Imagine if the Beatles had never existed (it's easy if you try). The entire past 40 years of popular culture would be liberated from a hideously male fixation on one band - a band that, dare I say it, is not the be-all and end-all of pop music. In this alternative universe, the Supremes and the Shangri-Las come to define the 1960s, hairy-handed seriousness is replaced by shoo-wops and fingerclicks, and fun supplants druggy self-indulgence.
It is this dreamy utopia that the Brighton three-piece the Pipettes inhabit, where girl groups roam the earth and people listen to music for the long-lost reason that they actually enjoy it. They have released only two singles so far, and each one is a glorious starburst of harmonies, handclaps and shimmery guitars. On "Dirty Mind", the band exchanges and overlaps vocals with wit and elegance, but it's the new single, "Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me", that I will happily call the song of the year so far, a phenomenally restorative tonic for anyone with the slightest malaise about popular music.
The song may sound like it's come straight out of the 1960s, but what is wrong with that? The word "retro", when applied to music, conjures up images of po-faced, parochial Ocean Colour Scene fans who keep copies of Mojo in greying ring-binders. Nothing could be further from the Pipettes. Each tumbling roll of the drums and finger-wagging line about love and dancing plays out in beautiful technicolour. That the girls sing so well is just icing on the cake - as are their live performances, which incorporate formation dancing and matching polka-dot dresses.
You can download both Pipettes singles from www.wippit.com, and it makes sense, while you wait in agony for the debut album, to bulk up the playlist with a few of the original girl groups. I would recommend adding the Supremes' "The Happening" and "Baby Love", as well as the Shangri-Las' "Give Him a Great Big Kiss". Suddenly, it's as if the Beatles never happened.
