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The next part of me looking at what happened to the acts I predicted would make it BIG this year. See the original post here.

6. Alt-J

I first wrote about Alt-J in October of last year. It feels like they have only just exploded with the win of the Mercury Prize last week. For me, I feel like I have heard these songs so many times I have kind of lost interest. But if I remember back to when I first heard them, I thought their sound was so exciting and interesting. They are a good band, and have had a great year, but the next Radiohead I’m not so sure.

7. Michael Kiwanuka

In the last of these posts I mentioned that it had been the year of polite music. Michael Kiwanuka has been the pinnacle of that. I love ‘Tell Me A Tale’ and their is a song on one of his EP’s called ‘Worry Walks Beside Me’ which sounds lush on vinyl. But other than that it’s just not exciting. But anyway, a Mercury nominated album and a show at the Royal Albert Hall and a lot of people do really love him.

8. Kyla La Grange

Like quite a few of the artists on this list, I have just got a bit bored of Kyla La Grange. Sometimes when a band has been performing for a long time, and they don’t change their style or they don’t seem to evolve too much as an artist, you get a bit tired of it all. And unfortunately for the lovely Kyla, I am a bit bored of this. She’s got talent, but maybe its just too similar to 700,000 other female artists trying to make it at the moment. Sorry Kyla.

9. Bear Driver

If I’m honest, I absolutely have no idea what Bear Driver are doing, so let me have a look at that… Ok, so they released an album in June which The Fly called ‘A real treasure’, so maybe I should have a listen sometime. Anyway, the fact that I haven’t heard anything from them all year maybe says something about their success…

10. Daughter

By far the most exciting artist on this part of the list. I have followed Daughter since it was just Elena Tonra and she wrote pretty songs a bit like Laura Marling. Unlike with Kyla, I have not got bored of Daughter. That is because they have evolved, and continue to evolve and get better and better. Having signed to 4AD a few months ago, I think maybe I actually predicted Daughter a bit early. Maybe 2013 will be their year.

6. Alt-J

Alt-J are quietly causing a stir. Their song ‘Tessellate’ has been picked up by many ‘Songs of the Year’ polls, and rightly so. It’s an incredible track, and shows of their incredibly unique sound at its best. On their Facebook page, Alt-J describe their influences as ‘Haha’, but they seem to mix folk, ambience, indie, rich harmonies and the end result is something very special.

7. Michael Kiwanuka

I thought Michael might have been missed off a lot of Sound of 2012 lists, but how wrong I was. He was featured in the BBC Sound of 2012 and also in the BBC Critics Choice final 3. His gorgeous blend of folk and soul sounds like it comes from long in the past, and his stage presence is mesmerising.

8. Kyla La Grange

I was a bit unsure about Kyla when I first heard her, there is a lot of female singers doing this whole dark and mysterious pop thing at the moment and I wasn’t sure if she stood out. That was until I saw her live a few weeks ago and she blew that out of the water. She completely stands out, mostly because of her voice, which is incredibly unique. I also saw her play an acoustic set at the Daughter and Friends show at St. Giles and boy it was incredible.

9. Bear Driver

Bear Driver are from mighty Leeds. And they make woozy psychedelic folk rock. They have recently just released a song called ‘Never Never’ which is a wonderful track, the dreamy opening grabs your attention immediately and keeps you hooked. If they produce a debut album full of songs like that, they’re onto a win.

10. Daughter

Ah the stunning Elena Tonra. Her songwriting first grabbed me back ont the Communion compilation when ‘Peter’ was an standout track for me. Since then she has matured her sound and perfected her songs and her latest EP ‘The Wild Youth’ is an incredible listen. After seeing her play at St. Giles church last week, I think her sound works best when its heavy, her voice can cope with a lot of sound when a lot of female singer/songwriters fail at this. I hope she goes down a Bon Iver, Sigur Ros sort of route. For me, this will be one of the most anticipated albums of 2012.