Welcome to new music Monday! Today may well be the best day for bum-kicking ladypop acts that we've had all year. But are they all up to their usual high standards? Read on and discover, fair reader.

Girls Aloud - Can't Speak French (single)

Oh GA - what's gone wrong? For a start the Marie Antoinette meets um, streetwalker, costumes are just a little too nutso, even for us, and secondly, you seem to have nicked a large part of your melody from Amy Winehouse's Back in Black. Hells bells, you even use the word 'funky' in a serious fashion. Stay behind after class - we need to have words.

Sugababes - Denial (single)

Not just a river in Africa, but the new Sugababes single Denial is, what we call in the trade, a bit of a grower. First time I heard it I thought it was rubbish. Second time I heard it I thought it was a bit like a shonky, but promising Madonna cast off and the third time I was vogueing in the mirror. Full marks also for a video that looks like an episode of the Clothes Show from 1992. Oddly impressive.

PJ Harvey - Devil (single)

Sorry, is it just us or does the very beginning to this sound like Back to Black as well? I must have Winehouse on the brain. Devil certainly has its charms, but I prefer Polly with a guitar, banshee screech and some rocking riffs. Sorry.

Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me (single)

Seriously, this is the last time I'll say this; but does anyone else get a Back to Black vibe off this? A shameless attempt to plug into the current craze for big-lunged, ballsy soul influenced singers this may be, but I quite like this. I'm embarrassed, of course, but I see no point in denying it. B +.

Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward (album)

They're shouty, they're young, they vom onstage and we love 'em. Be Your Own Pet's new album will remind you of the stuff you played loudly to piss off your parents when you were 13 and didn't actually even like in the first place - you have to get your priorities right. Anyway, this is like that stuff, but good - like, with tunes as well as clatter. Listenable noise-core. Its what we've always wanted.

Here they are at this years SXSW, playing The Kelly Affair from Get Awkward.

Operator Please - Yes Yes Vindictive (album)

They're shouty, they're young and um, well, this lot don't vom onstage - yet - but we still love them too. Take some riot grrl, electro, alt.punk and violin, then proceed to chuck them all into one stylish blender. The result? Take a peek below.