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New Lily Allen? Katy Perry has already had her first US number one

Catchy: Danish popsters Alphabeat

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Sounds of summer

We are now in the thick of what passes for summer in this country, so our musical tastes must alter accordingly. Just as we are only interested in tennis for two weeks every June, when the sun comes out many of us discover a taste for frothy pop and novelty reggae that has lain dormant until that barbecue smell fills the air. Thankfully, there is plenty of new music ready to scratch that itch. In a strange oversight by the record industry, some is not released until september, when thoughts of tyre swings and ice cream vans are fading, but with the miracle of Myspace you can still hear plenty of the sonic equivalent of a day at the beach. Already out there are this is alphabeat (Charisma) by the exuberant Danish sextet alphabeat, and We started nothing (Columbia) by no1 stars the ting tings. Both employ excitable boy-girl vocals and prize catchiness above all else.

Lily Allen gave us the sound of the summer of 2006 with alright, still, a debut of bubblegum ska so successful that the pressure is on for september's follow-up, stuck on the naughty step (regal). Four new demos can currently be heard at myspace.com/lilymusic, including the Madness-style piano pop of guess Who Batman and the grammatically incorrect ballad Who'd of Known. tabloid antagonism is such that the rest will have to be better to avoid a backlash, but Lily has the selfconfidence to survive. The simultaneous arrival of two "new Lily Allens" from the us will also be a problem for her. Little Jackie is new York singer Imani Coppola, whose album, the stoop (EMI, 1 september), has similar swaying horns and streetwise lyrics (myspace.com/littlejackiemusic). More controversial will be former gospel singer Katy Perry, whose lesbian-lite anthem, I Kissed a girl, has already been an american no1, sold more than a million copies and hits these shores on the same day. Her album, One of the Boys (Virgin), follows on 15 september (myspace. com/katyperry).

Other future American pop stars include Solange, which is not a new cough sweet but Beyoncé Knowles's younger sister. Her bouncy single, I Decided, is out on Polydor on 12 august (myspace.com/solange). Then there's Chester French, a pair of Harvard graduates whose Beach Boys sound has been signed up by Pharrell Williams of production gods the neptunes (myspace.com/chesterfrench). Not to mention all the Jack Johnsonalikes currently filling the airwaves. The Hawaiian surf-pop king has already released his fifth album earlier this year, but look out for the similar strumming of G Love & special sauce's superhero Brother (Brushfire, 11 august), Mason Jennings's in the ever (Brushfire, 25 august) and Donavon Frankenreiter's Pass it around (Lost Highway, 1 september). Back here, there are high hopes for Brummie belter Bryn Christopher (myspace.com/brynchristopher), who supported amy Winehouse on tour early on and could easily join Duffy as this year's retro soul star. His single, smilin' (Polydor), appears on 18 august, followed by a debut album on 1 september. Look out for him at next year's Brits, but before then, slip on the flip-flops and enjoy the fact that there's enough musical sunshine out there to get quite a tan.

Paying the download tax doesn't bother me

Whisper it: I'm an illegal filesharer. Me and 6.5 million others in Britain, apparently, who ministers are now seriously aiming to discourage.

Their first step is a nasty letter to the biggest offenders, reminding them that downloading using internet filesharing software such as Limewire and Vuze is against the law. This strikes me as akin to parental advisory stickers on albums and those "contains brief nudity" warnings before TV programmes - they'll probably only make it more appealing. I'm not expecting a written warning, because - like, I suspect, a fair proportion of filesharers - I don't take much and my morals have not completely deserted me. I download the odd song from Mp3 bloggers such as stereogum.com, which also has a moral code of a sort, not leaking albums before release dates and taking tracks down again after a week or so.

But mainly I get American TV shows, using the logic that I'll see them on British television for free sooner or later anyway. But maybe that's a pathetic justification - I don't, after all, steal clothes just because one day they'll cost barely nothing in a charity shop.

My internet service provider (not one of the big six isps) recently spotted what I've been up to and sent me an email, not putting an end to it but encouraging me to upgrade to a better account with no peak time restrictions. So it's not just the downloaders who need to change their attitudes. I'd be perfectly happy with the next stage in the Government's proposals, a yearly levy of £20-£30 on my broadband bill to make sure the artists eventually see some cash. It would certainly help me sleep better at night while my computer is wide awake accumulating new episodes of The Wire.

NEW ON THE NET
*With a tremendous new Bad Seeds album to promote, Nick Cave ought to have knocked his savage side-project Grinderman on the head by now, but he's still busy exploring his even darker side. Keep an eye on www.myspace. com/grinderman for the gradual appearance of four artfully directed new videos of live performances, starting with honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars) with Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream on backing vocals.
*Songwriter Rachel Fuller, best known as Pete Townshend's other half, has announced plans for a concept album on a refreshingly intimate scale. Keep an eye out for her if you're in Kew Village this week, as she's moved into a onebedroom flat there and plans to pen a song per day about her experiences mooching about this week. That means tunes about Starbucks, the hairdresser and her psychiatrist, all downloadable for free at www.weekinkew.com.
*Those missing the arty surroundings of last weekend's Latitude festival will find 25 live recordings of highlights available to download at the iTunes store. Elbow, Franz Ferdinand, Blondie and interpol are all represented, though £19.75 is pretty steep for the whole thing.

 

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