The Indie 2012 Playlist

It's been an amazing year for some of the artists that I Like Music were backing for big things at the end of last year. Yuck, Summer Camp, Still Corners, Chapel Club and Lana Del Rey - to name just a handful - have justified our eager attention by turning in some great music and gaining the recognition that they deserve. So, with a few past successes in our back pocket we turn our hand to picking some names that we think people should be getting excited about over the course of 2012.

The following twenty artists all fall broadly under the banner of 'indie', but each brings something of their own to the table, making for a playlist that should keep you entertained for a long time to come. Plus, at the bottom of the page we've thrown in a healthy number of 'honourable mentions', so that if you fancy looking further afield for your new music kicks you have somewhere to start your journey.

Enjoy!

1. Mozart Parties - Black Cloud (Merok Records)
It's probably a bit too early to be predicting big things for James Bennett, aka Mozart Parties. He's released just one single and the free Memory Thunderstorm EP, and played only a handful of live dates, but after listening to the few songs of his that are available online it's impossible not to be swept along by the current of softly burbling melodies that stream through his twentyfirst century take on psychedelic pop.

2. David's Lyre - Hidden Ground (Hideout Recordings)
David's Lyre has been compared to artists as diverse as Jeff Buckley, Wild Beasts and Patrick Wolf, which only goes to show how rich and individual his music is. With a successful single and EP already under his belt and a ever-growing list of admirers he has recently finished mastering his debut album, which we can expect midway through 2012.

3. Lucy Rose - Scar (Fauna Records)
Folk-pop artist Lucy Rose is probably best known through her association with Bombay Bicycle Club, on whose records Flaws and A Different Kind Of Fix she provides backing vocals. Possessed of a beautifully gentle, smokey voice, the young singer's songwriting abilities have grown steadily more refined over the last eighteen months, and her recent single Scar, produced by Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club, is a real gem. Rose plans on entering the studio to start work on her debut album in January, with another single in the works for the near future.

4. Zulu Winter - Never Leave (Double Denim)
They may only just have released their debut single through London's tastemaking indie label Double Denim, but the exuberance and class of their brand of indie-pop - which combines elements of Wild Beasts and The Maccabees - has already won them plenty of fans, not least at the ever-influential Radio 1, for whom they have already recorded a session. Having written their debut album in its entirety before even playing their first show, the band are ready and waiting to present it to their eager audience, something that they plan to do in May 2012 through the label Play It Again Sam.

5. Born Blonde - Radio Bliss (Moriarty The Cat)
With more than a hint of certain nineties bands about their psychedelic, spacey indie, Born Blonde manage to sound both nostalgic and fresh all at once, which is likely to see them appealing to significant portions of both mainstream and underground audiences. With two singles out on their own label Moriarty The Cat, the band have spent the latter part of 2011 holed up in the studio working on their debut album. Rumoured to be set for release on a major label, you'll probably be seeing a lot more of these boys in due course.

6. Outfit - Two Islands (Double Denim)
Liverpudlain band Outfit are veterans of the grassroots scene having done their time in a plethora of other bands, but now their cerebral indie - replete with spiralling guitar figures and softly murmuring synths - seems finally to be gaining traction. Their debut single Two Islands has been lauded across the board, plans are in motion for a new EP in early 2012, and the band hope that their debut album will follow towards the end of year.

7. Hot Horizons - All Of This (Zarcorp)
Since releasing their debut EP through Late Of The Pier's Zarcorp label earlier this year Hot Horizons - a dubby, delicate take on the intelligent indie of bands like Grizzly Bear - have gone a tad quiet. They assure us that they are hard at work though, and we're hoping for a new EP when they resurface, or if we're very lucky maybe even their debut album (rumours of an album called Memories I've Never Had have been propogated by a number of websites, but roundly quashed by the band themselves).

8. King Krule - The Noose of Jah City (True Panther Sounds)
King Krule first came to the wider world's attention with the track Out Getting Bones, which he released under the name Zoo Kid, and which painted him as a scruffy, dubbed-up teenage bluesman with a touch of Jamie T about him. One name change and the release of a new self-titled EP later, and the echoing guitar, thick London accent and bolshy vocal delivery have been augmented with skittering beats and fluttering string samples, to form a beautifully tenebrous texture that seems to emanate from some dreamy hinterland. Very early days yet, but we'll be keeping a close eye.

9. Friends - I'm His Girl (Lucky Number Music)
The funky, aloof indie-pop of Brooklyn band Friends saw them tipped for big things this time last year, but they have been wise in taking things at their own pace and letting things grow organically. And grow they have; two eagerly snapped-up 7" singles later and their debut London show, scheduled for February 2012, is already sold out. A debut album is set for release in early 2012.

10. La Shark - Magazine Cover (Popular Recordings)
South London quintet and I Like Music favourites La Shark ended this year with a bang with the release of their new single Magazine Cover; a song as madcap and addictive as ever. It's the latest in a brief series, but the band have yet to release anything more substantial, despite a following that grows more numerous and avid by the month. However, they recently revealed that their debut album has been recorded, and promised that more details would be forthcoming in the new year, so watch this space...

11. Dimbleby & Capper - Educated
A one-woman storm of brilliantly warped pop, Dimbleby & Capper (Laura Bettinson) has earnt herself a devoted following with a number of singles and free downloads, a mini-album, and a live show that evokes Alice In Wonderland surrealism with a sensual streak. D&C has expressed plans to release her debut full-length album in 2012, but with no news of a label deal yet filtering through the 'how' and 'when' of when it will appear remains to be seen.

12. Giovanna - Out In Bold (Mi7)
She's only just released her debut single Out In Bold, but it's already being lauded by the folks at the BBC - particularly Zane Lowe - which never hurts a new artist trying to make their way to bigger things. Out In Bold sees Giovanna blend the weighty electronic atmospherics of a band like Massive Attack with an idiosyncratic take on pop melodies. Strong female voices have been predominant throughout 2011, and if that continues into 2012 Giovanna is very well placed to make real waves.

13. Psychologist - 1:1 (Not Even)
Psychologist (Iain Woods) has released two EPs, one - Waves Of OK - a collection of stripped-back tracks that were at once vulnerable and powerfully resonant, and the other - Propeller - a barrage of frequently violent and caliginous electronica. Diametrically opposed to one another, both were stunning. Psychologist seems to be keeping his cards close to his chest with regards what his next move may be, so whether 2012 will bring more EPs or a debut album - or both - is anyone's guess at the moment, but whatever he delivers is likely to be very special indeed.

14. Breton - Edward The Confessor (Fat Cat Records)
Breton's startling incorporation into the indie blueprint of pop melodies and sometimes brash, sometimes expansive electronica has won them many fans over the course of the last eighteen months. With three EPs - one released on the revered Hemlock Recordings, champions of new bass sounds - and a single already to their name, the South London collective (they also indulge in filmmaking) are set to release their debut album Other People's Problems through Fat Cat in February 2012. Likely to be as confrontational and noisy as it is melodious, it may well prove a hotly-debated release.

15. NZCA/Lines - Okinawa Channels (Loaf Recordings)
NZCA/Lines finished 2011 by playing his first handful of live dates and releasing his debut single, Compass Points. Though still at the very early stages of his career, he already has a debut album in the bag and ready for release on Loaf Recordings at some point in 2012. His (perhaps somewhat tenuous) connection with recent breakthrough-band Metronomy - with whom he shares a love of wonky electro-pop and falsetto vocals - may well help to accelerate his journey into the limelight.

16. Get People - Macaw (Friends vs Records)
This London-based synth/electro-pop band followed a heavily-hyped debut single with the more substantial and widely celebrated Rain Tears EP, which saw them distance themselves from the conventions of their chosen genre in favour of more exploratroy and singular sounds. There's a new EP due out in January 2012, and if they continue to grow at their current rate we might be looking at a debut album towards the tail end of that year.

17. Chad Valley - Now That I'm Real (Cascine)
When he's not being the frontman of afrobeat indie band Jonquil, Hugo Manuel is Chad Valley. The last twelve months have seen him release two very successful EPs of chillwave-come-balearic pop, and his profile is already growing steadily with gigs alongside SBTKT and Friendly Fires under his belt. There has been no official word of an album yet, but it seems the logical next step given his progress so far, and we reckon it will arrive at some point in the second half of 2012.

18. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Trouble (Polydor)
Probably the artist on this playlist with the biggest fanbase and reputation, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (aka Orlando Higginbottam) has already established himself as a new musical force to be reckoned with in the world of indie-spirited house and electro. A pair of EPs on Joe 'Hot Chip' Goddard's label Greco-Roman followed by a string of Radio 1-endorsed singles, a record deal with Polydor and a trip with Damon Albarn to record in the Congo, there is no doubt in anybody's mind that TEED is here to stay. However, it is the release of his debut album next year that is likely to see him transcend his cult status and gain the attention of mainstream audiences.

19. Fixers - Swimhaus Johannesburg (Mercury Records)
Fixers make psychedelic pop that thunders along at a hundred miles an hour, picking up influences from here, there and everywhere along the way and culminating in the kind of ambitious, kaleidescopic songs that Brian Wilson would make if he was 20 years old and friends with MGMT and Yeasayer. They've a handful of EPs and singles to their name - including the brand new Imperial Goddess Of Mercy EP - and are planning to release their debut album in February 2012.

20. Jai Paul - BTSTU (XL)
Enigmatic producer Jai Paul released his first single - BTSTU - back in 2010 to the sound of a lot of excited chatter. It went on to be sampled by both Drake and Beyonce, but Jai Paul himself all but disappeared. Then in September of this year his new track, purportedly called Flip Out, was premiered on the radio. The blogosphere briefly swelled with eager speculation and radio rips, which have all since been removed, leading us to conclude a) that new releases (fingers crossed his long-mooted album) are on their way, and b) that whoever is looking after him (still XL?) sees him as a prize asset to be guarded very closely.

Honourable mentions: 2:54, Arthur Beatrice, Battlekat, Cave Birds, Django Django, Entrepreneurs, Fanzine, Fiction, FOE, Inkships, Kyla La Grange, Seye Adelekan, Theme Park, Trophy Wife, Troumaca, WooWoos