What Happened To Our Ones To Watch 2010 ?

“No one cares about your 'best of 2010' list,” Josh Weller recently tweeted. He may be correct, but that won’t stop hundreds of the things appearing throughout December and Breaking More Waves isn’t going to be any different. We’ll be running down our top ten albums of 2010 from the middle of December – but before that, at the start of the month we’re looking forward and posting our annual 10 Ones to Watch for 2011.

Prior to looking forward, here’s a recap of our 2010 selections from last year.

Ellie Goulding

We said

“With her quivering girlish vocal, an acoustic guitar, neat lyrical phrasing and stuttering laptop electro beats, Goulding could deliver commercially.”

What happened?

Goulding delivered commercially. A number one album in the UK, two top five hits and two further songs that went top thirty, sold out tours - it’s been a highly successful year for Ellie Goulding.

Ellie Goulding - Guns And Horses (Monsieur Adi Remix) by monsieuradi

Hurts

We said

“….threaten to bring an ostentatious, stern, eastern European look back into fashion for bands.”

What happened?

It was Europe that really warmed to Hurts, with the band enjoying charts success in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Sweden and Finland and even an appearance on German X Factor. In the UK the band took a little longer to find their true audience, but by the time their album Happiness was released it achieved a very respectable chart placing of number four with mixed critical reaction (8/10 in the NME, 2/5 in the Guardian, 5/10 in Drowned In Sound, 3/5 in the Independent and most tellingly 9/10 by Popmatters), they also played one of our favourite gigs of the year way back in February at Wiltons Music Hall in London (here). By the end of the year they were playing sold out gigs, supporting the Scissor Sisters on their UK tour and next year are playing a tour of larger concert halls.

Beth Jeans Houghton

We said

“Quite where Beth Jeans Houghton will fit in 2010 we’re not exactly sure, but she has the voice and the songs to ensure that she can carve out her own space”

What happened?

Houghton toured with another of our Ones to Watch – Stornoway and played a string of UK festival dates. However she didn’t release any material. With her Ben Hillier (Blur, The Maccabees, Elbow) produced album now in the bag ready for release next year, Houghton can continue to carve her space in 2011.

Unicorn Kid

We said

“To the uneducated ears of an over twenty five year old or a solemn indie rock purist, the sounds of Unicorn Kid will just be considered bad music, but for his growing army of fans his electronic urgency is simply something that makes you happy.”

What happened?

In April Unicorn Kid released Dream Catcher a stunningly dirty, glitchy and energetic piece of work that became one of our favourite tracks of the year then followed it up in October with another track – Wild Life. An album is due in 2011 – it’s likely to make his growing army of hyperactive fans very happy indeed.

Unicorn Kid - Dreamcatcher - Last Japan Remix by Ministry of Sound

Delphic

We said

“It is for this reason we have selected them for our ones to watch list. Not because of musical uniqueness or commercial crossover, but because we can imagine Delphic creating a perfect indie dance summer vibe in fields across the UK.”

What happened?

Delphic didn’t achieve massive commercial success – their album charted at number 8 in the UK, but then quickly disappeared. However as we predicted their moment really came in the summer – their storming set at Bestival hit all the right spots (see our review here).

Counterpoint by delphic

Clare Maguire

We said

If a 2010 release from Clare Maguire arrives and it comes anywhere near the quality of those demos, we predict she could win a lot of fans.

What happened?

It took a while but finally in October Maguire released her thunderous debut single Ain’t Nobody, that found extra love through the heavily spacious Breakage Remix. Having played Latitude this summer and supported Hurts and Plan B on tour this autumn, Clare Maguire will release an album in 2011.

Clare Maguire - Ain’t Nobody by UniversalMusicPublishing

Stornoway

We said

“Suitcases full of the most perfect melodies.”

What happened?

When Stornoway appeared on our ones to watch list they were still unsigned. After significant label interest they inked a deal with 4AD allowing them to open their suitcase and share their wonderful songs, releasing their debut album Beachcomber’s Windowsill. The album surprised many (but not us) by sneaking into the UK top 20 album chart. They ended the year selling out the 2,000 capacity Shepherds Bush Empire in London, a far cry from when we first saw them perform to a small crowd at the Wychwood Festival in 2009. On a more personal note, Zorbing and I Saw You Blink are two of our favourite songs this year.

Mirrors

We said

"The dense ambient pulse-pop of the Mirrors reflects the sounds of early OMD"

What happened?

Having signed a deal with their hometown label of Skint, Mirrors released the singles Ways to an End and Hide and Seek and played a number of gigs including support slots with OMD themselves on their 2010 European tour. The band will release an album next year and in the meantime have packaged up their early singles into a mini album which is available to purchase directly from Skints website.

Mirrors 'Hide And Seek' by skintrecords

Holly Miranda

We said

“Her dreamily atmospheric guitar based songs are certainly not the kind of tunes that are going to infiltrate the pop charts, but provide for a smouldering and sleepy listening experience.”

What happened?

Miranda’s David Sitek produced album The Magician’s Private Library was seductively warm and as sleepy as a pillow and duvet set with titles such as Sweet Dreams, Every time I Go To Sleep and Sleep On Fire combined with even more shut eye lyrical content such as “Dreamt of you again last night,” from the slow burning trumpet laden Joints and “Wake up and you’re next to nothing,” from Slow Burn Treason.

Clock Opera

We said

"We love Clock Opera more than our own children."

What happened?

Clock Opera released a number of low key singles during the year including the transcendent Once and for All, toured with Marina & The Diamonds and hope to release an album in 2011. They remain one to watch.

clock opera - once and for all (little loud remix) by little loud

BBC Sound Of 2010

This year Breaking More Waves blog was invited by the BBC to vote on the BBC Sound Of 2010 list, which was published earlier this week. Considering that the blog in this format has only been seriously operating for just over a year, this was a pretty big honour, effectively the BBC recognising Breaking More Waves as having some degree of expertise in new music. Of course when it comes to views on music, opinions are always going to be subjective, but it's nice to see that someone appreciates your views. It seems that this year the BBC asked a greater number of music blogs to participate in the voting, recognising the ever increasing value of the format in identifying and promoting new music. Of the blogs that voted, I can recommend every one of them, do check them out. The full list of voters is here.

One of the misconceptions about the BBC Sound Of list is that the voters are asked to pick who they think will be ‘the next big thing’ in the future year. Articles such as this written by the editor of Drowned In Sound, who is on the voting panel, bolster the misconception. Yet instructions issued to those who are entitled to vote from the BBC are very clear. They ask voters to vote for three new acts who they consider to be the best and most exciting new act, irrespective of record deal or marketing campaign. One also cannot vote for X Factor type contestants, soap stars, friends or relatives.

In fact there are many misconceptions about the BBC Sound of List. One only has to read some of the comments placed on the BBC’s ‘Have Your Say’ section of their website here since the publication of this years list to see this. The number of negative comments are startling, ranging from the totally blinkered to the uninformed. However amongst them it is good to see the odd ray of positivity such as Andy from Romsey who says "I must say I am astonished at the level of hostility on this board. Well OK, I did expect it from the any-music-since-1980-is-awful brigade, but all the criticism of the BBC and the record industry for "telling us what to think" seems ridiculous to me. No one forces you to look at the list!I for one greatly enjoy these lists each year, picked by people who know the industry inside-out, and find that I am introduced to some great new artists that I hadn't previously heard of. Well done BBC." Well said Andy.

Ultimately the BBC Sound Of list intends to promote what music ‘tastemakers’ (and we use the word tastemakers reservedly as we are not so egotistical to think that this blog forms peoples tastes, but hopefully it does push them onwards to explore some of the bands we feature) consider to be the best new music out there, irrespective of if it is the next big thing or not. If it fulfils that ideal is somewhat arguable. As Sean Adams of Drowned in Sound correctly identifies in his article we linked above, the list is nearly always full of acts who have major label backing, despite the request to consider artists irrespective of record deal. However look carefully at this years list and there a few artists who have not got such backing in the bag.

Of course the irony is that the artists who come top of the list, when the short list is published in the new year, are then more likely to become the ‘next big thing’, even if they weren’t before the list is published. However is that such a bad thing if a collective of individuals, who are considered supposed experts in their field have voted for the artists they really believe are the best. Maybe this is a good thing for great new music ? Well, that’s the theory anyway, and given that in the current climate where unless you’ve appeared on X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent your chance of gaining mainstream exposure is very limited, any chance to get your music heard has to be of some value. Doesn’t it ? Well possibly. For a relatively small indie act such as Everything Everything, getting a nomination on the list probably provides more exposure than they have ever had, and will lead to further bookings for shows and festivals for example. Of course over exposure can also lead to dangerous levels of expectation and cynicism. We have written before here about the dangers of expectation that the BBC Sound Of list can possibly create. However throwing cynicism aside, we would rather hear the likes of Stornoway and Marina and The Diamonds, both on this years long list on the radio than Jedward or Susan Boyle thank you very much. The BBC Sound Of list may not be perfect, but ultimately it is a good way of showcasing new acts to the public.

So having been asked to cast three votes, how did Breaking More Waves cast them? Our difficulty was there was almost too much choice. We could easily pick any of the acts on our Ones To Watch list and several others beside who didn’t qualify for our own list (such as the aforementioned Marina and the Diamonds) or acts that weren’t named in our Ones To Watch but were considered (Run Toto Run and The Cordelier Club for example).

But here’s the problem. If we chose a new unsigned act that we particularly like, unless that act has a chance of being voted for by others, then the Breaking More Waves vote is effectively wasted. It’s rather like voting for a minority party in the general election. You may be sticking to your principles, but if you are the only person to vote for that person then those principles will not choose the winner. This is where exposure becomes important, again. For an artist to stand a chance of being placed onto the BBC Sound of List and gain more visibility, they already need to have had significant exposure to the 100+ so called music tastemakers.

So, to ensure our vote wasn’t wasted we first considered artists who we like who we believed had a chance of getting on the list. So artists who have been building profiles through the media, have record deals in place, have been gigging constantly to build an audience, have created a buzz in the blogosphere or have already had success in other countries are all likely contenders. Any of these methods of increasing profile could put the artist in with a shout.

From this list we then chose two of our favourite acts that we thought could possibly get on the list, but would need every vote they could get to help them on. Effectively these were the acts that we considered to be the ‘borderline’ acts in terms of possible vote numbers. Using the election analogy if a particular seat was likely to be a close run thing between two political parties we voted for the party that were running the second in the polls. It may just help tip the balance. For our third choice we decided to take a different approach and choose an act that we believe represented the blogosphere and particularly the new music blogosphere, with significant blog buzz pushing them forward. It was an easy choice, particularly as it was an act that we fully expected to be on the Sound of 2010 list. It was a case of backing a favourite that we loved and hopefully cementing what we fully expected anyway. Of the three acts we chose, one is signed to a major label, whilst the other two were as far as we were aware at the time of voting unsigned, but very close to getting deals.

And then the long list was revealed. Of our three choices, two had made it. The favourite was of course there, as to our delight was one of the other artists we had voted for. Of the fifteen acts that appear on the BBC Sound of 2010 list, four of them also feature on our own Ones To Watch List. So who did we vote for ? Ah we seem to have forgotten to mention that. Well, if you read our own Ones To Watch list, you should be able to hazard a pretty good guess ! Our choices were Ellie Goulding (the favourite), Stornoway (the dark horse who made it on) and Unicorn Kid (who didn't make it ).

Since the list has been announced Ellie Goulding has now gone on to be announced as the winner of this years Brits Critics Award as well, so expect to hear plenty of Ellie on the radio next year. Of course there's always the chance of backlash against artists such as Ellie Goulding as the UK's passion for cynicism creeps in, but as lovers of new music such cynicism is largely not part of our agenda. It takes only a few easy minutes to write some harsh negative words on the internet, but it takes artistic skill and months or years of hard work to get the exposure the artists on the BBC Sound Of 2010 list get. We celebrate this and look forward to seeing how the Sound Of 2010 develop as the year progresses. Certainly this years list is pretty diverse, and with no overarching style or obvious star leaping out unlike 2009 where Florence, La Roux, Little Boots and Lady Gaga dominated the nominations, it looks like it could be an interesting year for new music.

Ones To Watch 2010 - A Word Of Caution

A word of caution.

Over the last ten days we’ve published our ones to watch. If you've missed them have a look back over the last ten posts on the blog. Some of them we think are viable commercial propositions, others aren’t but we believe are worthy of your attention.

But here’s the caution. It is getting harder and harder for new artists. For a major record label in this digital age there is so much ambiguity around the return on investment on a new artist that companies are signing less and less new acts. With a few notable exceptions (Florence and the Machine, Lady Gaga) a safer bet is to exploit the market with existing records from established bands and performers. The grey pound is still being spent.

Today’s younger generation have a growing expectation to be able to access music for free, whereas those of an older generation are still purchasing physical copies of albums. The evidence? Barbara Steisand’s 63rd album went to number 1 this year, last year Neil Diamond topped the charts for the first time in decades, Shirley Bassey has found herself back in the UK album best sellers as did The Carpenters, Rod Stewart and the 92 year old Vera Lynn became the oldest living artist to top the UK charts.

Increasingly major record labels are playing it safe. Why spend thousands of pounds trying to establish an act when less can be spent on an established older act to earn more? Of course in the long term it is short sighted, because where are the big artists of tomorrow going to come from? Or will the record industry just keep recycling Beatles albums forever and a day?

This is the caution. Unless something fundamentally changes the record industry could die out in a generation. Maybe you don’t think that is important. If that’s the case then have a read of a previous blog we wrote here which explains why we believe record labels and the industry they come from still have a fundamental role to play.

The chances for any new artist to earn a living through their art are becoming slimmer and slimmer. Something has to change. The question is, how?

Clock Opera - Ones To Watch 2010 #10

Our final addition to our ones to watch list is Clock Opera. Currently unsigned, Clock Opera are one of the most inventive bands doing the rounds. Formed from the song writing nuance of one Guy Connelly they have already created the most wondrous and joyous Once And For All, an electronically spliced, arms wide open, laptop symphony that is one of Breaking More Waves most played songs of the last sixth months. It just screams out to be released as a single.

But Clock Opera’s self titled ‘chop pop’, which Guy describes as “Record something quickly. Guitar or piano or whatever‘s lying around. Don‘t stress about quality. Chop into tiny pieces. Reconstruct. Hit whatever is near. Wail nonsense. Write words. Re-write words. Trim. Mix. Play,” has more to offer than just one song. Debut single White Noise and another song Man Made demonstrate that quite clearly, although we need to be careful with the bands use of the word ’pop’. For Clock Opera are probably not the sort of band that are going to be storming the singles charts, they are too experimental for that. They do have the potential however to create inspiring sublime tunes that could provide long term satisfaction rather than a quick fix sensation.

Clock Opera are still very much in their infancy in terms of live performance, having only played a handful of gigs, although Connelly himself has a history, having been in the band The Fallout Trust who then became The Corrections. Connelly has also composed music for the Rambert Dance Company using strings samplers and bits of metal and also the Tangled Feet Theatre Company. Clock Opera have also been working with Graham Stewart who has worked with Radiohead on mixes of some of their songs .

They are our final one to watch for 2010.

Later today, after celebrating this bunch for the last ten days, we add a chilly note of caution to the air before revealing our ten favourite albums of the year.

Holly Miranda - Ones To Watch 2010 #9

Holly Miranda is a New York based singer and musician who has recently signed with XL Recordings, a label who continue to bring a diverse but high quality range of artists to the airwaves. Her debut self released EP Sleep On Fire attracted significant attention, being in places brooding, tense and beautiful although not necessarily perfect. It acted as a perfect teaser for the way forward. Her debut single proper, Forest Green Oh Forest Green was released in November, and Holly is due to release her debut album early in 2010. In the build up to the release of the album Holly has been supporting Breaking More Waves favourites The Antlers and The XX in the United States.

Miranda has been compared with Cat Power, Norah Jones and Feist. She was formerly in a band called The Jealous Girlfriends and for her solo work Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio has been involved with production duties. Her dreamily atmospheric guitar based songs are certainly not the kind of tunes that are going to infiltrate the pop charts, but provide for a smouldering and sleepy listening experience that could potentially provide long term satisfaction.

Mirrors - Ones To Watch 2010 #8

The dense ambient pulse-pop of the Mirrors reflects the sounds of early OMD, Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode, continuing the electronic revival that invaded the charts like knotweed in 2009.

However unlike many of this years synth gang, the garden that Mirrors have grown in is matted in darker, woven textures. This makes the Brighton four piece a less obviously commercial proposition but none the less an interesting one. The bands live shows are rapidly becoming a talking point, their measured performances featuring minimalist abstract video projections with the suited band displaying an air of haughty high-brow coolness behind keyboards and electronic drum kit.

Mirrors were formed by two previous members of the indie band Mumm-Ra, but their sound is very different from that previous incarnation. There have already been criticisms that the group are just blatant plagiarists, taking reference points that are all too obvious, but then the same could be said of White Lies this year, who the band remixed A Place Too Hide for. Such criticisms certainly didn’t affect White Lies commercial popularity.

Mirrors have been slowly growing their sombre electronic profile in 2009, having played sets at Latitude Festival, Loop Festival and The Great Escape reviewed here They have also released two singles, the self funded Look At Me and Into The Heart on Moshi Moshi and in November started their own club Un Autre Monde. Early next year they will be out playing some support slots with another one of our ones to watch Delphic.

Fear Of Drowning

MIRRORS | MySpace Video

Stornoway - Ones To Watch 2010 #7

Do you remember the first time you fell in love ? The giddying butterflies and excitement of that romantic high ? Today’s choice of a band to watch in 2010 produces that seem feeling. Stornoway bring an adoring nature loving ideal to your ears, that could easily make a number of people swoon and gush with warm affection, in much the same way that this year Mumford and Sons found people ooh-ing, ah-ing and generally salivating at their gorgeous songs.

Stornoway are a five piece pastoral folk pop band from Oxford. We’ve already written about them several times on this blog. The band have released two self funded singles in 2009, Zorbing (reviewed here) and Unfaithful (here) both of which are tender and absorbingly beautiful.

What we can say about Stornoway with absolute certainty is that these two singles are just the tip of the iceberg. Lead singer Brian may look like an intense rabbit in the headlights when he performs, but his band possess bulging suitcases full of the most perfect melodies. When he stops singing Brian possesses the educated intelligence to pull off some of the most bizarre but charming on stage banter. For example, at Wychwood Festival earlier this year he talked to the crowd about how beavers were returning to Scotland. We really can’t imagine your average rock band engaging in such knowledge.

2009 was topped off for Stornoway by being the first band in history to play the Christopher Wren designed Sheldonian Theatre in their home town, normally reserved for recitals of ‘serious’ music and an appearance on Later With Jools on BBC2. 2010 looks set to get even better and the band will be stepping out on tour again in February. At this moment they remain unsigned. Catch them if you can.

Clare Maguire - Ones To Watch 2010 #6

Way back in January 2009 we first posted an article about Clare Maguire, an artist that we had seriously considered putting on last years ones to watch list, but eventually decided it was just too early - Maguire having played a handful of shows and only just signed a record deal. You can read the article here . Instead we put Marina and the Diamonds on the 2009 list, which in retrospect was also a little bit early.

Since that article there has been absolute silence from Clare Maguire. Her Twitter has yet to twitter. Her Myspace has no songs on it to listen to. There is no You Tube footage to view. A Google search reveals very little at all about her that we didn’t know in January. To our knowledge she has played just the one show this year - a support slot in Glasgow back in January, but since then absolutely zilch.

There are however a few rumours. We’ve heard that she has been working with uber pop producer Richard X as well as ex-Longpig Crispin Hunt, but at this moment in time this is just idle gossip and certainly does not come with any certainty.

Then in October, two days before we were about to publish an article entitled Whatever Happened to Clare Maguire, Paul Lester from the Guardian jumped up and wrote a piece about her on the Guardian web site, which suggested that although her record label, management and PR company were keeping very tight lipped about her, 2010 would finally see a release from the reclusive lady.

So let us remind ourselves why we fell head over heels for Maguire in the first place. It took us just one listen to the demo’s that we heard at the start of the year to realise that Maguire has a simply staggering voice. It is huge and gutsy, full of powerful Celtic soul, blues and jazz influences that puts her right in line with big singers such as Amy Winehouse and Adele. Not bad for a former shop checkout worker from Birmingham. Throughout the year we have often returned to those demo’s and each time we listen the songs of Burn, Strangest Thing and Butcher Boy we are astonished at how punch in the stomach incredible they are.

If a 2010 release from Clare Maguire arrives and it comes anywhere near the quality of those demos, we predict she could win a lot of fans. She has to be one to watch.

Delphic - Ones To Watch 2010 #5

If this year has been the year when synths and electronics finally became fashionable and exciting again, then we see no reason why in 2010 things will change, although there is no doubt that the sounds and ideas will progress, possibly towards a darker edge. Whereas many of the acts who have been heading the electronic resurgence are solo artists, we think it is high time for some more bands to get behind their computers. Delphic are one such band.

Delphic are from Manchester. This comes as no surprise as their sound follows a logical progression from other Manc favourites such as New Order and Happy Mondays, in that their futuristic numbers conjure up images The Hacienda, Factory Records and illegal raves. It’s heavily dance based, but they are not just a faceless dance act. The term is of course indie dance. Although the hazy images of Manchester past may be evoked by Delphic this is a band who are also looking forward rather than simply trying to replicate their favourite influences. Oasis they are not.

Formed out of the remnants of another band named Snowfight In The City, Delphic have already released two singles, the Orbital-esque looping Counterpoint and This Momentary through Kitsune, a song which takes you on a euphoric journey of tribal drums and floating vocals to a state of blissed euphoria. Next up is Doubt released Jan 4th 2010. It sounds a little less New Order and more Friendly Fires in its jittery dance workout with a chorus owes a small debt to the Klaxons

Delphic create music that is full of both club bound hedonism and headphone introversion, which has the potential to deliver some big rave-tastic moments come summer festivals in 2010. It is for this reason we have selected them for our Ones To Watch list. Not because of musical uniqueness or commercial crossover, but because we can imagine Delphic creating a perfect indie dance summer vibe in fields across the UK, although probably not wearing silly festival hats.

Delphic - Doubt from welovemusique on Vimeo.

Unicorn Kid - Ones To Watch 2010 #4

Unicorn Kid is Oli Sabin. At eighteen years old he has only just reached the age where he can legally enter a club that might play his music, which is an insane blend of pumping pulsing eight bit chip tune that brings to the ears delirious fanfares last heard on your Nintendo DS. We first blogged about him in August here. His bleepy arpeggiation is the kind of music that should you be considering jumping off a cliff will either push you over the edge or make you turn round and run wild to the local youth club rave, frothing, babbling and incoherent - but with a massive smile on your face.

The Scottish wonder from Leith has been through a variety of musical phases and arrived at the dance party a couple of years back. He is now a genuine internet phenomenon with over one million hits on his Myspace page. His music sits, or should we say bounces in the fourteen to nineteen year old demographic, his gigs not fuelled by alcohol but sheer natural youthful adrenalin.

Unicorn Kid has talked about manoeuvring his casiomental sound to a more commercial place and there are even rumours of guest vocalists. Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters is known to be a fan. With an appearance at next years South by South West booked and an album tentatively scheduled for release next autumn, Unicorn Kid is riding on a starship.

To the uneducated ears of an over twenty five year old or a solemn indie rock purist, the sounds of Unicorn Kid will just be considered bad music, but for his growing army of fans his electronic urgency is simply something that makes you happy. Enjoy it whilst it lasts because Oli has already intimated that he doesn’t intend to be doing this for the rest of his life and when the fun is over wants to go to college to study his other passion of art.

We suspect that in 2010 lion hats are going to be one of the must have fashion items. Roar to the Unicorn Kid.

Beth Jeans Houghton - Ones To Watch 2010 #3

Beth Jeans Houghton is our next choice of one to watch for 2010 and probably the most likely successor to the princess of alt folk pop crown currently held in the UK by Laura Marling (who will release her second album in 2010) Mind you Houghton recently told the NME “I did an interview once where they asked me if I thought me and Laura Marling had anything in common. I said, ‘No, unless you want to hear about my vagina.’”

So let’s forget about even what sex Houghton is and talk about what makes her special.

Houghton very much has her own vision, musically and visually. She may only be 19 but she is making sounds that could have come from one hundred years ago. Delicate, echoing, folkish chamber pop, the stuff of flotation tanks and strange dreams. In September she released her Hot Toast Volume One EP and has been working with Ben Hillier ( Blur and Doves ) for her debut album. Houghton claims that she was “born in Transylvania to a pack of albino werewolves,” but alas the reality is somewhat more ordinary, having spent her formative years in a terraced house in a Newcastle suburb. However, the exaggerated claims of her birth are part of the humorous package that Houghton brings, with her afro wigs and unique style - she’s the only girl around that is playing folk in hot pants and mini dresses.

Quite where Beth Jeans Houghton will fit in 2010 we’re not exactly sure, but she has the voice and the songs to ensure that she can carve out her own space.

Hurts - Ones To Watch 2010 #2

Hurts are the first of two acts on our ones to watch list for 2010 that threaten to bring an ostentatious, stern, eastern European look back into fashion for bands. There was a time before brit pop and grunge when many a group that marched out of art school brought obscure literary references, intense synth darkness and an aloof composure to the stage that has been all but forgotten these days. Certainly visually Hurts are likely contenders to bring it back. They are also the only band on our list who are not afraid to drop a saxophone solo into the middle of one of their songs.

With such a tasteful visual aesthetic that includes perfectly formed haircuts and smart suits - we're thinking young Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet here - together with a Myspace blog that posts excerpts of Larry Cuba’s 1980’s film Calculated Movements with its animated computer programmed grey white geometric trajectories - what is surprising about Hurts is how accessible, radio friendly and commercial their music sounds. It's modern, (and by modern we mean modern production values with a hint of 1987/88 to it) lush synth pop that more than justifies its existence, whatever the bands image. Rumours abound of songs that hint at Violator era Depeche Mode, or Ultravox when they were good, but for the moment the bands label are keeping many of these songs very much locked away.

Hailing from Manchester Hurts are Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson. They have a past history with the two of them previously having been in the band Daggers. They are currently putting the finishing touches to their album in Sweden and are due to play a handful of special shows in February, including a church and a hidden crumbling old London theatre. We will be watching for them with interest in 2010 to see if the public push them chart bound. We suspect there is a chance. A pretty good chance.

Ellie Goulding - Ones To Watch 2010 #1

Ellie Goulding may not be the most surprising choice of our ones to watch for 2010 , but it is exactly for this reason that we are putting her first on the list. From when we originally featured her as an unsigned artist way back in February here she has followed what is now becoming the music industry norm for breaking a new act that wants a little more credibility than a mainstream pop artist. The artist signs up for a debut release on a tiny, hyped up ‘cool’ indie label such as Neon Gold, Moshi Moshi or Kitsune (and this is not a criticism of any of these labels as we are in most cases a fan of all three) usually sometime between September and November. The release is a quirky, less obvious limited edition single, generating significant blog and hip press buzz that translates into some radio play, a small fan base, possible TV appearance (in this case Later With Jools) and positioning on lists such as the BBC Sound Of List - and we'll see if she is on that list in a few days time. Then once the tastemakers have done their job, the artist is pushed out to the mainstream via a major label, the development of the act being seen as more organic, the drip feed slowly saturating the media. It happened this year with Little Boots and La Roux, and next year we suspect it may also occur with Marina and the Diamonds (not featured on this list as she was on last years - see our explanation of criteria blog yesterday and the video for Marina's new single Hollywood) and Ellie Goulding.

Ellie Goulding has followed this model to the letter and we have blogged previously here about being cautious with her and not over hyping, as this could lead to expectations which are not realistic. How many new developing bands or artists are there that swagger along fully formed, complete and absolutely perfect ? Very few, and this is the danger of the hype machine. It can chew up and spit out out fast.

With her quivering girlish vocal, an acoustic guitar, neat lyrical phrasing and stuttering laptop electro beats, Goulding could deliver commercially - but nagging away in the back of our brain is a thought that the songs we have heard probably don’t have enough variety to endear long term. Only time will tell if she is what the public wants.

For these reasons Ellie Goulding has to be one to watch. Will the cool pop indie / blog buzz model work for Ellie or will it be a case of hype over content and a commercial failure ? There is talent there - you only have to listen to the acoustic cover of Robyn's Be Mine she did recently with Erik Hassel to hear what a distinctive sweet voice she has. There's also the songs - Starry Eyed, The Writer and Guns and Horses are all favourites of ours - but is that enough? We will be watching with interest.

Ones To Watch 2010

Tomorrow we publish the first of our Ones To Watch for 2010. At the start of October we sat down and drafted an initial list of the music artists that we considered we might identify as likely candidates. In total we wrote down thirty seven names. Some of those thirty seven we have posted about before in detail, others in passing and some not at all. Over the next month we whittled the list down to the final ten that we are about to publish. It was harder than we thought. Right up to yesterday we were still altering the list, deleting blogs and writing new ones. We probably care too much about these things; but we want to get it right.

Let’s define what we mean by ‘get it right.’ We don’t mean that we want to produce a list of ten artists who we believe are all going to be commercially successful. Far from it. In fact this year there seem to be fewer bands out there with big crossover potential on our radar. The criteria for our Ones To Watch list is a list of new bands and artists that we believe possess the ability to do something that is worthy of attention. Hence the title Ones To Watch 2010. In some cases this may mean having commercial success, for others maybe a critically acclaimed album, some fantastic live shows or creating something a little unusual or ground breaking. It may even be that we are just fascinated with the media buzz about the band and want to see if the artist will rise to justify the hype or drift into a backwater. One thing is clear though, from what we have heard of these artists (and in several cases it is a very small number of songs) we like them all.

Although our list features ten artists, this is only because ten is a nice round number. It would have been easiest to publish sixteen Ones To Watch this year. However, some of the artists that we haven’t featured at Breaking More Waves yet, who didn’t quite make our list will almost certainly form the basis of future posts in 2010 and if you have been paying careful attention the last month or so has seen a number of posts about some of those who didn't quite make the list.

So besides the qualitative criteria for choosing artists for the list described above, there were certain other rules that we have applied.

1. The artist(s) must have not yet released an album or mini album. For example, The Drums 7 track EP we consider a mini album and so we discounted them from consideration. It also meant that a band like The Antlers who are to many in the UK a new band, couldn't be included.

2. Solo artists who have had commercial success as part of a band will not be counted. We loosely consider commercial success as a top 40 single or top 50 album. For example ex-Sugababes could not feature. Nor unfortunately could Rose Elinor Dougall as she was a member of The Pipettes who had a minor top 30 hit with single Pull Shapes and an album that charted in the Top 50.

3. Acts that we have featured in past Ones To Watch lists either on this blog or previous incarnations of this blog cannot count. So for example Marina And The Diamonds and Yes Giantess who we featured in last years list and whom are still bubbling under cannot be featured again, much as we would like to.

4. Soap stars or reality TV stars, including X Factor don't count. Sorry Jedward.

5. The artist must be relatively new to the public at large. There's no point predicting that U2's performance at Glastonbury will be one to watch.

So by following those rules and the criteria above, tomorrow we present the first of our ten Ones To Watch 2010. Enjoy and let us know what you think.

But before all of that here is the new single from an artist that would have been on our list, except for the fact she was on last years list here. Here is Marina and the Diamonds with the fabulous Hollywood. We're loving the lyric "Oh my god you look just like Shakira. No no, you're Catherine Zeta. Actually My Name's Marina." Funny. In a way sneaking the video for Hollywood in at the bottom of this post is a little bit like extending our ones to watch list to 11 and breaking our own rules, but hell, this is our blog, we can do what we want. Creating rules for a blog list and even explaining them is a bit absurd anyway, it's hardly as if this list is the BBC Sound Of 2010 list, even if we were involved in the voting process of that particular list. More of that later this month though. For now enjoy Marina and the Diamonds, a star who has been gradually rising all this year.