Now listening: reader playlist

This week's playlist is from Emily Brinnand, who has joined the Guardian music desk for two weeks under our work experience programme . Emily is a multimedia journalist who produces and co-presents a radio show in Sheffield . It promotes and celebrates unsigned and new music in the city and across the UK. She also blogs about music through her own website and films live studio sessions with artists. She provides daily music news on Twitter – follow her here . Plus she'll be covering this year's Tramlines festival for Amazing Radio. My taste in music is wide and varied. I like Britpop, indie pop, electronic, dance, acoustic and have a guilty pleasure for 80s classics and R&B. I like a song if it has an effect on me, whether that's making me sad, happy or in the mood to dance. Whatever the genre. I come across music by trawling the internet, looking at what's new and just emerging. Most of the music in this playlist came to me through the connections I've made with bands over the last few years through my radio work . I'm introduced to lots of new bands and musicians that never get as much attention as they should. Most of it's from Sheffield, but some a little further afield, with an established band thrown into the mix. The Daydream Club – Neon Love Song (Part II) The Daydream Club are an acoustic folk duo consisting of northern lass Paula Walker and Midlands lad Adam Pickering. The duo draw influences from the contemporary and popular girl/boy harmonies of groups lsuch as the Slow Club. They started out doing electro music with backing tracks, but then they stripped everything back to produce the sound you hear in this song. This track is haunting and stays with you. I could hear it in a film soundtrack, with it's epic and powerful sound. Arkham Karvers – Circles This next band was one of the first Sheffield unsigned bands I came across. I like their energetic harmonies and catchy hooks that stay in your head for days. After releasing two EPs, headlining sold out gigs and developing their sound they started supporting ex-Little Man Tate frontman Jon Windle, who added them to his new label, Tiny Teeth Records. I've had the pleasure of drumming with this lot. Their songs make you feel happy and want to bounce up and down at a gig. They're also influenced a lot by comic books and yes, their name is inspired by Batman. See Emily Play – Four Feet from the Door See Emily Play is headed up by Emily Ireland and their name is taken from the Pink Floyd song – but their sound is very different. The lead vocals from Emily are surprisingly powerful and intense for a 19-year-old girl. She recalls Kate Bush's vocal range and Regina Spektor's ability to play both the piano and guitar. She's also been spotted by Jon Windle and now releases her music through Tiny Teeth Records. She's recorded a couple of tracks with Jon for his second solo album Sober Minds. Walter Bottle – Save Yourself & Pick Up Your Feet James McBreen, Joe Armitage and Helen Rutherford are a new band making music in a student bedroom in Nottingham. They've built on their initial style of acoustic pop and folk to an electronic and rather dancey sound. What makes this band stand out is McBreen's voice. He was in pop group Flamboyant Bella, who became a MySpace giant with over two millions plays and were signed to EMI. Here's their session on BBC Introducing, which shows how good they are. J Kas – Bad Boy Sheffield rapper J Kas has been rapping since he was young, taking influences from Snoop Dogg, Kriss Kross, Michael Jackson and Tupac. I like his music because it's refreshing to hear rap being made in Sheffield – it's something new and different. He shot his new video Bad Boy across the city and it looks pretty good. Alvarez Kings – Cold Conscience This progressive pop group are prominent in the Sheffield scene. They've been busy recently performing live all over Europe but managed to get into the studio to record EP Cold Conscience, which came out this week. I love their upbeat and gritty guitar riffs and vocals that remind me of Kings of Leon. They performed at SXSW festival this year and they've played alongside Bloc Party, The Enemy and The Courteeners. Reverend and the Makers – Bassline Reverend and the Makers make it clear in their songs that they're Sheffield born and bred. That's what I love about the band; they're proud and haven't forgotten where they're from. Bassline is from their new album. It's brilliant because it blends synths, noise guitars and, as the name suggests, a lot of bass. But it's not the typical Makers sound as Jon McClure said it was never meant to make it's way on to the album. But after a while he thought, why not? Dead Sons – Room 54 The Dead Sons are producing something that definitely sounds like it's from Sheffield. Reminiscent of the early Arctic Monkeys but a little scarier and heavier. The Crookes – Afterglow I really started to like the Crookes after they performed at the city's Tramlines festival a couple of years ago. They're now touring all over the world and gathering fans from all over the place. I think it's great that their name is based on a little place in Sheffield called Crookes. Although they've not adopted the Sheffield accent their catchy indie pop ought to get them far. Alex Johnson – Fall Away Singer-songwriter Alex Johnson is from Blackburn but he's making music in, you guessed it, Sheffield. I like how stripped back and intimate his sound is. His lyrics are simple yet beautiful and I think once Alex gets into the studio he'll produce an amazing album. What do you think of Emily's selection? Any standout tracks? Let us know in the thread below, and tell us about the songs you've had on repeat this week. • Interested in submitting a playlist? Email [email protected] with the subject line "Now listening" and tell us who you are, and one or two tracks you'd include.