One word for 2010? How about: Variety?

A cursory glance over the artists and records set to come to our attention over the next 12 months would leave you struggling to identify any kind of unifying theme. Electro, skinny-jeans indie, whiskey-flavoured lo-fi folk, even some (whisper it) new classical... all bases are covered and then some.
Take Aaron Shanley for one. A brief encounter with the Lisburn lad’s cheekbones, fringe, and massive, swoon-filled choruses and you’ll be thinking of posters on bedroom walls and the high end of the download charts. Then you hear Mururations, the extraordinary debut by Ruby Coffey and it’s classical performance spaces and eerie visual art installations that come to mind. That being said, you wouldn’t be surprised to find them sharing a bill at the Stiff Kitten or Empire.
“I’ll come into the fold when I’m finished,” sings Ben ‘Three Tales’ McAuley on ‘Any Good’. “I’m still learning new things all the time.”
He’s a terrible salesman, so you may not know he has a new collection of songs out – the splendidly titled, The Hidden Possibilities Of All Things – but please don’t hold that against him. We loved Ben’s debut album, a muted but richly drawn collection, and the new EP follows up on the promise. It rolls along on its fine mixture of bright poetry and brittle choruses.
“Is it any good?” the chorus of the song runs. Know what? It is. It’s very good indeed.
Last year didn’t really happen for Kowalski, but judging by the gorgeous ‘Get Back’, the first song to surface from their upcoming EP, Take Care Take Flight, they’re going to be a big presence during the next 12 months. They’ve always had a flair for melody, but this is a breathtaking leap forward. Keep a keen eye on this bunch. They could be about to become special.
We’re going to talk more about Geoff Gatt’s album, Ten Year Road, in a future issue. In prep, though, why don’t you get onto his MySpace and purchase a copy? Trust me, it will be worth the investment. A decade not only in the making, but in the living, few local artists have packed as much emotion and hard-earned sentiment into an LP. Grief, death, magic and loss – all carried along with a huge beard and winning fixation with The Who.
November found The Beat Poets releasing The Making EP. It was a classic slab of arms-in-the-air indie anthemia. Their long-awaited debut album promises to be a tune-packed wonder that could see them make the leap into a higher division. Whatever happens, we wish them well.
And of course the irresistible rise of Two Door Cinema Club looks set to continue. December found them receive the surreal backing of Kanye West. Now, with ‘One’s To Watch’ citations popping up everywhere, and a prime space on the NME Tour, everyone’s trying to get into the act.
Including me. They’re great. As you will all hopefully discover during the next 12 months. Check out their debut LP when it drops in March.
We’re not sure what Neal Hughes and Charley Mooney have been cooking up together, but as the former is Belfast’s great forgotten vocalist, and the latter, one of its most brilliant mavericks it will certainly have our full attention. Let’s hope, as combinations go, it’s more Rush/Dalglish than Robinson/McGuinness.
The Lowly Knights hit the bunker in ‘09. The results of which should be winging our way anon. Expect much beauty, much harmonising, and a bigger tour bus.
Then we come to the debut album by Cashier No. 9. It was produced by David Holmes, recorded in LA, and features musicians whose names will be familiar to anyone conversant with the linear notes of Beck and Air records. In other words, expectations aren’t just high – they’re stellar.
For years singer-songwriter Danny Todd has seemed reluctant to be pinned down, whether by band, instrument, or musical style.
As 2010 looks to be in no rush to limit itself likewise, perhaps it really is the ideal time for him finally to take the plunge.
words Colin Carberry