Futuresounds 2009 Part Three

This is the penultimate post of my tips for 2009, which has turned into more of an ongoing saga than I envisaged at first. But I'll be there to the bitter end. Apologies for the delay, I've been having a bit of trouble with the filehosting service I use - it's free though so I can't complain. Let's blame the snow. Anyways, as ever, I'm using the format of one majorly hyped band, one KHI golden oldie and another band that has never graced my blog with their presence.

Mumford And Sons
Fleet Foxes, Noah & The Whale and Laura Marling brought last year's folk "revolution" and this year, Marcus Mumford and his merry men hope to achieve similar recognition. Their epic country sound can be both mellow and intense, a majestic cacophony emboldened by Marcus Mumford's rich vocals. There's banjos, there's a double bass, there's even a grand piano on the radio session I'm about to share yet none of it sounds extravagant. Quite the opposite really, it sounds just right.

MUMFORD AND SONS - ROLL AWAY YOUR STONE (BBC RADIO 1 SESSION)
MUMFORD AND SONS - SIGH NO MORE (BBC RADIO 1 SESSION)
MUMFORD AND SONS - THE CAVE (BBC RADIO 1 SESSION)
MUMFORD AND SONS - WHITE BLANK PAGE (BBC RADIO 1 SESSION)

Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo mix folk and twee (and about a million different instruments) to make wonderfully jangly indie pop. And they're about to support Snow Patrol, which is a bit bizarre. But giving Fanfarlo the opportunity to reach a wider audience is something I tried to do, putting 'Sand And Ice' on [KHI podcast#6], almost a year ago. They recently completed their debut album, produced by Peter Katis (best known for his work with The National and Interpol) and it's more than possible that Fanfarlo's effort will be just as good as the aforementioned bands. It'll certainly be more jolly.

FANFARLO - HAROLD T. WILKINS (DEMO)

Little Comets
Little Comets could well follow the likes of The Wombats in breaching the mainstream with colourful pop tunes. Or maybe a more appropriate comparison could be made to fellow Northerners, Maximo Park and The Futureheads. Either way, Little Comets make their pop with a bit of a Vampire Weekend-esque twist, a ray of sunshine in our embittered English climate. 2009 won't break them but it could make them.

LITTLE COMETS - ONE NIGHT IN OCTOBER

Buy from [7digital]/[iTunes].