such as album opener 'Easy' and duet 'Friday 13th.' This is country-folk, but not like you've heard it before.

Listen: 'Easy'



7. Race Horses

Why We Love Them: Recording their Gorkys-esque music holed up in a cave-like studio in the Welsh mountains until they perfected every sound on their tracks, Race Horses have so far released a couple of singles on Fantastic Plastic to great interest. The band, lanky Welsh youngsters who cite Roy Orbison and Elvis as ironic influences, use their junkshop instrument finds and bilingual skills to great effect. Latest EP 'Man in My Mind' is sure to be the start of great career.

Listen: 'Cake'



8. Everything Everything

Why We Love Them: The future of Manchester's indie pop scene is bright, it would seem. Everything Everything, four school friends who seem to know exactly how to construct weird pop songs, are a tonic to the past years dominated by fellow Northerners Arctic Monkeys and Oasis. 'MY KZ, UR BF,' their most recent single, will definitely get them heard outside of their hometown. With a debut album expected in the spring, the band, brimming with attitude, are the next big thing after bands like Wild Beasts and the Futureheads.

Listen: 'MY KZ, UR BF'



9. Bleech

Why We Love Them: Remember all those angsty-grunge, pout-fuelled groups of the '90s? Seeing as we haven't had a guitar-driven, chorus-laden band do great things since the era of Elastica, we give you Bleech. Sisters Jennifer and Katharine O'Neill are still unsigned, but surely not for long, and new songs like 'Are You Listening' and 'Is It True Boys Don't Cry' recall Sonic Youth at their very beginning.

Listen: 'Dancing With You'



10. Four Dead in Ohio

Why We Love Them: No, not from Ohio but from the UK, these new Fierce Panda signings make music that's, well, far out. Debut single 'Jesus Won't Dance in My High Heels' and follow-up 'Taste Like the Good Love' show off frontman Jakob Ohlen's intense vocal delivery over his bandmates' outstandingly fuzzed-up guitars. The four Londoners have already earned rave reviews for their shows, where, like obvious influences Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, they play as shadows on the stage, only adding to the mystery of the deep noise they create.

Listen: 'Jesus Won't Dance in My High Heels'