23 Artists For The Bond 23 Title Song

Muse

Who? Pomp/prog rock absurdists meshing Mercury falsetto with Hendrix libido.

Song that sounds like it could be a Bond movie title:
Apocalypse Please.

Cut-price choice if they're busy: Feeder.

Anna Calvi

Who? Guitar-twanging proto-Goth chanteuse. PJ Harvey with a sprinkling of Tori Amos. Or Florence in ten years time.

Nero

Who? Chart-bothering dubstep/grime technicians who really like that second Burial album but have realised that Pendulum sell more records.

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'.

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.

Crystal Castles

Who? Canadian synth-fiddlers who conjure filling-loosening squalls of electro-venom tempered by soothing/stinging female vocals.

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.

Mogwai

Who? Scottish noiseniks who nicked the Pixies quiet/loud thing, laced it with art-school menace and made all the songs last at least 8 minutes. Then, someone - probably the NME - called it 'post rock'. Soundtracked that Zidane-worship film a few years back.

Kanye West

Who? A humble lad from Atlanta, Georgia.

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.

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.

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.

The National

Who? Ohio doom-rockers with an unblinking take on urban alienation, as seen through the haunted eyes of poet/vocalist Matt Berninger.

Damon Albarn

Who? Ultra-talented Essex boy, ex-Blur frontman, current Gorillaz frontman. Responsible for one of the Top 10 Greatest Songs Of All-Time Ever ('Tender').

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

Sigur Ros

Who? Icelandic prog/post-rock behemoths. Singer Jonsi Birgisson sounds like an alien and sings in a made-up language. Not popular on pub jukeboxes in Taunton.

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.

Tom Jones

Who? Welsh fella. Still wears tight trousers despite being 107.

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