LOOSE tips can sink sturdy ships. Round about this time every year, we poor deluded souls on the music beat take our lives into our own hands and bring out the crystal ball.
Instead of navel-gazing, we do a spot of ball-gazing. It's an opportunity to make royal asses of ourselves by predicting those acts we think we will be talking about and writing about in the coming months.
Given that most of us poor eejits (well, this writer at least) couldn't be trusted with wagers when it comes to the blackjack table, greyhound track or the Lotto, it is quite disturbing that we return year in and year out to the plate to have another go.
Maybe we should seek professional help for this problem.
Sometimes, though, fortune favours the
foolish. Last year, this column ended by predicting "a new
James Blunt in '06". Ho, ho, we thought, there's one that will
never fly. At that stage, James Morrison was probably still
wondering if the stubble
was a good look.
By the end of the year, the stubble and the Morrison were here
to stay. You will read many words of glowing praise in the coming
months about Cold War Kids. It's easy to understand why they may
well be the new band of 2007 in these parts when you hear their
awesome Robbers & Cowards album and its woozy, ramshackle songs
about loners and lovers and drunks and dukes who still believe in
some
semblance of the American dream.
After seeing them twice at the South By Southwest gathering last
March, I spent the rest of the
year learning how to spell and pronounce Jakobinarina. You'll
be doing likewise because these Icelandic scallywags are probably
the most exciting live band you are likely to see in '07. Pop as
taut,
spunky and buzzy as it comes.
Those who fell head over heels in love with Cansei De Ser Sexy
should prepare to open their arms
wide for Bondo Do Role. Now signed to Domino (which has also
lined up Tricky), they are daft
Brazilian punks with a baile funk song in their hearts and
spirited breaks in their samplers. Trust
me, it will be better than the Beautiful New Born
Children.
There are a number of Irish ladies we expect to be writing loads about in Zero Seven. Laura Izibor should finally get some overdue love now that she's switched labels. There's an album of pure-tone, mesmeric soul due from the lass, who could well have been a basketball star until she started writing songs and decided to stick with that rather than shooting hoops.
It's writing songs that got Ruth-Anne Cunningham where she is today. The Dubliner enjoyed a Billboard smasheroo in 2006 for co-writing JoJo's Too Little Too Late, but there's much, much more to come from her in the shape of spirited, shapely, soulful pop.
We also have a strong inkling that this will be the year when Lisa Hannigan finally gets her own solo freak on. A lot of people will cheer that release when it comes. Recently seen touring with Snow Patrol and having a whale of a time in those big arenas, Hannigan's solo turn at the Electric Picnic indicated that Damien Rice may well be eclipsed by his singing sidekick.
We also like the sound of The Hours (smart indie grandeur with sharp right hooks galore, to judge by Ali in the Jungle), Mika (falsetto pop with a Marc Bolan afro) and The Twang (the kind of skyscraping chords which will remind you of Doves and other anthemic soulseekers).
Then there are the certainties that will account for much wordage in the coming months.
The return of Arcade Fire means a brand spanking new album and live Irish dates real soon. There will be new Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party albums as well. We'll also watch with interest how the new Irish acts get on as they try to flog records abroad - and which bands and labels get laid off by their major company sugar-daddies.
