It's tip time once again! Tip tip, hooray. The BBC has announced the results of their annual Sound of … poll as voted for by music industry insiders who go by the tag "tastemakers". Topped by sister trio Haim last time out, the list is exclusively dominated this year by solo artists and duos, and features a variety of gloomy future trip hop, warped soul, modern jazz and Scandi-pop.

If you took a quick glance at the list this morning and felt a pang of anxiety for only recognising that guy with the really normal name who was on that Disclosure song you quite liked, then make sure you study our quick guide to the future faces of 2014 below. The winner is announced in January, so let us know in the comments below who you think should be crowned the most promising new artist for 2014.

Banks

From: Los Angeles

Label: Good Years

What we said: "More Jessie Ware than Jessy Lanza. It's more obviously commercial. And there's a definably, conventionally sexy persona and image to market here."

Buy now: London EP

Chance the Rapper

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Name: Chancelor Bennett.

From: Chicago.

Label: Self-released.

What we said: "He raps about the realities of [Chicago's] violent South Side without glorifying it and manages to not wander into Lupe Fiasco-holier than thou territory."

Buy now: Acid Rap mixtape.

Featured on: Childish Gambino, Joey Bada$$, James Blake.

Chlöe Howl

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From: Maidenhead.

Label: Columbia.

What we said: "Embraced by the indie world and glossy enough for Radio 1, Howl is the most exciting UK pop prospect since Lily Allen skipped through LDN in a pair of Nike Airs and a prom dress."

Buy now: Rumour EP

Ella Eyre

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From: London.

Label: Virgin.

What we said: Nothing just yet. But here's what Planet Notion had to say: "Deeper combines a pop-centric roar, aided by Two-Inch Punch's warped production, and culminating in a hook … that will have you trying to say 'Dig a Little Deeper' like your head is stuck in a fishbowl."

Buy now: Deeper EP.

Featured on: Rudimental, Naughty Boy, Bastille.

FKA twigs

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Name: Tahliah Barnett.

From: Gloucestershire.

Label: Young Turks.

What we said: "Papi Pacify is echoey and eerie yet extremely pretty, becomingly increasingly heavy, like bass music slowed to a deathly pace, or AlunaGeorge in hell."

Buy now: EP2.

George Ezra

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From: Bristol.

Label: Columbia.

What we said: It's early days for Ezra, but The Line of Best Fit called his single Budapest "classy folk-pop, at a time when the genre's originality had all but washed away. They sure don't make them like this anymore."

Buy now: Budapest.

Jungle

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Names: T and J.

From: West London.

What we said: "Jungle make world music for rundown inner cities. It's jungle evidently made by people who don't a) like jungle or b) live in the jungle, unless it's an urban one."

Buy now: The Heat.

Kelela

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Name: Kelela Mizanekristos.

From: Washington DC.

Label: Fade to Mind.

What we said: "Her debut, Cut 4 Me, is one of the year's most thrilling releases – a mixtape combining her gorgeous R&B voice and chilly, metallic production."

Buy now: Cut 4 Me mixtape.

Luke Sital-Singh

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From: New Malden, London.

What we said: "It's like hearing a bunch of Neil Youngs circa After the Goldrush, harmonising together."

Buy now: Tornados EP.

MNEK



Name: Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike.

From: Bellingham, London.

Label: Virgin/EMI.

What we said: "MNEK loves the productions of Jam & Lewis as well as 80s Britfunk – he's got a track called Detention Love that reminds us of Loose Ends' mighty Hangin' on a String."

Buy now: Gorgon City ft MNEK - Ready for Your Love.

Featured on: The Very Best, Rudimental, Duke Dumont.

Nick Mulvey

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From: Cambridge

What we said: As yet, nada! But Clash wrote this about the former Portico Quartet member's live performance: "There are Afrobeat flourishes, rhythmic kicks which lead into unexpected directions. Already a concert staple, Nitrous is buoyed by a heavy, nagging groove which allows for plenty of improvisation."

Buy now: Nitrous.

Royal Blood

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Names: Mike Kerr (vocals, bass), Ben Thatcher (drums).

From: Brighton.

What we said: "There would appear to be no limitations to what these two musicians can achieve as long as they stick within the parameters of what they seem to want to do, which is to make simply thrilling rock'n'roll and blow away festival crowds next summer."

Buy now: Out of the Black

Sam Smith

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From: Cambridge.

Label: PMR Records.

What we said: "There's a track called I'm Not the Only One in which Smith's anxious vocal is laid over a woozy, Tom Waits-like piano track, and it has the definite whiff of a hit."

Buy now: Safe With Me.

Featured on: Disclosure, Naughty Boy.

Sampha

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Name: Sampha Sisay.

From: Morden, London.

Label: XL.

What we said: We haven't written about him just yet, but we did feature his work in a New Music blogpost about a Lil Silva collaboration.

Buy now: Happens.

Featured on: SBTRKT, Lil Silva, Jessie Ware.

Say Lou Lou

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Names: Elektra and Miranda Kilbey.

From: Stockholm and Sydney.

Label: Downtown Records.

What we said: "As commercial pop goes, Maybe You is less fizzy than forlorn, and the words are tremendous, existentialist angst-poetry for teens on Twitter."

Buy now: Beloved