The best thing about combing the back-alleys of pop culture vacuums for new or obscure pop gems is the high probability of stumbling onto something in a foreign language. And if the last couple years of quitegoodness in pop have taught us anything, it's that having pronounceable names or understandable lyrics in the realm of pop music is no longer relevant (Yelle, anyone?). But a catchy hook and smart melodies have no become more crucial than ever. And none of these should be of any issue to Utada Hikaru. Utada, as she's known Stateside, is one of the reigning queens of Japanese pop, always poised to crossover, but almost always obstructed by record label incompetence (Hi Island!). She's such an understated pop presence that you wouldn't know by looking at her or these days, even catching one of her music videos, that she's maintained a decades-long foothold in Japanese pop as storied as Madonna's but as relevant as Beyoncé's. But unlike either of them, she's not one for choreographed dance routines (fans of club-friendly J-Pop need only consult Namie Amuro.) She places more importance on actual singing than showmanship. And we thank her for doing so.

Speakerphone continues after the jump.

Lily Allen has a new record out and judging by the glimmering first single, it may live up to the promise of her debut. But more importantly, everyone knows that when someone as inimitable as Lily Allen strikes gold, a crop of soundalikes blossom immediately. Last time around, the most successful one of these was Kate Nash -- who, for all her charms, was a bit too much of a copycat, down to the nuanced accent and honkytonk piano diddles. But this year, we have someone who only minimally seems inspired by Allen's bravado -- VV Brown.

I've resisted bantering about her as her brilliance has been pretty widely covered, but there's something about Brown's doo-wop fabulosity that makes the potential of overexposure nothing but an excellent thing. Over in the golden land of pop -- the UK, naturally, Brown's already won a modicum of exposure with her first single Crying Blood. But it's her second single that we need to keep our ears peeled for. Leave! features the best marriage of eyeblindingly colorful haute couture and boxes since Robyn's Handle Me. While an American release date is still pending, her debut Traveling Like the Light is poised to populate store shelves across London in May. She's also going to opening sets for both Ladyhawke and The Ting Tings. Also, please ignore all lazy comparisons to Janelle Monae.

Before we dive into those little paragons of pop that make 2009 look like a promising year of music, it's fitting to issue a few elegies. With that in mind, goodbye Annie and thank you for giving us one of the most caustic pop songs of last year even if your record got lost in limbo. Also, thanks for coming back so fiercely, Lily Allen. Not so much to the Spice Girls. With that out of the way, here's a cast of musicians (many of who seem like sleeker, retro-fitted incarnations of bands we already adore) ready to send a few jolts into the music world's axis this year.

And since no reasonable person could be expected to keep up with a constant avalanche of new music (I still haven't got around to most of the music on my iPod left over from the second half of last year), I'll be unrolling my favorite picks for the year over the next few weeks, including a few unsigned diamonds. Because the state of music criticism has become so unfortunately staid and predictable (thanks Pitchfork!), I'll try to shake things up. This week, we go from assembly-line pop to slow-burning indie rock.

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