Former barber aims to make the cut with songs about beaches, babes and bikinis.

From a Glasgow caff, via South America, the gregarious glam rockers hurtle towards the charts.

Naughty intercontinental duo aim their innuendo-laden lines at your hips and the charts.

Spunky garage rock teens bring angst and fatalism to a chart near you.

Californian anthems are coming to Grimsby, as The OC's finest set their sights firmly on the top ten.

'Street and sweet' 18-year-old rapper from Leeds with the sass of Salt 'n' Pepa and attitude of Pink.

Hard-up but resourceful reggae-influenced foursome from Ali G's hood

Our guide to new acts heading your way.

The 24-year-old former Streets collaborator making a late bid for Single of the Summer with his marvellous reggae anthem Perspective.

Passionate Canadians winning accolades with powerful alchemy of Smiths and Joy Division.

Spiky post-punkers bring a brand of robotic, romantic, jerky melodies, via their debut album, to a chart near you.

West London MC with a wry take on the school of hard knocks

Old school two-blokes-and-a-chanteuse dance trio whose floor-filler Lola's Theme is a shoo-in for anthem of the summer

Shouty bubblegum punk quartet whose Pistols-meets-Bow Wow Wow debut Covered in Punk is coming to a dancefloor near you.

An LA-based five-piece who are giving 1967's trippy Summer of Love sound a dose of modern, urban realism.

Hot new UK girl quartet Carolyn, Suzie, Tanya and Tisha. Hailed as the "hip-hop Supremes" - they are blending sassy spoken verses with bubble-gum Motown-y choruses.

A 20-year-old rapper whose profanity-ridden debut single, F**k It (I Don't Want You Back), is setting the charts - and the ears of the sensitive - alight.

Four Finnish rockers who have laid waste to Europe's charts and are poised to do the same in the UK.

This 20-something Icelander writes about life's little disasters with the same mix of insight and irony Beck managed on Loser, which is why people are starting to call him "the Icelandic Beck".

Singer/songwriter Joel Edwards and producer/knob-twiddling boffin Matt Schwarz... clever. Creative. Good-looking. Soon to be very monied. Thoroughly disgusting.