Recorded with Portishead man Geoff Barrow's other band Beak> in Bristol last year, Berlin resident Anika's self-titled debut was aong the more compelling curios to emerge from 2010. An album littered with outlandish covers ranging from Dylan to Yoko Ono and obscure '60s girl group Twinkle, the record is a thing of dank and delicious beauty, sounding as it does like Nico fronting a dub-inflected no-wave outfit from 1970s New York.

If a few motley words on the subject aren't enough to coax you down to her one-off UK show at the Lexington on January 26 (and let's face it, we don't flatter ourselves that they would be), you can check out her way-cool cover of Yoko Ono's 'Yang Yang' right here, and have your mind made up for you:

The rise and rise of Rinse FM darling Katy B has been a pleasure to witness, from star-making turns with Magnetic Man and 'Katy On A Mission' to her latest, Miss Dynamite-assisted single 'Lights On'. A debut LP's due sometime in the new year, and her stop-off at Camden's Koko venue in April as part of an 11-date UK tour should see the Brit-school alum right at the top of her game.

4AD newcomer Twin Shadow will be pimping his new wave-tinged wares in the UK with a series of live dates early in the new year, culminating in a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire in support of Warpaint on February 21.

The NYC-based brainchild of Dominican Republic émigré George Lewis Jr won acclaim for inaugural sally Forget, which was released in November and produced by Grizzly Bear drummer Chris Taylor.

Evoking the dapper melancholy of Scary Monsters-era Bowie fired through a polished chillwave lens, the record quite simply featured some of the most accomplished pop songwriting we've heard all year and begs to be heard performed live.

Warpaint, we should add, are also a formidable prospect onstage - no excuses for missing out on this one then, are there?