Cloudspeakers

The Stone siblings grew up in a beach town near Sydney, but their second album as a vocal/guitar duo sounds like it was made by Americans with a yen for Fleetwood Mac and Joanna Newsom. As on their... Read more

Buy it from Buy the CDAmy MacdonaldA Curious ThingMercury2010Her debut album was the 10th bestselling release of 2008 in Britain, yet Amy Macdonald is still essentially anonymous outside her native... Read more

Buy it from Buy the CDSugababesSweet 7Universal / Island2010Sugababes 4.0, as we might term them since Keisha Buchanan was replaced by Jade Ewen in the most recent reshuffle, delayed the release of... Read more

Buy it from Buy the CDDownload as MP3Erik HasslePiecesIsland2010Erik Hassle, who's Swedish and male, has a disconcerting physical similarity to La Roux's Elly Jackson and, musically, to Peter "D:Re... Read more

Buy it from Buy the CDDownload as MP3Tom McraeAlphabet of HurricanesCooking Vinyl2010What will it take for Tom McRae to get a break? He's had a Mercury ­nomination, his songs have featured on TV s... Read more

Buy it from Buy the CDDownload as MP3SadeSoldier of LoveSony Music2010Music has changed immeasurably since Sade released her debut album in 1984, but she has glided along, oblivious, never divergin... Read more

The Sea begins with an acoustic-guitar chord and the words, "He's a real live wire/ He's the best of his kind/ Wait till you see those eyes". Corinne Bailey Rae is describing her husband, who died ... Read more

Though they need to rethink that terrible name, up-and-coming Londoners Chew Lips are a likeable bunch – their aim is to make "music that sounds so dated it doesn't date", and on their debut they... Read more

Ryan Tedder, singer and driving force of Denver's OneRepublic, already has a busy career writing for others (he's the one to blame for Leona Lewis's Bleeding Love), which has eclipsed his own band'... Read more

This English songwriter has been dubbed "la grande sensation de 2009" by the French, who bought enough copies of Hobo to make it one of the biggest selling albums of the year over there. At home, t... Read more