Music

Crystal Antlers
Long Beach, California, is home to these five awesomely intense, psychrocking freaks, who are signed to Touch & Go and favour such cosmic titles as ‘Parting Song for the Torn Sky’ and ‘Until the Sun Dies Part 2’. Comets On Fire, mind your backs.

Rainbow Arabia
Thrillingly tribal and booty-shaking, pan-global shenanigans in a Gang Gang Dance-go-souk stylee from LA’s Danny and Tiffany Preston. Keep an eye on this duo, headed our way some time later this year. Feature continues

Tame Impala
This young Australian trio are signed to the groovy Modular label, so they can expect a push in 2009. Their terrific blend of ’70s heavy-psych-rock, trippy folk-jazz and US West Coast psychedelia suggests them as the Down Under Dungen. Bewdy, mate!

Two thirds of Three Trapped Tigers

Three Trapped Tigers
Emerging from the swamp where jazz meets electronic prog noise, this loud and twisted trio are the safest bets to take death-improv to the masses. Their debut EP, ‘1’, has certainly pricked the ears of a tight-jeaned contingent who wouldn’t normally associate with jazz affiliates.

DM Stith
Pal of My Brightest Diamond and Sufjan Stevens, who conducts spectral choirs while wearing what appear to be Victorian children’s pantaloons on his head. His debut album’s due in March; meanwhile, listen to ‘Be My Baby’ at www.myspace.com/dmstith.

Clare Maguire
Polydor has just snapped up this deep-voiced 22-year-old singer, who made her live debut at Green Man in August and has already been given a song by Jarvis Cocker.

Daniel Knox
‘Later… with Jools Holland’ is missing a trick here: with his roguish wit and rich
warble, this telegenic Chicagoan pianist was the highlight of the Barbican’s ‘Twisted Christmas’.

Tweak Bird
Freaky southern boogie meets DFA 1979’s disco-metal in a swampy LA duo whose drummer has all the arm-flailing power of Lightning Bolt’s sticksman. They’ve released just a handful of seven-inches, but on that evidence, fans of Oxes and Black Mountain will very soon be ground into submission.

La Roux
If flame-haired Elly Jackson can match the Prince-ly, Knife-like intensity of her recent single, ‘Quicksand’ (released on the trendy Kitsuné label), perhaps she’ll have earned the right to wear that Flock Of Seagulls hairdo without looking so silly.

VV Brown
All right, we’ve written about her a couple of times before, but mark our words, 2009 is going to be a big year for doo-wop-singing, diddley-bow-plucking indie-soul divas.