Start The Clocks, Can We Just Slow It Down?

A quick Google search for Bondax throws up some images of what I can only imagine is a fetish culture of bondage involving for latex. If all goes to plan, a similar search this time next year will yield mostly images of Lancaster teenagers George Townsend & Adam Kaye, rather than tightly-bound ladies in catsuits.

I first came across the fresh-faced fellows when their excellent track 'Baby I Got That' started doing the rounds towards the end of the summer. I guess I was somewhat late to the party, seeing as the likes of The Point of Everything had earmarked the pair's potential this time last year.

George and Adam released an EP in March, which saw them affiliated with the UK's burgeoning 'future garage' scene, which is supposed to sound like the Artful Dodger after a spin in a DeLorean, I guess.

Bondax have since signed to Sony and, judging by their latest release 'Gold', they're set for big things next year.

Gold by Bondax

Because We Used To Be The Cool Kids

Despite the pathetic number of posts I've managed over the past eighteen months, I'm still surprised that I never got around to posting about Charli XCX.

Although still just 20 years young, Charli has been releasing music since 2008 when the caught the attention of one of my favourite music writers The Guardian's Paul Lester, even if he had written her off as a Lady Sovereign wannabe.

It's only in the past year or so though that she's really hit her stride, releasing a slew of excellent EPs and mixtapes, working with some of the most interesting producers on the go and lending her vocals to Icona Pop's signature tune 'I Love It'.

Keeping good company, Charli was chosen to join Sky Ferreira and Grimes on the cover of V Magazine earlier this year and was also namechecked in that Pitchfork article I mentioned previously about the next generation of pop music.

Charli XCX's album lands in February and, yesterday, we got another little taster of what to expect in the guise of new single 'You (Ha Ha Ha)'. Based around a sample of Gold Panda's 'You', the track builds into a spiteful dedication to a former lover, with all the hallmarks of Charli's patented 'gloom pop' sound.

Charli XCX - You Ha Ha Ha (Radio 1 Airplay) by charlixcx

Aaliyah Please, This Is Green Envy

Katy B's new 'Danger' EP, available to download for free over at her official site, is a great little reminder of why 'On A Mission' was one of 2011's finest pop records.

Collaborating with the likes of Iggy Azalea, Diplo, Wiley and Jacques Greene, Ms B has managed to rope in some big names to help her out. The standout though is 'Aaliyah', a duet with Jessie Ware, produced by Geeneus.

A fitting homage to the late great R'n'B singer, 'Aaliyah' does not appropriate any samples or descend into mawkish tributes. Instead, Jessie and Katy plead with an irresistible dancefloor maven by the name of Aaliyah to steer clear of their men. As one friend pointed out, it's a bit like 'Jolene' with nineties keyboards.



Jessie Ware's own record 'Devotion' is deservedly being bandied about in end-of-year album lists and she's also become the latest remix subject du jour. These efforts by Cyril Hahn and Disclosure are some of the best, and I also really love this cover of Brownstone's 'If You Love Me' she's recorded with Japanese teenagers Benzel.

BBC Sound of 2013

The usual deluge of end of year 'best of' lists has arrived on cue and, accordingly, attention has begun to shift to the artists likely to populate these lists next year.

The BBC's 'Sound Of...' list has arguably become the definitive tastemaker list, perhaps because it aggregates the predictions of 200 journalists and assorted other 'industry professionals'. This year's longlist has just been announced and is typically diverse.

Two Irish acts, Kodaline and Little Green Cars, have both made the cut. Little Green Cars are one of the most promising Irish outfits to have emerged in a while and, although they're perhaps unlikely to come top of this list, they've certainly got the chops to conquer next summer's festival circuit.



In terms of the act I'm most excited about on the list, it's got to be Angel Haze. The Michigan-born rapper's mixtapes have helped to establish her as a formidable force and there's an underlying intelligence and wit in her rhymes that should give her an edge over her contemporaries.



I'm also glad to see Sierra Leone-born singer A*M*E, who has been championed by the likes of Popjustice this year, make the list. I love that her brash pop sound is wrapped up in a great sense of fun and, at the risk of sounding like an X Factor cliché, she seems like she has 'the whole package'.



The full list is as follows:

• AlunaGeorge 
• A*M*E 
• Angel Haze 
• Arlissa 
• Chvrches 
• HAIM 
• King Krule 
• Kodaline 
• Laura Mvula 
• Little Green Cars 
• Palma Violets 
• Peace 
• Savages 
• The Weeknd 
• Tom Odell

For a comprehensive rundown of the longlisted acts, check out this BBC feature:

I Lose You In The Dark

And now for something completely different. N'awww. Just messing. It's another singing lady flanked by skittery electronica.

There's scant information about UK act Twigs, whose debut EP has quickly become a talking point on music blogs since its release 24 hours ago. What we do know is that she graced the cover of fashion bible iD earlier this year and that her music occupies a point on the musical spectrum somewhere between CREEP, Grimes and Purity Ring.

My pick of the EP is 'Breathe', but it's all pretty damn good.

Everything And Nothing At The Same Time

A big regret of mine is the time I sat too long on an offer to interview Sky Ferreira a couple of years back. Sadly, I doubt that interview op is going to come back around any time soon as, recently, she's become something of a big deal. Recent single Everything Is Embarrassing has earned her probably more kudos than anything she's released to date while her live sets have also succeeded in generating a 'buzz'.

Hopefully, this means we'll finally get an album. A release, entitled 'I'm Not Alright', has tentatively been scheduled for early 2013, with production by Jon Brion, Greg Kurstin and Ariel Rechtshaid. Sky has been giving some of the new material an airing during recent performances, including the track 'You're Not The One', which she played as part of a session for Newtown Radio.



Also worth a look is this interview with Tavi Gevinson for Rookie, and this piece on Pitchfork about how Sky, Solange and Charli XCX are supposedly the saviours of sophisticated pop.

A Deadly Game But Still We Play

Listening to the new Jai Paul demo reminded me of American singer-songwriter Niia, whose version of  his track 'BTSTU' comes close to the original in its brilliance.

It turns out she's got some new material of her own, a track called 'Libertine Hero', which teams her jazzy vocals with handclaps, synths and some flourishes of brass. It kind of sounds a bit like the type of song Sia might be releasing right about now if she wasn't so busy making hits for other people.

  Libertine Hero by niia

It's not quite on par with her covers, but few things are.

  BTSTU by niia

  Mad World by niia

I'm Back And I Want What Is Mine

It's not the first I've written about him, but such is the level of secrecy surrounding XL Recordings' signing Jai Paul, there remains only one proper photo in circulation (unless you count this provisional driving licence.)

It's two and a half years since 'BTSTU' became the source of mild blogospheric hype and, despite this leading to features on Beyoncé and Drake tracks, Jai Paul's output has been decidedly sparse.

In fact, until now we've only been treated to one other 'demo', Jasmine, which materialised in April of this year. Now, after another extended period of quiet, the maestro has unleashed another demo, 'Flip Out'.

Mr Paul seemingly had second thoughts about offering up even this morsel as, mere hours after posting it on his social networks, the track disappeared again. Thankfully, some savvy internet folk managed to hit ctrl + c while the track was available:

Bearing a similarly hazy vocal to 'Jasmine', underpinned by blasts of brass, pounding percussion and other samples, the track has a sprawling, cinematic feel.

[Stream via Selenites Play This]

Until I Pushed Too Far

If you pop Solange Knowles' name into google, 'solange knowles hipster' is one of the autofill suggestions. As infuriating as the 'hipster' label is, (I'll vent my spleen on that topic another day), it probably comes as something of a reprieve from the 'Beyoncé's sister' tag that has plagued her throughout her career as a solo recording artiste.

Hipster or not, there has been something indisputably stylish about Solange's output since her 2008 record 'Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams'. Whereas that record relied heavily on Motown girlband pastiche, more recently she has been channeling her retro inclinations in a more interesting way, fusing them with shimmering synths and other electronic elements.

Forthcoming EP 'True' has already spawned the excellent 'Losing You' and now we get a second taster in the form of 'Lovers In The Parking Lot'. Produced by Dev Hynes, the man behind one of this year's best singles, the track serves to heighten expectations for the seven-track EP, which lands next week.



  Solange - Lovers In The Parking Lot by Terrible Records

  Solange - Losing You (Cyril Hahn Remix) by Cyril Hahn

Stuck On Repeat - Daylight Savings Edition

Ms Mr - Hurricane (Twin Shadow Remix)

 
Daft Beatles - Heart of Glass (Blondie vs Philip Glass)

 
Destiny's Child - Say My Name (Cyril Hahn Remix)

 

Angel Haze vs. Jamie xx - New York (The 83rd Mash-Up)

 
Flume featuring Jezzabell Doran - Sleepless

 
Disclosure - Latch (featuring Sam Smith)

 
Heathers - Lions Tigers Bears

It's Quite A Long Story To Tell

But it starts with a boy. Nineteen years old. From Denmark.

His breed of melancholy synthpop has seen him hailed as a male Robyn, or indeed a one-man Hurts with integrity, by The Recommender, but Asbjørn's debut album 'Sunken Ships' sets him apart as a singular artist blazing his own trail.

Lead single 'The Criminal' is perhaps the finest example of 'top shelf pop' I've come across this year; a beacon of hope at a time when 'lolpop' and Ed Sheeran ballads are order of the day. The rest of 'Sunken Ships', thankfully, delivers on this promise.

Beautiful production that combines glacial beats with string and piano arrangements provides the perfect backdrop for Asbjørn's soaring vocals. Combining Erik Hassle's pop sensibilities and the melancholy but defiant spirit of Patrick Wolf's first two records, 'Sunken Ships' certainly floats my boat. (lololol)

Good news: the whole album is available on Spotify, which is available in Ireland now. Get it into you.



  03 Strange Ears by AsbjornMusic

When I Want To Stop I Can

One of the pillars of my current infatuation with all things New Zealand is Princess Chelsea, aka Chelsea Nikkel. Introduced to me by my lovely friend Sean, I was instantly charmed by her singular brand of 'baroque pop'.

Nikkel's calling card is 'The Cigarette Duet', a collaboration with her former Brunettes bandmate, Jonathan Bree, but early indications are that her forthcoming album 'Lil' Golden Book' will deliver on the promise of this morbid musical morsel. Colourfully described elsewhere as "the soundtrack to an old Disney movie meets Kraftwerk fronted by Enya in a 60s production of Les Mis, in space", Princess Chelsea is certainly an intriguing prospect.

Plus, she's mates with Pikachunes.

Be There In A Second's Flat

A track I've been hooked on for the past couple of weeks is 'Seconds' by Ghost Loft. Teaming electronica with R'n'B á la James Blake, The XX and The Weeknd, the track is also slathered with pop sensibilities.

Ghost Loft, real name Danny Choi, hails from Los Angeles and seems to be another of these camera shy fellows. It appears that he is only getting started at this music-making lark, with just a handful of uploads to his Soundcloud. In any case, he's already making waves with these initial releases and should be worth keeping tabs on in the coming months.



Incidentally, the track was featured on Ms Mr's recent mixtape, which can be downloaded here.

Welcome To The Inner Workings Of My Mind

One of the last posts I managed before my mysterious absence (Recuperation after suffering a porcupine to the heart. Probably) was about Ms Mr.

'Bones' remains an absolute favourite of mine, but it's their latest release 'Hurricane' which is really doing the business for them, even leading to a feature in the Guardian's New Band of the Day.

The mysterious pair still haven't 'revealed' their 'identities' and, if you ask me, that's a pretty risky strategy. I mean it didn't exactly pay dividends for iamamiwhoami or Monarchy.

In any case, with a major label deal behind them, it probably won't be too long until we see what exactly Ms and Mr look like.

What a fucking tune.

Oh, My Heart Is A Porcupine

Meet Ruby Frost, one of a number of musical wonders hailing from New Zealand that are beginning to make ripples on the global scene (see also Pikachunes, Princess Chelsea, and of course Kimbra).

After picking up the MTV 42Unheard Award in 2009 and the John Lennon Songwriting Competition in 2010, Ms Frost inked a deal with Universal and set to work on her debut album, 'Volition', which was released a short time ago.

I've yet to hear the album in its entirety but, based on the evidence of the first few singles, I imagine it's not half bad. Recent singles 'Porcupine' and 'Water To Ice' can rival the output of some of the great artpop dames.

Plus, it might just be the hair, but doesn't she look a bit like Amelia Lily?

...

Then The Moment Is Lost To The Sky

I've never been much of a Jack Peñate fan and, truth be told, I tend to flee at the mere sight of mopey-looking-fellows brandishing guitars. But there's something about this new acoustic video from the London singer-songwriter that completely slays me.

More Than I Think You Do

Another synth-inclined duo who have been blowing up my, er, earphones are South London's Alpines. Their signature 'night pop' sound sees frontwoman Catherine Pockson's sweet yet sonorous vocals offset against glacial electronic beats provided by keyboardist Bob Matthews.

Alpines are what I imagine the musical lovechild of Portishead and James Blake might sound like. Their last official release was in June 2011, but a new remix of Emeli Sandé's 'Heaven' serves as a timely reminder of their considerable potential.

More after the jump...

Kissing Death And Losing My Breath

Back from the dead like some zeitgeist-chasing zombie, I'm gonna try and start blowing bubbles again (as opposed to blowing Bubbles).

First on my hitlist is mysterious New York duo Ms Mr, whose Ghost City USA EP I've revisited quite a few times the past few months. Teaming synths, haunting female vocals and a taste for the macabre, it's hardly shocking that I've taken an interest.

More after the jump...