If the 2015 tip lists are to be taken as gospel, then earnest male solo artists – or, more especially, earnest male solo artists wearing ludicrous hats – are going to be huge next year. Peel away some of the industry hyperbole, however, and you’ll find a wealth of interesting and innovative musicians neglected by such lists – most of whom come from the many all-female bands releasing, touring, and probably garnering unsolicited comparisons to Haim for the next 12 months.

‘Real girls, young and believable’ … the Slits’ Viv Albertine on Skinny Girl Diet. Photograph: Luca Giorietto

While last year Honeyblood and Haim made up part of the measly proportion – 4% – of all-female groups performing at UK festivals, 2015’s offerings may help shift that statistic towards equality. Festival bookers should pay close attention to Madrid outfit Deers, real names Ana Garcia Perrote and Carlotta Cosials, whose scratchy, Velvety romance on record is shredded into ramshackle punk on stage. Another band injecting energy into the big venues of Britain are London’s Juce, whose sound, like ESG and TLC locked inside a karaoke booth, is singlehandedly bringing positivity, funk and fun back into music, so much so they’ve been picked up by Island Records for their forthcoming debut. Not so enjoyable are the sceptical comments left under their YouTube videos – a reminder that with female bands, there will always be one male snide who claims there’s a man pulling the strings.

Elsewhere on the internet, there’s a throng of provocatively titled artists whose names seem to hail from the dark corners of the web as if to forewarn you of their agenda (as those who have attempted to Google Perfect Pussy will attest). LA’s Girlpool aren’t pretty young women bathing next to lagoons, but guitarist Cleo Tucker and bassist Harmony Tividad. They embody grunge’s fusion of indifference and anger in their wild, sparse, occasionally bluesy tracks, which has led to a label deal with Wichita and a tour with Rachel and Nicole of gnarly DIY grunge group Slutever, too. You should sample Girlpools’ brilliantly barbed Blah Blah Blah and Slutmouth, the latter of which includes a lyric summing up their feminist manifesto: “I go to school every day, just be made a housewife one day?” Elsewhere, Skinny Girl Diet have been endorsed by Viv Albertine, with the Slits icon proclaiming: “At last, real girls, young and believable, singing in their own voices.” As well as previously opening for Albertine with their leering no-wave drone, the Londoners and self-described “fierce girl gang” also supported Primal Scream at September 2013 iTunes festival, an event that probably made Bobby Gillespie consider hanging up his suede winklepickers, given the slick racket coming from the three terrifyingly cool teenagers on stage. Barely out of school blazers are also Cherry Glazerr – a group who have one foot in the fashion world (or more specifically, in the dreams of rock-rebel obsessive Hedi Slimane, for whom they’ve modelled and soundtracked a Saint Laurent show) and the other in making heavy, angsty melodies. Their skill is in swerving from febrile to funny – in particular their ode to PMS, White’s Not My Color This Evening, which is backed by a video featuring NSFW cupcake consumption.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Post-disco post-disco … Jagaara. Photograph: Steve Gullick

Meanwhile, Nimmo – formerly Nimmo and the Gauntlets – have also been working up a dedicated fanbase over the past few years, ripples of which subsequently piqued the attention of Columbia Records. London-based Sarah Nimmo and Reva Gauntlett may look like they’ve stepped out of This is England ’88, but their music is less punk or 2 Tone and more akin to the moody and modern electro pop of the xx and La Roux. Up the M40 are Birmingham’s Ekkah – who bring the beats and sophisticated alt-R&B into the new year. Comprising and named after friends Rebecca and Rebekah, their bass-heavy sound recalls the nocturnal groove of Jessie Ware and Kelela, and forms what they describe as a “post-disco-80s-R&B”. If you’re after a sound to wind down after the post-disco post-disco, the whispered melancholy of trio Jagaara are coming for London Grammar’s reign on the indie-ambient genre next year, while Sydney’s Little May – whose winding, bucolic EP is out now – are gunning for the soundtrack to next year’s summer with their 2015 debut. So there you have it – punk, funk, grrrl riots and rebels; and not a ridiculous hat in sight.