Off the record

All the biggies are back — Britney, Beyoncé, P!nk, Leona Lewis, Christina Aguilera — having simultaneously decided that the pre-Christmas market is the place for superstars to sell the most albums. But, most excitingly, all this activity now leaves plenty of space in 2009 for some impressive newcomers.

Blame economic gloom perhaps but the pop in the pipeline is consistently frivolous, glamorous and escapist. Who needs black-clad rock bands telling us everything's rotten when the 10 O'Clock News does the same job for nothing? What this country requires is glitter, and lipstick, and strange haircuts.

At the forefront are two young Brits emerging from the hipster ghetto but unafraid to describe themselves as pop singers and profess deep love for Kylie — Little Boots and La Roux. Blackpool's Victoria Hesketh records as Little Boots, having ditched her old band, Leeds punk trio Dead Disco, to make something with more glitz and accessibility.

Her early track, Stuck On Repeat, heavily references the epicentre of all great synth pop: Giorgio Moroder's rolling bassline on Donna Summer's I Feel Love.

A free Little Boots mixtape (downloadable from www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/download.html) begins with a Goldfrapp song, another apt reference point for her desire to make pure pop that is just weird enough to stay interesting.

"I love Girls Aloud and Sugababes but they've got no character," she complains. Now working with Joe Goddard of hip electro boffins Hot Chip and LA producer Greg Kurstin, who has sculpted songs for both Kylie and Lily Allen, she is perfectly primed to solve pop's personality problem. She plays the ICA on 21 November, and releases her debut album in the new year.

Slightly more off the wall, if mainly for her red half-A-Flock-of-Seagulls hairdo, is Brixton 20-year-old Elly Jackson, who records as La Roux. Her debut single, Quicksand, released by Kitsuné records on 15 December, throbs with Eighties synths and stop-start funk. Another track from her MySpace page, In For the Kill, is even catchier. Recently signed to Polydor, home of Scissor Sisters and Girls Aloud, she'll have the big money push to make her a genuine star next year.

It wouldn't be the modern British pop scene if we didn't have someone performing in a heavy London accent loaded with glottal stops, which is where Croydon DJ and producer Sarah Louise Akwisombe, aka GoldieLocks, comes in. Half-rapping, half-talking, occasionally singing over grimy beats means people will hate and love her in equal numbers, but she'll be hard to avoid next year. She's playing at the Barfly tonight.

Much less home-made is the latest offering from across the Atlantic, Lady GaGa. Peroxide blonde Stefani Germanotta is a New Yorker who attended the same school as Paris Hilton. Her powerful electropop track Let's Dance is currently creeping up the US charts before being released here by Polydor in January. Her consistently catchy debut album, The Fame, follows on 26 January.

But out-quirking them all is Paris-based Stéphanie Sokolinski, who sings as Soko. Closer to a folk singer than the others, she's primed for inevitable Kate Nash and Lily Allen comparisons thanks to her witty, brash, frequently rude lyrics. MySpace highlight I Will Never Love You More sees her listing all the things she prefers to her boyfriend, sung in a cutesy Gallic coo. Her debut album is pencilled in for a February release, and she plays the Borderline on 21 November.

In troubled times, it's only right that we should turn to those in the sparkliest dresses for relief. In music at least, 2009 looks bright indeed.

NEW ON THE NET
*Franz Ferdinand's comeback single, Ulysses, isn't released until January but at www.beatport.com you can already buy the song in 10 separate parts and make your own remix. The best ones will be released as official downloads alongside the full single.

*Mercury-nominated Portico Quartet have gone from busking obscurity to releasing their first single on Monday. Cittàgazze will be in download stores in two dubstep versions.
   
*Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have gone down in the world but seem to be enjoying a new creative freedom. Without a record label, their new album The Effects Of 333 is entirely instrumental and can only be bought for £6 at www.brmcdigitaldownloads.com.