![Paolo Nutini: Forget twee, early hits such as 'New Shoes', Paolo Nutini is back for 2014 and boy, has this kid grown up. His re-invention into a rock and roll soul star for the 21st century is a complete and utter success - with stunning new single 'Scream (Funk My Life Up)' making all sorts of waves as he makes his comeback. But if you really need proof of his new amazingness, his Abbey Road session video of new track 'Iron Sky' is a career defining moment.]()
Paolo Nutini: Forget twee, early hits such as 'New Shoes', Paolo Nutini is back for 2014 and boy, has this kid grown up. His re-invention into a rock and roll soul star for the 21st century is a complete and utter success - with stunning new single 'Scream (Funk My Life Up)' making all sorts of waves as he makes his comeback. But if you really need proof of his new amazingness, his Abbey Road session video of new track 'Iron Sky' is a career defining moment.
![Sky Ferreira: The tagline 'model turned musician' is the kiss of death for most, put that together with the topless album sleeve and headlines about arrests and 'going off the rails' and many would write her off before she opened her mouth to sing a note. But screw that, her debut album Night Time My Time is a stunning listen from start to finish. It's the sound of a promising young artist who's worthy of your attention and demands to be taken seriously.]()
Sky Ferreira: The tagline 'model turned musician' is the kiss of death for most, put that together with the topless album sleeve and headlines about arrests and 'going off the rails' and many would write her off before she opened her mouth to sing a note. But screw that, her debut album Night Time My Time is a stunning listen from start to finish. It's the sound of a promising young artist who's worthy of your attention and demands to be taken seriously.
![John Grant: A bearded indie folk miserablist? Pah! More like 'towering synth pop chameleon']()
John Grant: A bearded indie folk miserablist? Pah! More like 'towering synth pop chameleon'
![The Horrors: Many still have these guys pegged as snotty indie cover-star darlings - a gothic art-school mess of squawking and tight-jeaned confusion. However, their second and third albums have seen The Horrors blossom into masters of mature and provocative post-punk majesty.]()
The Horrors: Many still have these guys pegged as snotty indie cover-star darlings - a gothic art-school mess of squawking and tight-jeaned confusion. However, their second and third albums have seen The Horrors blossom into masters of mature and provocative post-punk majesty.
![Elbow: They're championed as 'the working man's hero to soundtrack moments of glory and celebration'. Well, they are that - but there's a lot more to Elbow then stadium anthems and pub singing. Hidden in their earlier work and in the textures of their album tracks is an eclectic tapestry of sounds and influences. They're a lot more inventive than people give them credit for.]()
Elbow: They're championed as 'the working man's hero to soundtrack moments of glory and celebration'. Well, they are that - but there's a lot more to Elbow then stadium anthems and pub singing. Hidden in their earlier work and in the textures of their album tracks is an eclectic tapestry of sounds and influences. They're a lot more inventive than people give them credit for.
![Deftones: Lazy idiots might lump Chino and co in with the self-loathing cap-wearing Nu-metal scene of the late 90s and early 00s, but Deftones are so much more. With a sound that drifts between the tender and euphoric to the brutal and punishing, you don't have to be a metal-head to appreciate of the most forward-thinking hard-rock bands around.]()
Deftones: Lazy idiots might lump Chino and co in with the self-loathing cap-wearing Nu-metal scene of the late 90s and early 00s, but Deftones are so much more. With a sound that drifts between the tender and euphoric to the brutal and punishing, you don't have to be a metal-head to appreciate of the most forward-thinking hard-rock bands around.
![Jonsi: That weird fella from Sigur Ros isn't all about making miserable music that sounds like the ghosts of whales - he's also really good at batshit crazy pop music. Pick up his solo LP Go and we're sure you'll agree.]()
Jonsi: That weird fella from Sigur Ros isn't all about making miserable music that sounds like the ghosts of whales - he's also really good at batshit crazy pop music. Pick up his solo LP Go and we're sure you'll agree.
![MKS: The original Sugababes aren't another desperate pop throwback from the Big Reunion school of cash-ins. They've still got the knack of a bloody good tune.]()
MKS: The original Sugababes aren't another desperate pop throwback from the Big Reunion school of cash-ins. They've still got the knack of a bloody good tune.
![Ryan Adams: He's not just that demin and leather-clad earnest alt-folk pin-up, he's also pretty good at metal y'know?]()
Ryan Adams: He's not just that demin and leather-clad earnest alt-folk pin-up, he's also pretty good at metal y'know?
![Tegan And Sara: 'Canadian indie twins' - that intro just smacks of twee pretentious nonsense, don't it? Well, these days they're actually a bloody good pop act, with their infectious but credible anthems even landing them a spot on Katy Perry's Prismatic US tour.]()
Tegan And Sara: 'Canadian indie twins' - that intro just smacks of twee pretentious nonsense, don't it? Well, these days they're actually a bloody good pop act, with their infectious but credible anthems even landing them a spot on Katy Perry's Prismatic US tour.
![Scarlett Johansson: Hollywood stars dabbling in music usually ends in disaster (think Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy), but her Tom Waits tribute album Anywhere I Lay My Head and collaboration with Pete Yorn, Break Up, weren't half bad. Give her a chance.]()
Scarlett Johansson: Hollywood stars dabbling in music usually ends in disaster (think Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy), but her Tom Waits tribute album Anywhere I Lay My Head and collaboration with Pete Yorn, Break Up, weren't half bad. Give her a chance.
![The 1975:]()
The 1975: "I get defensive about people thinking I'm a haircut who hasn't got a clue," said frontman Matt Healy in a recent interview with Q Magazine. Fair enough. Having a celebrity mum and such a heavy emphasis on image haven't made life easy for The 1975, but get past that and you'll hear one of the finest guitar pop albums released in recent memory.
