2010's Bands Of Impending Genius

Almost as hallowed a tradition as the end-of-year charts are the precursors to the new year: a brief insight into which artists you should be given the heads-up on.

Whether you use this information for pre-bandwagon bragging rights or genuinely in the pursuit of great music we'll leave down to you, although we do require a 49p royalty payment for any instances of the former which results in your gaining kudos points amongst your friends.

So in the interests of even numbers, here are ten of our recommendations for the Chinese year of the Tiger (coming Feb 14 fact fans):

Acrylics

We begin with the letter 'A', the best letter in the world. The band come from Brooklyn in America: a country in the world. Fronted by Molly Shea (Girl Crisis) with Jason Klauber assisting in their songwriting endeavours, Acrylics run with a fey balloon through a twinkling pop landscape. Their E.P All of the Fire was put out by Terrible Records which, as you may know, is the one co-founded by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor.

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• Acrylics-Allofthefire.mp3
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War Paint

Three girls, a guy and a pizza place: although possibly without the pizza place. With an album due for release in the spring of 2010 War Paint could be one of those bands which break early out of the gate and never stop running. Definitely not a repeat of The Pippettes, War Paint prefer walking the line drawn by such luminaries as Yeasayer, Dungen, Hecuba, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads and Black Sabbath.

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Zun Zun Egui

Technically occupying space in Bristol, England yet their music is a cornucopia of widely strewn influences ranging from indie, dance, tropical, Jùjú, experimental and progressive. In short, it sounds nothing like Bristol, officially the unhealthiest city in the whole of the U.K. Zun Zun Egui should be able to help you there though, 'cause nothing gets you exercise like crazed, frenzied dancing for hours on end.

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Three Trapped Tigers

As unique as Battles without sounding anything like them, TTT are a trio from the town of London using their time to indulge their fetish for eccentric electronic experiments of staggering genius. Every band can do the whole loud/quiet thing, but not every band can do both at the same time with it being neither loud nor quiet. We're still scratching our heads over that one. Speaking of head-scratching, we just dare you to try and classify them into a genre that a little less vague than 'music'.

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Everything Everything

Seeking to reinvent the wheel of pop music, Everything Everything throw off-kilter time signatures, complex structures and adventurous lyrics at the basic formula in the pursuit of greatness. Pulling from such dizzyingly diverse influences as The Beatles, R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, Steve Reich, Ezra Pound, The Smiths the boys will likely be marking 2010 as the year they expand beyond the rapturous reception they've received in their home town of Manchester.

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• EverythingEverything-MyKeysYourBoyfriend.mp3
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Esben and the Witch

Rachael Davies (vocals, percussion), Daniel Copeman (electronics, guitars) and Thomas Fisher (guitars, keyboards) make up the defiantly surreal trio with severe preoccupations with the macabre. Their band name is taken from a Danish fairy tale revolving around torture of children and ritual slaughter, their lyrics reference all manner of ugly instruments of pain and their music derives great pleasure from wallowing in dark, dank moody spots of hopelessness. Or to surmise: it's fantastic.

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• EsbenAndTheWitch-MarchingSong.mp3
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Chew Lips

A relative baby of a band, having been formed just last year (2008), Chew Lips are one of those most mainstream-friendly concoctions. A female-fronted (complete with obscure name: Tigs) trio with a distinctly dance-pop edge: they're so media-friendly, it's like it is on purpose. Happily for Chew Lips, they also happen to be pretty damn good, a fact which will carry them through the media storm they will undoubtedly endure in 2010.

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Pearl Harbor

Their position in our hearts dropped pretty dramatically when they dropped the "U" from their name, forcing that most heinous of wriggly red lines to underline their every mention. Luckily Pearl Harbor were held in such high regard that they could take the hit. Similar to War Paint (see above) in their sound, the band is fronted by sisters Piper and Skylar and súrf-pop inject with pure oxygen is the order of the day complete with queer guitar-riffs and the familiar dream-induced vocals.

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• PearlHarbor-Sunburn.mp3
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The Smith Westerns

From the land of Chicago Illinois, home of Olympic failure and a car industry on life-support, come a ramshackle garage outfit. To make sure there was no doubt about their influences, their début album was the cover to Nirvana's Nevermind flipped vertically and cut in half before being mixed with another picture of religious iconography, as if to say "These are our gods!" or something to that effect. Having toured with last year's "must see" band Girls (note, you didn't miss much) the star de Smith Westerns will likely have a huge surge coming its way. Also, being interview by a puppet while wearing your best skinny jeans and shades = hilarity (see video below).

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Mansions

From the alright-state of Kentucky, Mansions is the project of Christopher Browder. Predominately an acoustic artist, although Mansions isn't adverse to ramping it up for the electronica crowd. Think Dinosaur Jr. Straylight Run and The Get Up Kids with a smattering of Ryan Adams thrown in. The year just gone saw the release of his début album New Best Friends, 2010 will hopefully see that album triggering the genius alarm on people's radars as well as some new material from the man.

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