Little Boots, White Lies, Florence & The Machine, Empire of the Sun, La Roux: the Sounds of 2009?

Every year, the BBC composes a list of its hot tips for music success in the coming twelve months – and with previous mentions going to the likes of Duffy, Mika, 50 Cent and Keane, they have a pretty decent track record. (Of course, given that the list is picked by industry pundits, many of whom control what bands get airplay or make the pages of music magazines, that’s really not so surprising).

So what does 2009 have in store? Well, according to the BBC, lots of 80s synthy electropop – in fact, you’ll probably be sick of hearing the word synthy. And they’re late to the game with numbers six and seven – Lady Gaga and VV Brown, who we told you about last year. Click ‘continue reading’ to see and hear the top 5 acts.

1. Little Boots

The lowdown: Synthy disco electropop, with touches of Kylie, Hot Chip and various 80s bands, sung in breathy tones by Blackpool’s own Little Boots (Victoria Hesketh). From recording Youtube vids in her bedroom accompanied by various keyboards as a brunette to being papped with Perez Hilton and finishing off her first album in LA as a blonde, it looks like Hesketh is well on the way to stardom (she’s very pretty too, which can only help).
Teentoday.co.uk verdict: Rather lovely – we’ve picked out the heavenly Every Little Earthquake as our favourite, but we also love the harder bass on Meddle. And we love the flashing light box thing she plays on stage (a Japanese Tenori-on apparently). But will the charm rub off once industry execs have got their mitts on her? And we can’t help feeling that we’ve heard it all before…

2. White Lies

The lowdown: Dark rock, but still catchy. The London trio (vocalist Harry McVeigh, bassist and lyricist Charles Cave and drummer Jack Laurence-Brown) sparked a bidding war between record labels and have been compared to Joy Division and The Smiths.
Teentoday.co.uk verdict: Anthemic choruses married with brooding vocals stitched together by crashing but catchy guitar riffs – and all without being overly derivative. We’re impressed.

3. Florence & The Machine

The lowdown: The least categorisable of the bunch – and our favourite because of it. The term quirky singer-songwriter gets overused, but Florence Welch is living proof why the phrase became a cliché. With echoes of Kate Bush, Feist, Bat For Lashes and Bjork, Florence’s music is eclectic, accessible and slightly mental. The best possible combination, right?
Teentoday.co.uk verdict: Fresh, new, different. Great image, wonderful videos and you never know what she’s going to come up with next. Oh, and her songs are good too. What’s not to love?

4. Empire of the Sun

The lowdown: Dreamy synth pop from an Oz duo (Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele) who look like they’ve wandered out of an 80s fantasy flick. It’s somewhat telling that most of their interview on the BBC’s website seems concerned with their image than their music.
Teentoday.co.uk verdict: Perfectly pleasant but really not setting us on fire – a case of style over substance?

5. La Roux

The lowdown: Yup, more synth pop yet again, this time sung by a shrill, shriek of a voice destined to divide listeners. Singer Elly Jackson, complete with a mad shock of red hair, and production partner Ben Langmaid have raided the 80s for both music and style references in their attempts to revive the retro – but do we really need yet another 80s revival?
Teentoday.co.uk verdict: Single In For The Kill has a fantastic chorus but if videos could be bought from Poundland, this would be the one, it is that horribly low-budget. And we’re still on the fence about Jackson’s voice – one song maybe, but a whole album?

Who is your favourite from the Sound of 2009?