Gary Flockhart: Music fans beg for Meursault

EACH year the BBC publishes a list of acts they expect to make a splash in the music business.

With past winners such as Adele, Jessie J, Elllie Goulding, Little Boots and The Bravery experiencing varying levels of success, it’s clearly not an exact science, but it does give an indication of where the music industry is heading.

The list requires 160 tastemakers from across the UK - including radio DJs, critics, producers and magazine editors - to nominate their three favourite up-and-coming acts from any nation and any musical genre.

Nominees can’t have had a hit in the UK, nor can they be well-known to the public, as the whole point is to thrust an unknown into the spotlight. Or so they say.

Bafflingly, the 2012 longlist includes a few names many will already be familiar with - including Azealia Banks, who topped the NME Cool List, Grammy-nominated dance star Skrillex, and Lianne La Havas, who has appeared on Later With Jools Holland.

All three are well on their way to big things - so it’s hardly a heads-up.

No matter. In the age of the internet, many music blogs have published their own lists - and most of them are more interesting than the Beeb’s.

Featuring in many of said lists - but not the BBC’s - are Edinburgh’s own Meursault. And deservedly so.

I tipped the band back in 2008 and, while it’s lucky I wasn’t holding my breath, I’ll stick my neck out again and back them to breakthrough in 2012.

Meursault’s forthcoming third album should do the trick.