2012 Music Blog Zeitgeist

Our friends over at BBC 6 Music (hello) didn't get to go to the Radio 1 Hackney Weekender. So instead they are having a rival party tonight and counting down the top twenty five artists of 2012.

We have been invited to take part, which is very kind. They know that we usually talk about Girls Aloud so we're sort of seeing ourselves as the black sheep of the whole affair.

Anyway, we're not averse to a free shandy and some cake, so here's our contribution. These are our top three people emerging this year who sort of straddle the RobotPigeon/6Music playlist divide.

In reverse order then...

3. Haim.
We'll be very surprised if Haim don't make the list.

They are three, not unattractive, girls who make music that has catchy hooks.

They're also ball achingly cool (and inspire us to say things that really don't suit us. Like "ball achingly"). Pretty girls with guitars is a no brainer in indie world.

We like them because they do dance routines and ride bikes.



2. Swiss Lips
On the subject of dance moves, the only band this year who are guaranteed to get both Robot & Pigeon swiveling their hips like geriatrics on Lucozade are Swiss Lips.



Three tracks into the launch campaign (Danz, U Got The Power, Grow) and not a stinker amongst them. If they put another eight boring ones around that they'll already have beaten the new Cheryl Cole record.

We think the name means something rude (*ahem* fannies *ahem*), but as the band consists of five trendy indie boys we think they'll get away with that.

1. Jake Bugg
Our number one pick was easy.

We love Jake Bugg. We've seen him live, bought his vinyl, searched out all his tracks on the internet, and are basically counting down the days to his album release (it's 120 from today).

This is a funny one for RobotPigeon. He sounds like Dylan, looks like a Gallagher, and is sickeningly young and talented. On paper he's everything we resent. But in reality his songs are so emotive, and frankly catchy as hell, we just couldn't get him out of our brains.

He does ballads better than Adele:



He does uptempo guitar pop better than Mumford and Sons:



And he does dance music better than Rihnna and Calvin Harris:



Ok, the last one was a lie, but if he did songs like 'We Found Love' on top of everything else then the rest of the music industry would basically be defunct.

Jake Bugg is, without a doubt, our top artist of 2012 so far, and to be honest unless Girls Aloud make a comeback before December, we can't see him being toppled.