Not Many Experts

You can almost judge the success of a new band by the diversity of their audience. Any new band, for example, with the mental dexterity to found a soundcloud and have found themselves upon the pages of a couple of blogs will be presented with miserable looking hipsters wearing their ‘vintage’ shirts which smell suspiciously of mouldy tents. It is clear, however, that alt-J have truly captured the minds of the nation’s music fans with their brilliantly eccentric debut album An Awesome Wave, and as a result the sold-out crush before them is made up of overexcited teenage fan girls, goths stuffed to the gills with hallucinogenics, and even respectable men with their polo shirts tucked into the M&S chinos that their wives bought them for Christmas.

Before alt-J appear, though, the already crowded room is treated to the emotionless live performance of Cave Painting. We have written some very enthusiastic things about Cave Painting before and we stick with everything we’ve said; musically they are very impressive, and there’s no denying the tender emotional bombardment that is “So Calm”. But they go about their business with a ruthless, machine-like precision that is one step away from arrogance, and a few past passionless. This detached atmosphere strips their undeniably accomplished music of any of its credibility, and songs that seemed full of warmth and character online now seem flat and vacuous. Things could be far more disastrous though; at least the songs they’re playing are decent and all we’ve described above could have just been an off night, but it simply felt like an aesthetically pleasing CD player would have done a far better job.

The contrast between them and alt-J could not be starker. Every note they squeeze from their instruments is dripping with sincerity, and they seem genuinely overwhelmed by the size and intensity of the crowd. Lead-singer Joe Newman even seems visibly nervous during the first couple of songs, letting his voice drop beneath his usually flawless falsetto. Charismatic actors they may not be, but that simply adds to their appeal as they embody an emotionally-involved humanity that the crowd had been previously starved of. Most importantly, alt-J just seem completely believable onstage, like actual real people, coming across like the nice blokes who might hold the door for you for an unreasonable amount of time in the university library.

Their job, though, is made fairly easy by the fact that they have the privilege of playing what is arguably the strongest debut album of this year. “Intro”, despite their tangible nerves, sounds bolder even more intricate than it did on record, whilst the well ordered insanity of“Breezeblocks” manages even to get all of the goths attempting something close to dancing. It is the perfect balance of theatrics and ear-splitting originality of “Fitzpleasure” that rightly draws the biggest reaction, though. It’s still the best thing that we’ve heard this year, sounding at once brutal, tender, and absolutely inspired. By this point one small sweaty black box in Bristol has lost it, and when “Taro” drops its Bollywood-inspired beats, even the chubby bloke infront of us manages to pull a girl with a suitably embarrassing Indian-inspired dance. We were always sure that their music had a transcendental quality, and now we have proof. She must have been out of her bloody mind.

alt-J have got everything that you could possibly want a band to have; not only the possibly year defining record, but a stage presence which, though not theatrical, exudes honesty and makes the whole thing seem so intensely believable. They may not have that obvious charisma of 10 Lemmys, but they’re not arrogant either, instead they just seem almost academic, with a real love of the music they’re playing, and a real appreciation of the enthusiasm of the audience. Our gigging companion was shaking and next to speechless as we left, and I’m pretty sure that the drugged-up goths hadn’t slipped him anything. Later he managed to squeeze out that it was “the best gig I’ve ever seen”, and as much as I was amused by his enthusiasm, it was hard to disagree.

We’re not going to lie – we’re pretty bloody excited about everybody’s favourite potentially-mentally-unstable indie act Alt-J. Their brilliant eccentricity keeps surpassing their previous efforts; see the meandering strangeness of new track “Fitzpleasure” for proof. Its brooding, almost schizophrenic tone is completely bonkers, but they tie the whole thing together seamlessly. In fact, they’re so good that all their off-the-wall ideas end up coalescing into a gloriously unhinged pop song. And when someone can do that, you know they’re good.

alt-J – Fitzpleasure by Infectious Music

When I was initially asked to take part in the Blog Sound of 2012, which was being presented not as a criticism of the BBC Sound of 2012, but as an alternative, I had my reservations. Was it really necessary? In light of the unveiling of the BBC list today, I would have to say that, yes, it probably was. Just to calm down and put things in perspective quickly; the world is still revolving. The “BBC Sound of” is not, despite the claims of George Ergatoudis, “the definitive annual list of exciting new artists to look out for”, it is just the opinion of the 184 fallible humans that they asked, and is clearly not the end of the careers for all of the thousands of artists not mentioned. However… despite all of these things, it is still such a missed opportunity for exposing good new music to a wider audience, and the unbelievable shunning of independent music in comparison with earlier years is more criminal than even the torching of the PIAS warehouse. Probably.

It reflects the opinions and tastes of those people who they chose to ask, but I have enough faith left to believe that it’s not an absolutely accurate representation of the music industry’s favourite new artists. In exactly the same way, the Blog Sound of 2012 simply reflects the opinions of the selection of blogs they chose to ask, and is therefore also imperfect. At the very least, it is emphatically not a formalisation of those acts that major labels will be spending amounts of money on next year. The hopefully fleeting success of some of those artists is as inevitable as the list itself; a self-fulfilling prophecy influenced by those who hope to gain the most from it.

I’m glad it exists, I just wish it existed in a different way. Ultimately, it’s all a question of taste, and who is anybody to denounce the tastes of anybody else? Admittedly, the pleasing presence of Niki & The Dove, Friends, and even Azealia Banks or Spector can’t be ignored. But it’s still the case that independent music has been horrendously under-represented, which isn’t the end of the world, just pretty bloody depressing. Yet it would be an effort to stay depressed for long, for the truth is that there is a wealth of compelling new music around at the moment. Some of it you’ll find on the BBC’s list, some on the bloggers’ list; but the most of it is found elsewhere, behind these lists that attract so much attention. At the very least, the Blog Sound of 2012 longlist which follows is a good, convenient, and honestly-voted place to start.

Theme Park. Theme Park – A Mountain We Love by Radar Maker

Alt J. Breezeblocks (demo) by alt-j

Houdini Dax. Houdini Dax – The Trend by See Monkey Do Monkey

French Wives. Numbers by French Wives

The Good Natured. The Good Natured – Wolves by The Good Natured

Lianne La Havas. Lianne La Havas – Forget (Live in LA) by Lianne La Havas

The Jezabels. Mace Spray by thejezabels

Lucy Rose. Lucy Rose – Middle Of The Bed by Lucy Rose

Bastille. FLAWS by BASTILLE

Beth Jeans Houghton. Beth Jeans Houghton – Dodecahedron by Mute UK

Friends. Friends – I’m His Girl by LuckyNumberMusic

Washington. Washington – Holy Moses by The Recommender

Meursault. Meursault – Flittin’ (Demo) by Song, by Toad

Daughter. Daughter – ‘Medicine’ (Taken from ‘The Wild Youth’ EP) by ohDaughter

Outfit. Vehicles by OUTFIT

I should probably mention that the views expressed above are in no way the view of The Blog Sound of 2012, and are probably opposed in part by many of the blogs which took part. But seeing as this is my blog, that should go without saying. The blogs which took part were:

A Tidal Wave Of Indifference, Breaking More Waves, God Is In the TV, Sweeping The Nation, The Von Pip Musical Express, The Recommender, Faded Glamour, Drunken Werewolf, Flying With Anna, Not Many Experts, Underclassed Idle Ideas, Sonic Masala, Mudkiss, The Ring Master, Both Bars On, Music From A Green Window, Dots And Dashes, The Daily Growl, And Everyone’s A DJ, Kowolskiy, Just Music That I Like, Cruel Rhythm, The Blue Walrus, Music Fans Mic, Seventeen Seconds, Eaten By Monsters, Seven Sevens, Unpeeled, New Rave Brain Wave, Peenko, Music Liberation, My Bands Better Than Your Band and Song By Toad.