Mavis Staples is down the line from her home in Chicago, talking about the first time she met gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, her girlhood idol turned mentor and friend.

Picking a name for your musical project is a bit like getting a tattoo. Something that may seem fun in the moment can lose its appeal a couple of years later. Com Truise (aka Seth Haley) discovered this too late, after spoonerisms became de rigueur in the underground electronic scene. (See Wevie Stonder, Mord Fustang, Joy Orbison, Jichael Mackson, Ponty Mython.)

It took less than a year for Rakim Mayers, aka A$AP Rocky, to go from hanging out completely unknown in Harlem to being Sony-signed and Drake co-signed. Last October, on the strength of two street singles, the 23-year-old released the mixtape LiveLoveA$AP, making himself one of 2011 music’s hypest, strangest memes: a curious collision of future ingenuity meets old-guard aspiration.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan purposely position themselves at the nebulous centre of multiple dialogues about identity politics, culture, genre, discipline and even what it means to be a band.

You could say that Rae Spoon’s year began with a battle.