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Anna Calvi
Who? Guitar-twanging proto-Goth chanteuse. PJ Harvey with a sprinkling of Tori Amos. Or Florence in ten years time.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Love Won't Be Leaving.
Cut-price choice if she's busy: Kate Nash.
Nero
Who? Chart-bothering dubstep/grime technicians who really like that second Burial album but have realised that Pendulum sell more records.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Welcome Reality.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: Hot Chip.
White Lies
Who? They're a bit like Editors trying to sound more like Interpol, but their angsty little hearts are in the right place and they had the balls to open their debut album with a song called 'Death'.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
The Price Of Love.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: Peter Hook.
Amy Winehouse
Who? Drinks a lot. Sings sometimes. Still no sign of that new album ('Back To Black' was five years ago) and her smack-chic star has dimmed in the aspirational-androgynous glare of Gaga.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Back To Black.
Cut-price choice if she's busy: Duffy.
Crystal Castles
Who? Canadian synth-fiddlers who conjure filling-loosening squalls of electro-venom tempered by soothing/stinging female vocals.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond film title:
Year Of Silence.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: Pink.
Warpaint
Who? All-girl gaggle from LA who manage to be both sinister and seductive. So that's 'Siren-like', then... Submitting to their woozy semi-whispers is like being slowly submerged in a soupy gloop of sex and death and obsession. With no bread.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Composure.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: Joanna Newsom.
Skream & La Roux
Who? Dubstep upstart and Mr Whippy-haired songstress whose collaboration for last year's 'Outside The Box' album - 'Finally' - is pretty much a Bond song in waiting. Go on. Listen to it - and imagine the Bond opening credits over the top.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title :
La Roux - In For The Kill.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: The Ting Tings.
Pulp
Who? Blur or Oasis? Trick question. The correct answer was always Pulp. They were the smartest, sexiest and funniest band of the Britpop era - and they've just reformed for what should be a triumphant rack of nation-owning live shows this summer.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: The Long Blondes.
Patrick Wolf
Who? Multi-instrumental mentalist who mashes classical and electronic to stir up dizzy but breathtaking synthetic pop symphonies.
Lady Gaga
Who? The biggest pop star on the planet right here, right now. Whether you like it or not.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Dance In The Dark.
Cut-price choice if she's busy: Ellie Goulding.
Manic Street Preachers
Who? Welsh agit-rockers with a peerless portfolio of swaggering anthems belted out via the sweet/strident vocals of the Joe Strummer-ish James Dean Bradfield.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Some Kind Of Nothingness.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: Stereophonics.
James Blake
Who? The most exciting thing to happen to British music since the Arctic Monkeys. A 22-year-old, classically trained pianist influenced by dubstep and Bon Iver. He's technical, playful and soulful.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
To Care (Like You).
Cut-price choice if he's busy: Squarepusher.
Robyn
Who? Swedish electro-diva who's been increasingly hard to ignore since breaking through with 2005 Number 1 'With Every Heartbeat'. Busy girl, too. She released three albums last year.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Underneath The Heart.
Cut-price choice if she's busy: Cheryl Cole.
The xx
Who? Foundation-school soundscapers whose miraculous, almost embarrassingly intimate debut album has been milked by lazy TV soundtrack buyers. Correctly and justly won the Mercury Prize last year - not that they needed the exposure.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Basic Space.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: Cold Cave.
Underworld
Who? Highly respected and ever-popular electronic duo, both now in their 50s (they've been recording together since 1980). Broke out with the widely misunderstood 'Born Slippy' off the back of Trainspotting , enjoyed a deserved resurgence with 2010's surprise critical and commercial hit album 'Barking'.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Diamond Jigsaw.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: Cut Copy.
Gayngs
Who? Meanwhile, in Minneapolis... A 23-strong band/collective make a low-BPM album in awe of 10CC and retro soft-rock. Joyously, any sense of irony is (accidentally?) lost in the sheer quality. Prince is spotted at their gigs.
Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Crystal Rope.
Cut-price choice if they're busy: The Polyphonic Spree.
