The longlist for The Blog Sound of 2015 was announced this morning and two acts from north of the border have made the list, both from Glasgow, in Halfrican and Prides which was picked from 62 music sites UK wide, include ravechild.
The Blog Sound of 2015 poll aims to showcase some of the best new emerging artists, however, unlike the ubiquitous BBC Sound of poll, the artists nominated aren’t picked just by industry experts, instead they’re voted for by music bloggers, a small number of whom may work in the music industry, but the majority of which are just hardcore fans who write their blogs because of their genuine passion for music, normally with no financial incentive to do so.
This poll is not about picking acts that bloggers think will be famous, the bloggers involved are asked to vote for their favourite acts, irrespective of chances of commercial success.
This year the Blog Sound Of 2015 poll canvassed 62 UK music blogs in November 2014, the most ever since its 2011 start.
It asked each one to pick its three favourite emerging artists and rank them in order of preference.
In total 148 artists received at least 1 vote, showing the diversity of bloggers’ tastes.
The acts scored 3, 2 and 1 points respectively.
The bloggers could choose any artist they wanted, providing the artist had not had a top 40 hit (including as a collaborator on a song) by the time voting started and that they weren’t related to or have any financial interest in any artist they selected.
Where two artists tied on the same number of points, the artist with the most first place votes was ranked higher.
The 15 most popular acts that form the long list include artists that are on major labels as well as indie and unsigned ones, such as Brighton based indie band Fickle Friends, fuzzy sounding Glasgow punks Halfrican, goth ‘n’ soul singer Chloe Black, recent XL signing Lapsley and singer songwriter Sophie Jamieson, an artist who appears on the list for the second time running having also appeared the previous year.
The act that gained the most points in the poll will be announced on January 2, 2015.
The Full Blog Sound of 2015 Longlist (In alphabetical order):
All We Are
Black Honey
Chloe Black
Coasts
Deers
Fickle Friends
Flyte
Halfrican
Honne
Lapsley
Prides
Shura
Soak
Sophie Jamieson
Tei Shi
Rave Child 