Stuck On Repeat: Suddenly Submerged Edition

Joywave - Tongues (featuring Kopps)



Kate Boy - The Way We Are



Mark Morrison - Return of the Mack (Viceroy 'Jet Life' Remix)



Amerie - Why Don't We Fall In Love (Kaytranada Remix)



Pharrell - Happy



Jacques Greene - On Your Side (featuring How To Dress Well)



Marina & The Diamonds and Charli XCX - Just Desserts

Not A Part So Far Entwined

Festival season is upon us. Plans for a pilgrimage to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury may have been scuppered once again, but rest assured I will be wreckin' it at as many Irish festivals as the piggybank will permit.

Headliners are all well and good (I'm looking forward to ticking Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Knife and Bjork off my musical bucket list) but it can be more fun to try figure out which acts further down the line-up can't afford to be missed.

Someone I'll certainly be chasing down at Electric Picnic this year is Scottish three-piece CHVRCHES. Although the band appeared on a slew of tastemakers' 'big for 2013' lists last year, it's only in the past few weeks that I've fully succumbed to their charms.

The 80's synthpop swagger of current single 'Gun', anchored by Lauren Mayberry's irresistible vocal, is easily the best song I've heard about homicidal arms-based revenge. Meanwhile, their pacey reworking of MS MR's already pretty excellent 'Hurricane' is, for now at least, the definitive version.

On A Journey To Who Knows Where

In a recent post I mentioned that, although the state of pop music Ireland is in rude health right now, I thought we might be a while off laying claim to a chart-conquering EDM star in the vein of this year's Oxegen headliners Calvin Harris and David Guetta. Turns out I may have spoken too soon.

Dáithí Ó Drónaí is a musician I happened upon way back in the days of Myspace and it's been really interesting to follow his progress from fresh-faced TV talent show contestant to ambient trad/electronic indie kid and now, seemingly, chart-ready pop maestro.

New single 'Chemeleon Life' is a markedly more 'commercial' sound than his previous releases, with rich vocals from Dublin singer Rachel Barror, credited as Raye, soldered onto Dáithí's synth-heavy production. 

It's pretty remarkable how he's managed to transition to this sound with such ease, but it's also reassuring to see in the video for the track, directed by Feel Good Lost, that he hasn't abandoned his trusted fiddle altogether.

Dáithí's debut album, which is shaping up to be an intriguing prospect, will be released on Sony later this year.

And You Stashed My Heart Somewhere In The Dark

Disclosure can do very little wrong these days. After being denied their all-but-guaranteed spot on the BBC's 'Sound of 2013' list due to the premature success of their single 'Latch', Surrey-based brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence went on to score an even bigger hit earlier this year with their AlunaGeorge collaboration 'White Noise'.

For latest single 'You & Me', they've recruited English popstar Eliza Doolittle, swathing her vocals with a pacey 'nu-garage' backdrop. The results are impressive, with Ms Doolittle coming off like an on-form Katy B and Disclosure consolidating their position as UK dance music's new wunkerdkinds ahead of the release of their debut album 'Settle' next month.



Also worth a listen is Auckland singer Ruby Frost's version of 'White Noise'. Recorded for what seems to be New Zealand's answer to 'Live Lounge', Ruby strips the track back to a keyboard ballad and it really works.

I Don't Want To Know What You Did Before

Occupying a point on the musical spectrum somewhere between Ms Mr, Ghost Loft and Until The Ribbon Breaks, it was never going to take long for New York duo to nuzzle their way into my affections.

Backed by one of my favourite new music sources, Neon Gold, the 'mysterious' New York duo (groogh) produce pop music that's doused with shimmering synths and underpinned by punchy hip hop beats. Latest release 'Operate' is probably their 'piéce de resistance' but a clutch of their other tracks, including a sprightly cover of Beck's 'Gamma Ray' are similarly impressive.

Dreams I Had Got Lost In The Dance

Today, a friend of mine introduced me to 'Dance With Me', the latest single from Dublin chamber pop duo Maud in Cahoots, and I've had it on loop for the past couple of hours.

I'm feeling a little silly that this fantastic act has been sitting more or less under my nose for the past couple of years, without me realising. Combining luscious instrumentation, gorgeous harmonies that remind of a softer Heathers and melancholy melodies worthy of the most lovelorn of Scandinavian chanteuses, sisters Zoe and Maud Reardon make music that stands apart from anything else I've encountered on the Dublin music scene.

'Dance With Me' is one part of a double A-side single taken from their new EP, on which they worked with Max Heyes. The other part is 'Make Me Right', which you can hear below.