Announcing Rhapsody Radar 2012 -- 25 Up-and-Coming Artists We Love

Azealia Banks, Kendrick Lamar, FIDLAR, El Bebeto, Kimbra, Japandroids and Halestorm are among this year's contenders for pop music's next breakout star

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Rhapsody

Jul 24, 2012, 12:25 ET

SEATTLE, July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Emerging from a months-long selection process with unkempt facial hair, pizza- and coffee stained t-shirts, a strong aversion to direct sunlight and ears still ringing from listening to tracks from the thousands of artists considered, the Rhapsody editorial team has announced its selections for Rhapsody Radar 2012.

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Rhapsody Radar is the music world's most diverse listing of up-and-coming artists. This year's crop features 25 new acts across multiple genres, from country to EDM, chosen by Rhapsody's renowned editorial staff.

"Rhapsody is all about music discovery, which explains why our editorial team spends pretty much every waking moment finding new artists to get obsessed with," says Rob Harvilla, managing editor, Rhapsody. "Our readers and, more importantly, listeners are some of the most diverse and discerning music fans on the planet, and we're thrilled to offer them an equally wide-ranging crew of fresh artists they'll hopefully fall in love with, too."

Inclusion in Rhapsody Radar has proved to be an indicator of future success. 2011 Radar artists, including Foster the People, tUnE-yArDs and Frank Ocean, rose from relative obscurity to achieve widespread critical acclaim.

The Rhapsody editorial team is made up of veteran music critics who are subject-matter experts in each genre included in Rhapsody Radar; artists were selected based on their critical and commercial strength. The 2012 slate also includes new stars in country (Love and Theft), Latin pop (Juan Magan), hip-hop (Danny Brown), world music (Debo Band), soul (Nick Waterhouse), metal (Bible of the Devil), pop (Rita Ora), Christian rock (Moriah Peters) and electronic dance music (Disclosure).

The five-week-long tribute will feature five artists each week, highlighted via editorial and video content on Rhapsody's blog, The Mix. Additional content will also be available on Rhapsody's YouTube channel, Rhapsody TV. Ladies and gentlemen, Rhapsody Radar 2012!

WEEK ONE (7-10)
Elle Varner: The R&B Conversationalist
Bible of the Devil: Metal Knights of the Midwestern Night
Juan Magan: The New Latin Dance King
Daughn Gibson: The Truck-Stop Trip-Hop Baritone
Disclosure: The Young Dance-Floor Revivalist Brothers

WEEK TWO (7-17)
Fidlar: The SoCal Surf-Punk Scuzzball
Romain Virgo: The Reggae-fied Voice of the Ghetto
Danny Brown: The Motor City Motormouth
Kimbra: The Kiwi Indie Poptress You Definitely Know
Debo Band: Boston's Finest Ethio-Groove Collective

WEEK THREE (7-24)
Moriah Peters: The Bubbly, Wholesome Christian Rock Sensation
Japandroids: The Party-Rocking Canucks
Azealia Banks: The Hip-House Bad Girl
Tedeschi Trucks Band: The Southern Jam Tradition Lives On
El Bebeto: The Baby-Faced, Hipster-Backed Banda King

WEEK FOUR (7-31)
Blackberry Smoke: Amped-Up Southern Rock Hippies
JEFF The Brotherhood: The Nashville Bro-Rockers
Kendrick Lamar: The Good-Kid Rapper in a Mad City
Halestorm: She Devil + Killer Riffs = The Sweetest of Nightmares
Nick Waterhouse: The Rhythm and Blues Rock 'n' Roller

WEEK FIVE (8-7)
Spoek Mathambo: South Africa's Uber-Avant Wild Child
Love and Theft: Earthy, Harmony-Driven Americana Crooners
Baroness: Georgians Making Metal Gorgeous
Rita Ora: Britain's Jay-Z-Approved Party Girl
Cold Specks: The Somber, Invigorating Folk-Rock Songstress

About Rhapsody
The Rhapsody® digital music service (www .rhapsody .com) gives subscribers unlimited on-demand access to more than 16 million songs, whether they're listening on a PC, laptop, Internet connected home stereo or TV, MP3 player or mobile phone. Rhapsody allows subscribers to access their music through more touch-points than any other digital music service, including mobile phones from Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS, through Rhapsody applications on the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, RIM BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and Android mobile platforms as well as through devices from Vizio, SanDisk, HP, Sonos and Philips. Rhapsody is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Frankfurt, London, Luxemburg, New York and San Francisco. Rhapsody, and the Rhapsody logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Rhapsody International Inc. Follow @Rhapsody on Twitter and keep up with the latest on the Rhapsody Facebook page.