Is there any sensation quite as satisfying as the undeniable contentment produced when countering a friend's excited talk of a certain hot new band playing at the union with a smug 'Oh them...yeah, I saw them last year...only twenty people there y'know...they were alright I guess'? No? Didn't think so. You might as well admit it - music elitism...it's dangerously moreish.

So here is a handy guide to five bands that could 'make it' in the New Year - not in a 'can't escape the godawful racket no matter how hard you try' way, more the 'drop their name into conversation and you're instantly elevated into the pantheon of über-cool kids on campus' kind of way. In fact, it would be almost better if the bands below didn't get too big - there's nothing worse than a secret everybody knows about.

Broken Records

www.myspace.com/brokenrecordsedinburgh

Sometimes, you just have to bring your own damn orchestra. No one could accuse Edinburgh's Broken Records of understatement, with a violin, cello and accordion represented in their seven piece ranks, and a sound as portentously epic as you would expect from a band taking their cues from that eternal proclaimer of apocalyptic doom, Nick Cave. There are hints of Springsteen, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Beirut, 16 Horsepower and, inevitably, Arcade Fire buried deep within such tracks as 'If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It'. But there is a uniquely mournful quality to singer Jamie's vocals that somehow makes them more than just a flawless collection of influences.

Glasvegas

www.myspace.com/glasvegas

Two immediate qualifications are needed here - yes, Glasvegas is possibly the worst pun to ever appear in a band name, beating even the Dandy Warhols. And yes, 'Daddy's Gone', the Glaswegians' debut record, recently finished second in the NME's 'Singles of the Year' poll, somewhat diluting the 'there first' glory that is the primary purpose of these articles. But sod it, sometimes you have no choice but to hitch your wagon to the one in front and admit defeat. Glasvegas' combination of Mary Chain fuzz and a Phil Spector wall-of-noise pop sensibility is simply irresistible, with the deceptively emotive vocals only adding to their melancholic appeal. For some reason, the fact they're sung by two guys who look like they'd enjoy nothing more than to swiftly decapitate you for looking at their teddy boy quiffs in the wrong way just makes them even better.

Johnny Foreigner

www.myspace.com/johnnyforeigner

Featuring some of the most exciting, innovative and downright weird guitar playing you'll hear this side of Cap'n Jazz, Johnny Foreigner are a delectably odd combination of Huggy Bear riot-grrrl, Minus the Bear math-pop and the complex ramshackleness of the aforementioned Kinsella family band. Based in Birmingham, their syncopated energy, boy-girl twin vocals and the fact that they are obviously not scared of accusations of 'being clever' give fresh hope to those who feared the Twang's moronic chest beating had killed off the second city's recent indie scene revival.

Threatmantics

www.myspace.com/threatmantics

Every year, almost without fail, Wales produces a new band of wonderfully bizarre brilliance. From oddball godfathers, Super Furry Animals and Gorkys Zygotic Mynci through McClusky and Jarcrew and onto last year's representatives, Los Campesinos!, our cousins in the principality somehow manage to mine a uniquely productive seam of musical genius. To that list, you can now add the name Threatmantics. A viola-toting Cardiff three piece whose bilingual art-pop defies easy classification, mainly because most of their songs sound like they've been recorded by completely different bands. Recent single 'Sali Mali', a tribute to a legendary Welsh cartoon character, is perhaps the most immediately straightforward, an SFA-flecked slice of glam-ish rock. 'Don't Care', on the other hand, sounds like the work of a bunch of dangerously unpredictable hobos, with spoken word sections leading to falsetto choruses and so many chops and changes in tempo the overall effect is nothing so much as disorientating. In a good way, naturally.

Dananananaykroyd

www.myspace.com/dananananaykroyd

Still holders of the much coveted 'Best Band Name Ever' award, Dananananaykroyd may not be strictly new, in that they've been touring and releasing records for the past year or so, but if any band deserves to get the leopard skin settees and cocaine covered cornflakes of mainstream success, it's them. Not that they'd partake of course - any band this obsessed with the Washington Dischord records scene are unlikely to lower themselves to the clichéd rock 'n' roll antics of lesser outfits. Tech-y guitar trills interspersed with sheets of white noise sit restlessly on top of beats that vacillate between post-punk twitchiness and the driving power of post-hardcore. And they have two drummers. What more could you want?

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