The Blog Sound of 2016 longlist has been announced, revealing UK music bloggers’ favourite bands and artists of the moment.
The aim of the Blog Sound of poll is identical to the BBC Sound Of list; it attempts to showcase new and emerging artists, but it differs in so far as many of the voting bloggers do not work in the music industry, they are simply fans who have a passion for writing about the music they love. In previous years the Blog Sound poll has identified a number of acts such as Alt-J and Bastille that didn’t feature on the BBC list, and has been slightly ahead of the game, featuring the likes of Wolf Alice a year before they appeared on the BBC Sound of list. Each year there is also some cross over with the BBC list and this year is no exception.
For the 2016 poll 58 music blogs each voted for their 3 favourite acts and the top 15 of those acts form the Blog Sound of 2015 longlist. To qualify for a vote any act chosen must not have had a UK top 20 single or album, either in their own right or as a named collaborator prior to 6th November 2015.
This year 142 acts received at least one vote from the 174 total votes cast, showing that the UK music blog scene continues cover a broad range of tastes.
Five of the acts on the BBC Sound of 2016 also appear on the Blog Sound of poll, namely Billie Marten, Loyle Carner, Mabel, Mura Masa and Nao. However, Jack Garratt, winner of the BBC Introducing Award, Brits Critics Choice Award and a nominee on the BBC Sound of Poll didn’t receive a single vote in the Blog Sound poll. However, last year Garratt only missed out on the 2015 poll by a single vote, finishing in sixteenth position, so it appears the bloggers no longer consider him to be an “emerging artists”.
The Blog Sound of 2016 Longlist
Aquilo – Calm sounding electronic pop duo from Silverdale, Lancashire.
Aurora – Norwegian singer who covered Oasis for the John Lewis Christmas advert.
Billie Marten – Yorkshire based acoustic singer songwriter.
George Cosby – London based singer songwriter with a deep voice and brooding songs.
Haelos – A band who describe their music as dark euphoria
LISS – Four piece from Aarhus, Denmark who make slick sounding pop.
Loyle Carner – A spoken word artist with his own unique confessional style.
Mabel – The daughter of Neneh Cherry who is producing her own brand of soulful pop
Mura Masa – An electronic producer and multi-instrumetalist originally from Guernsey
Mt. Wolf – A reformed band who also featured on the Blog Sound of 2014 longlist.
NAO – Solo singer who mixes funk, soul and electronic sounds in her work.
Pleasure Beach – Indie rockers from Northern Ireland
The Big Moon – London based four piece alt rock / indie band
The Japanese House – Amber Bain’s solo project of electronic ambient songs
YAK – Energetic rock group with elements of punk, garage indie and psychedelic blues
The most voted for and top 5 acts on this longlist will be revealed on the 5th January 2016
The blogs that voted in this years poll are:
A Pocket Full Of Seeds, A World Of Music And Madness, Across The Kitchen Table, Alphabet Bands, Beat Surrender, Bratfaced LDN, Breaking More Waves, Brighton Music Blog, Cruel Rhythm, Chord Blossom, Daisy Digital, Dive, Details Of My Life, Dots And Dashes, Drunken Werewolf, Digital Shuffle, Echoes And Dust, Electronic Rumors, Encore Northern Island, Even The Stars, Faded Glamour, Get Into This, Get Some, God Is In The TV, I Love Pie, Just Music I Like, Kemptation, Killing Moon, Little Indie Blogs, Love Music: Love Life, Metaphorical Boat, Monkey Boxing, Music Liberation, Music Like Dirt, Music Umpire, Neon Filler, Not Many Experts, Popped Music, Pursuit Of Sound, Rave Child, Record Rewind Play, Scientists Of Sound, Some Of It Is True, Speaker Ink, Spectral Nights, Sweeping The Nation, Synth Glasgow, The Blue Walrus, The Devil Has The Best Tuna, The Electricity Club, The Evening’s Empire, The Mad Mackerel, The VPME, This Must Be Pop, Thoughts On Music, Too Many Blogs, What If I Had A Music Blog, When The Gramophone Rings.
You can find the previous Blog Sound longlists at: 2015 | 2014 | 2013
