Hey, what’s that splashing at your feet? Oh, it’s the BBC Sound Of 2012 list, causing a plop in the music blogging cess-pool: ripples which will finally propel one of the hapless artists one the list to CHART SUCCESS next year.

Last year, the 180 or so ‘tastemakers’ who compile the list (i.e. bloggers who have read enough PR email to see which way the wind is blowing) selected a list that finally coughed forth Jessie J as its Big Tip For The Future.

You can decide the value of the list on the basis of whether you find Jessie J merely a minor inconvenience, or an industry-propelled howling harridan determined to ruin the pop charts with dizzingly average songs.

Alex James, cheese, blah. MIXTAPE:

FIRST! Cor, Xmaslights must be getting a bump in traffic at the moment, eh? That name might not be so useful come February, but for now, I assume they’re milking it for all it’s worth. Wish You Were Here is a little bit Chillwave – or maybe (gasp) even post-Chillwave – but don’t let that send your running for the hills, because, despite itself, this song is all charm.

SECOND! Regurgitator‘s One Day seems to be very bluntly about death. “One day,” he sings, “we’ll be feeding the trees,” – but this is no lame Emo navel-gazing excersise: it’s actually a stupendously upbeat, uplifting celebration of life, all wrapped up in a thunderously impulsive pop rush. POW!

THIRD! Robin Grey is the kind of artist that simply never appears on ANBAD. Turns out it’s a bit of a shame, as his acousto-folko-pop is nicely poised and lightly formed – the kind of male-solo-artist stuff that some people go nuts over.

FINALLY! Hey, hasn’t Bridie Jackson been on ANBAD before? Well, yes and yes. But – oh, hell – it’s Christmas, and All You Love Is All You Are is really, really lovely, hopefully encouraging the mass hugging of the nearest and dearest everywhere. Sob.