As we're sure you'll all know, we've have a serious long-term music crush on Arcade Fire. You probably do too! The Suburbs has to be one of our favourite albums ever and after the buzz that their interactive video for Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) created, we've found ourselves hitting play again and again. Although the interactive video is super cool - you can make yourself dance along with Regine Chassagne - it mostly reminded us just how much we love this track. Take a listen - we dare you not not to hit repeat!

Here at Topshop, we’ve had the radio on non-stop this week and have decided to put together our very own list of alternative number ones. These seriously cool girls and boys are making the kind of tracks that we think deserve to be played all holiday long.

If you like your Christmas number one to be festive, our first, holiday-perfect pick is a deliciously sweet seasonal tune by kooky duo She & Him. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have come up with a whole album of vintage sounding Christmas songs, from which ‘Christmas Day’ is being released as a single. Taking inspiration from the likes of The Carpenters, The Beach Boys and Elvis Presley, the songs are striped back to just vocals and acoustic guitar to capture the old school magic of Christmas. It reminds us of 50s America and we’re having visions of spending Christmas drinking egg nog in a cute prom dress and sporting a fabulously retro hair-do.

Next up, we’re loving the way gospel singing is laid over drum rhythms in EJ’s debut single ‘Mama I’m Guna Sing’. Raised by her Barbadian mother, the London based singer, whose real name is Edwina Johnson, grew up in Sweden, where she was surrounded by an eclectic mix of different cultures. This may explain the multitude of influences in her debut track ‘Mama, I’m Guna Sing’, which is beautifully soulful with an urban edge. Her semi-accepella voice is fused with simple percussion on this wonderfully under produced track, which perfectly shows off the voice of someone who is set to be a rising star in 2012. Apparently her next single is a huge urban pop track and has met with an excited response from the online music community. We can’t wait to see more of EJ.

And last but not least, why wait to be picked up by a record label when you could just start your own? That’s the reasoning of band My Tiger My Timing who are releasing their debut album through their own label, Snakes & Ladders. ‘Written In Red’ is the band’s fourth single and is full of catchy hooks, dancehall beats and electronic melodies. Based in South East London, their unique blending of dark pop, punk and electro has clearly been influenced by the musical scene there. After catching them on the John Peel stage at this year’s Glastonbury, we were quickly mesmerised and think they definitely deserve a place on our list.

With these and loads more amazing new acts coming through over the next few months, 2012 is set to be a great year for music. What do you guys think of our picks? Let us know if you think we’ve missed someone out!

Here at Topshop we love finding out about the coolest new bands before anyone else so we were very excited when we heard about the French/Finnish experimental pop duo, The Dø.

Made up of vocalist Olivia Bouyssou Merilahti and composer Dan Levy, The Dø are already huge in France, where they released their debut album, The Mouthful, back in 2007. Their sound is somewhere between Bjork and MIA, with some Finnish Choral music thrown in for good measure!

Olivia and Dan met while recording the music for French movie Empire of the Wolves and went on to make music for ballet and theatre before knuckling down to produce an album, which may explain the abundance of influences and genres in their songs. A quick listen through their back catalogue will take you from bluesy guitar tracks, to melodic Finnish folk songs by way of rap, rhymes and psychedelic tribal beats.

Both Ways Open Jaws, their new album is released in the November and looks set to finally get them the international attention they deserve. Dan’s skills at composing are evident in the sheer number of instruments crammed into each track. Whereas most Indie bands are happy to settle for three or four, The Dø experiment with countless instruments as well as with samples, glitch beats and synthesizers, all set off by Olivia’s stunning, almost childlike voice.

The Dø are playing a special show at the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, November 23 and are definitely worth checking out. See you there!

As the festival season has come to a close, us Topshop girls have jumped on the gig circuit to check out some of the hottest new bands playing in London. 

Last week we headed to Kyla La Grange's single release at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen. The East London music venue had been transformed into a magical setting, with the stage draped with leaves, vines, trees and hanging skulls. A heaving crowd was treated to a heartfelt and intense set - the highlight being Kyla’s debut single Walk Through Walls. Kyla herself is enchanting, with a voice which in places echoes Kate Bush and Florence and the Machine, and a cute and quirky personal style to match. Fans of folky pop music should definitely check her out.

This week saw the turn of Brighton based band Cave Painting, who also played the same venue, proving that the Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen is a good place to start if you want to discover new acts to add to your playlist. Cave Painting have been tipped by many as the next big indie band and have a beautifully mellow orchestral sound. The vibe of the night was quite hedonistic, with tribal drumming patterns, drifting guitar riffs and some wailing, during which the lead singer's voice remained surprisingly good. Their single Midnight Love is a stunningly low-fi blissed-out track that has been on repeat in the Topshop office all week. We can't wait to see what they will do next!

Let us know who you're planning on seeing over the next few weeks. We may check them out...

We're sure you will have come across Lana Del Rey by now! Like everybody else, the New York singer-songwriter (known as Lizzy Grant to her friends), has quite literally stolen our hearts. A self-proclaimed 'gangster Nancy Sinatra', she's retro Hollywood hills perfect and oh-so-gritty all at once. Expect to hear a lot more of her husky tones - her double sided single Blue Jeans/ Video Games isn't even out yet and is causing quite a stir.