Get ahead of the game and give these a spin on your stereo now

Spectrals

A one-man-band from Leeds, better known to ex-teachers and neighbours as Louis Jones. Favouring to convey his brand of doo-wop inspired love songs over the medium of audio cassette rather than more advanced means has won increasing DIY-plaudits on the blogosphere, and a UK tour support slot with equally old-school-outlooked San Francisco group Girls. The music might be surfy, but his looming vocals and ability to tell a meaningful story within concise crisp two-minute songs retains a quality much more Yorkshire than Miami.

Perfume Genius

Considering he was first spotted by Cardiff’s any-sweeter-and-you’ll-puke band Los Campesinos!, Perfume Genius (aka Mike, 26, a Seattle furniture seller who lives with his mother) is the last thing you’d expect. When song themes include homoerotic paedophilia and death, you start to wonder whether you want to “expect” anything from him at all. In photos he looks desolate and abused, in voice he tremors as if on his deathbed, and yet his lo-fi piano ballads are achingly beautiful – and we’re reliably informed not a mental scar in sight.

Sleigh Bells

Shooting up the New York scene faster than Snow Patrol to tedium, Brooklyn two-piece Alexis and Derek favour terrorism-chic in the fashion stakes, and match it in their music: the destruction of your eardrums IS their main target. Think Crystal Castles with less Pacman FX, same madness, and more guitars (and presumably less maple syrup). MIA is already a fan, and an April slot at US desert-fest Coachella should see them able to afford some new equipment – don’t adjust your speakers, their tracks really are that distorted.

Egyptian Hip Hop

Being neither of what their name suggests, the teenage Manchester four-piece flit between math rock, melodic pop, scuzzy… oh whatever, most things. They do so with guitar pedals (and bizarrely a pair of shoes) donated to them by up-and-coming Cribs guitarist Johnny Marr. With an NME Awards show at Cargo later in the month with mainstream picks Delphic, their brand of 80s funk backbeats won’t stay exclusively up north for long. Whether Marr also told them to stop dressing like they’re attending a Skins party is another matter.