News: Glastonbury announce the ETC longlist

This past week Glastonbury confirmed the blogger voted Emerging Talent Competition longlist. As I've mentioned before, the competition gives unsigned bands the opportunity to win a slot on one of the main stages at Glastonbury Festival and 40 bloggers go through the initial entries to arrive at the longlist - a list of 120 bands considered for the next stage.

Each blogger picks three bands to go through and so I thought I would just highlight the three bands I chose to put through. Competition this year was pretty tough - whilst the overall quality of entries was fairly consistent it felt more difficult whittling down the list to that final three. From the current list of 120 bands eight will be selected to compete at the live finals in April.

So my picks were as follows...

1. Benin City:

Download via iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/faithless-ep/id658971736 Download Benin City's debut album Fires In The Park here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/fires-in-the-park/id660111464 http://facebook.com/benincity http://twitter.com/wearebenincity Credits: Video shot, edited & directed by Clouded Vision.

Currently unsigned following the release of their debut album last year, I was a big fan of Benin City already. They boast a massively distinctive London sound that captures the melting pot of influences that exist in our capital, a little rock and a little funk coming together to make something unique. I strongly recommend you check them out.

2. Brolin:

Produced by Brolin, Luke Abbott and David Pye. Purchase now via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/reykjavik-single/id603996873 'Cundo" EP available via Double Denim Records - order here: http://doubledenimrecords.bigcartel.com www.iambrolin.com

The whole indie-R&B scene has become on of the most fascinating and innovative scenes within music in the past few years in my opinion. I would never have expected to be so won over by the R&B genre but the exposed sensitivity of some of the musicians in that space combined with the incredible production efforts make it one of my favourite sounds right now. The UK is a little under-represented in this space but Brolin could help to redress the balance.

3. Aztec Doll

There's more than a hint of Warpaint about Aztec Doll but they bring their own style and approach to that sound. They have a seriously deep groove going on and I can imagine them sounding great at Glastonbury, come rain or sunshine.

Good luck to my three picks and congratulations to all the bands that have made it this far. You can check out the full longlist (minus a few bands who kept their entries private) on the ETC longlist Soundcloud playlist.