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The best new acts to watch out for in 2012
Time Out's team of music critics select ten acts set for big things in 2012
Where to see 2012's best new acts
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Other Lives
Wed Apr 4, Village Underground
Read all our 2012 preview features
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2011 is so last year! Browse the below lists to look forward to the cultural, culinary, musical and cinematic treats that London's going to serve up over the next 12 months
Most viewed 2012 gigs
- Lovebox Weekender
- Madonna
- Field Day
- Radio 1's Hackney Weekend
- Wireless
- Coldplay
- Florence And The Machine + The Horrors + Spector
- TIME OUT LIVE LONDON SESSIONS: The Static Jacks + Folks + Coastal Cities
- Hard Rock Calling
- Alanis Morissette
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1
Spoek Mathambo
He’s no newbie (his terrific ‘Mshini Wam’ debut LP was released in 2010), but the Johannesburg MC and producer (né Ntatho Mokgata) is set to go galactic in 2012 with the March 12 release of his first album for Sub Pop, ‘Father Creeper’. His style is a darkly thrilling Afro-futuristic blend of ghetto tech, hip hop, electro, dancehall, dubstep and updated kwaito. The new record sees Spoek adding maskandi – a bluesy Zulu guitar style he describes as ‘curious, roaring rock ‘n’ roll’ – to this already compelling mix.
Listen to Spoek Mathambo on Spotify -
2
Friends
No, nothing to do with the wisecracking Central Perk crew. Friends are a quintet from Brooklyn who could be described as ‘the new Warpaint’ due to their echo-drenched, alluringly melancholic alt.pop, as per winning single ‘I’m His Girl’ and the upcoming (in February) ‘Friend Crush’. Forlorn female vocals are key, but a cool, Buffalo Girl-style beat and funky cowbell make their sound more killer than comedown.
Listen to Friends on Spotify -
3
Young Fathers
They made a few waves when they surfaced around three years ago, then seemed to sink without a trace; but this Afro-Scottish trio have been working hard on their debut album, ‘The Guide’, set for release on February 6. They got together at under-18 rap nights in Edinburgh and have since developed their own personal take on electro boogie/hip hop, which favours dark, monstrously distorted bass, eight-bit noise, reggae, euphoric art pop and surprisingly soulful vocals along with the tuff rhymes, suggesting a mix of TV On The Radio, Roots Manuva and Spank Rock.
Listen to Young Fathers on Spotify -
4
Laura J Martin
Liverpool’s Laura J Martin plays the flute. But – wait! – she plays it in a totally non-Jethro Tull way, with a beat-conscious thrust that betrays her interest in hip hop, as does a guest spot from Canadian backpack rapper Buck 65 on ‘Kissbye Goodnight>’. Martin also plays mandolin and xylophone, and uses a pedal to loop and layer as she goes, while her voice suggests a girlier Kate Bush. Martin’s sweet but slightly eerie, pastoral psych-folk has been bigged up by the likes of Rob Da Bank and her debut album, ‘The Hangman Tree’ is out on January 23.
Listen to Laura J Martin on Spotify -
5
Other Lives
An HQ in the Oklahoman dust bowl. Long hair. Check shirts. Beards (violinist Jenny Hsu aside). On paper, this quintet ticks all the right Americana/ alt.folk-country boxes – and is led by the brilliantly named Jesse Tabish – but there’s much more to their widescreen, alluringly lonesome orchestrations: an appreciation of rebetiko, Morricone’s soundtracks and Steve Reich’s minimalism, for starters. Their lustrous and romantic ‘Tamer Animals’ was one of 2011’s album highlights, but OL won’t stay under the radar much longer, with 2012 UK festival dates already confirmed and US support dates to Radiohead in February and March in their diary.
Listen to Other Lives on Spotify -
6
Howler
Whether or not the ‘new Strokes’ hype is justified remains to be seen, but young Minneapolis five piece Howler – signed to Rough Trade here – certainly look set to do the alt.rock business when their debut album, ‘America’ surfaces in January. A UK support tour to The Vaccines did them no harm at the close of 2011 and their sound – a fuzzed-up, garage-pop blend of The Jesus And Mary Chain and Minnesotan homeboys Hüsker Dü – is one that will chime with everyone hip to the Vaccines’ trip.
Listen to Howler on Spotify -
7
Frank Ocean
A member of the controversial Odd Future hip hop collective, this 23-year-old (who’s written for Justin Bieber, among others) has the lion’s share of the talent, if the properly soulful and poignantly personal R&B of ‘Nostalgia, Ultra’ – his free online mixtape – is anything to go by. Set to make far bigger waves this year is Ocean’s solo debut for Atlantic, which boasts a production team including Malay and Pharrell Williams – and, it’s rumoured, Odd Future’s Tyler The Creator and Left Brain. Pharrell has been moved to say of Ocean, ‘He’s super-talented; to me he’s like the black James Taylor.’
Listen to Frank Ocean on Spotify -
8
Jakwob
It’s pointless to bitch about the fact that dubstep is ‘selling out’. In 2012, underground producers will continue to push it into ever deeper and stranger wormholes, while others develop hybrids that stretch the definition and broaden its commercial appeal. Among these is 22-year-old Lincoln-based producer Jakwob, whose name reflects the monstrous, half-step ‘wobble’ he employs, but who has also remixed the likes of Jessie J, Ellie Goulding and Dan Le Sac. The anthemic vocal-house single, ‘Electrify’ is due out in February, with his debut album (on Mercury) set to drop later in the year.
Listen to Jakwob on Spotify -
9
Bleeding Knees Club
If you’re going to really push us for a ‘new’ tag, we’ll settle for ‘the new Black Lips’. This Aussie trio make a similar rough-arsed, fizzily energetic and raucous garage-punk racket – which ensured that their UK debut single, the aptly titled ‘Have Fun’ received props from numerous radio and press tastemakers. Good-time Ramones-y songs about getting high, getting girls and going awol are BKC’s thing, as their debut album ‘Nothing to Do’ (set for release in March and produced by Dev Hynes) will attest.
Listen to Bleeding Knees Club on Spotify -
10
Toy
This retro-groovy outfit with a fondness for long hair and polo necks played their very first gig only last year, at London’s Cave Club – run by The Horrors, who took the quintet under their supportive wing early on. Toy’s driving, synth-heavy mix of psychedelia, post-punk, blisspop and krautrock is given extra impact by high-cheekboned, eyeliner-wearing singer-guitarist Tom Dougall, a pin-up in waiting. Their debut single was the epic Valentines/Sonic Youth-like ‘Left Myself Behind’ on Heavenly. Expect to hear an awful lot more of Toy in 2012.
Comments
An upcoming band for 2012 is five girls called My Heroine. Check them out at Islington O2 Academy on 26 january. Will fill that large void in the all female rock band genre!
All completely rubbish. Get a grip, there is SO much great new stuff out there!
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