This is my 2012 HYPE LIST! Not a list of the best artists of 2011, or a best album list etc. This is ten artists who should, could and will be influential, successful and ahead of the game as we go into 2012, the apocalypse year, the end times. Now I'm not saying all these guys will be mega successful but they should be. Unicorn Kid:
With the release of his Tidal Rave EP Unicorn Kid set himself up as just the best thing ever this year, unsigning himself from his label, he released the EP for free as an unsigned artist and was being played on daytime BBC Radio1 within a month or so. Big things for this dude. You blogger haters better get it together and re-listen to this EP. Seapunk magic 2012 into the future!
This dude sprung to my attention producing the music for Kreayshawn's "Bumpin Bumpin" and the drag version of Justin Biebers "One Night Stand" these were slow epic prog trance tracks, just so good! Then he started the whole "trance war" competition that ended up being hosted by DIS Magazine. This guy has bigger balls than most and some of the best on trend close to the edge pop production skills ever. Post Trance for 2012.
Kreayshawn - Bumpin Bumpin (instrumental) by Adeptus
These guys just rock. Not only do they look cooler than cool but they're awesomely lovely people IRL and together they make some of the most brilliant music ever. Within the last few months things have really taken off, with loads of little positive moves here and there that add up to a big things. These arent just another laptop and singer duo messing around in an obscurest musical backwater this is big time, this is a band with special moves, mortal combat style. V cool.
This is like a strange and subtle assault on the senses that moves in and before you know it is squatting in the upper floors of your brain. This is the what you get for all liking The XX so much; o F F is like some kind of ambient gothic R&B ghetto superstar in the making, lost in a fog of noise and wonder. why this is so great is its artistic take on a more commercial sound, something slick and sharp like Drake but through long tunnel of smoked glass and valium. Slow and drifting but total pop! Brilliant!
Since the release of the Dxys Xff album Teams has probably had a pretty great summer, if the two most recent tracks created since then are anything to go on. Embracing the Seapunk vibe as much as the 80s bass and glam, the funk and smooth woosh of LA. Throbbing heat and no sleep, sunlight through blinds, endless R&B speedboat chases echoing through street soundsystems, roller skates and a forever summertime vibe. If things are fair in music then this dude is rolling on some big times!
This dude is from Berlin and does heavy grunge electronica, neo folk bass, black metal dubstep, whatever you want to call it its intense and powerful as fuck and has all the sounds and influences that have made 2011 great. Salem sounds but just that bit meatier on all levels.
This artist made one of the best albums this year, Synthétiseur was everything you could want, it was shoegaze electronica, it was 80s synth, it was epic dystopian post punk, it was warm and relaxing and beautiful.
It was all you wanted from the new M83 album but didnt get. Perfect Valium music hidden away and relatively unknown. How Heavy Strife is not signed and doing massive stadium tours with wicked lighting rigs is beyond me. Go download his album for free from Bandcamp now!
I love hype, I love when people invent stuff; genres, movements, pop stars.
So I was pretty psyched to discover that Witch House big hitters (if there's such a thing) Ritualz and Teehn Bwitches were the producers behind SHADES, a new and uninterested seeming Mexican pop star in the making. Whether or not she/they make it big is anther thing but I sincerely hope so because I love these kind of projects. So you never know this could be the big hope of 2012 and you'll all be surprised!
THROWDOWN by SHADES ☺
This dude is like the most precocious teen ever, he truly believes he's the next big thing, cool thing, hottest thing. And that's all it takes to win big. It also helps he can sorta rap and produces some great tracks! Glass popcorn is total Tumblr generation, still in school and inspired from everywhere all the time and constantly evolving. Brilliant and all set for 2012.
Last but in no way least we have Zombelle. Zombelle invented a whole new genre this year, #seapunk (hashtag for added twitter props) less of a musical genre and more of a lifestyle, visual, conceptual genre to be fair. Seapunk has been a lovely addition to 2011 and has been adopted by more than one artist on this list, Teams, Unicorn Kid etc. Zombelle aka Shan Beaste has been more ahead of the Zeitgeist than nearly anyone this summer with her style being appropriated by people like Lady Gaga amongst others! This is all gloss and polish, luckily her music is also brilliant! A slow and low dub feeling witch house, squelchy pop. It reminds me of Grace Jones for some reason and thats a great thing. This is someone who'll only ever do her own thing but could easily take over the world if she felt it was important to do!
♆ ZOMBELLE ≈ BAD CREATION ♆ by ZOMBELLE
♆ ZOMBELLE ≈ TROPOCALYPSE ♆ by ZOMBELLE
