Ladies Day

All eyes on Royal Ascot this afternoon as the great and good of the fairer sex get the opportunity to flaunt their fashion sense. It’s an occasion that many navigate effortlessly, gliding across the grass looking demure and chic. There are others however who prefer to glue a pretzel to the top of a sombrero and surround it with the contents of Ainsley Harriott’s fruit bowl, before getting stuck in to the champagne and heckling Willie Carson – This is what happens if you invite the northerners!

In honour of this annual stepping out parade The Sound Of Confusion is bringing you our very own Ladies day! Us men have taken a bit of a kicking in the charts in recent years as Boots, Florence, Ellie, Marina and the one with the funny hair whose mum was in The Bill, have swept all before them with their Electro-pop.

As the female domination looks set to continue here is our pick of who could be next up.

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First in line we have Sarah Mcintosh aka The Good Natured. We've been banging on about Sarah for the best part of 2 years now, but things look like they might be about to take off for the London songstress. Having at last signed a deal with Parlaphone, she releases the 'Skeleton EP' at the start of July and it's already garnered enough attention to suggest her star is in the ascendancy

Next up is Oh Land who released her second album (her first in the UK) just a few short weeks ago. The Dane has appeared on a string of America's top chat shows and is supporting Katy Perry later in the year, so it's safe to say if you've missed her thus far that probably wont be the case for much longer.

Also from Scandinavia but maintaining a lower profile is the excellent Nottee. The former Lo-Fi-Fink bass player decided to go solo and has spent her time building up a collection of funky house tunes. Earlier this year she released a single 'Don't Waste Your Light On Me'  and has promised more new tracks for later in 2011. In the past she's been featued by Kitsune Maison and also had the glamorous distinction of getting number one in my songs of 2010 list - they'll be no stopping her after that!

Staying in Sweden let's have a look at Niki and The Dove. Kev played her 'Mother Protect' track on his radio show back in November and since then she's been on the end of a lot of positive press (all Kev's doing!). Another single 'The Fox' came out on Sub Pop last month and a debut album is already recorded which is likely to be preceded by an EP later this year.

Got time for one more? Good, here's Keep Shelly In Athens. They're a duo who have been working together for just a year and have already been compared favourably to St Etienne. Last November they put out the 'In Love With Dusk EP' and then followed it up a couple of months later with a further pair of tracks, 'Hauntin' Me' and 'Song To Cheer You Up'. They're currently in the process of playing their first ever live shows so catch them at a town near you!



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There you go, that's 5 to keep an eye on when you're scanning the charts over the next 12 months- and to think we've not even mentioned Alex Winston or Hannah Yadi (see 'Let's Get Ready To Rumble' post) nor Anna Calvi or Dimbleby And Capper - These ladies are everywhere!

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