Our fondness for Sweden's native brand of frosted pop is well documented, and today we're pleased to introduce you to their latest offering, Sirena. Street name Elsa Carmina, the Barcelona-born singer ushers in a tidal wave of exotic heat on debut single "Love Is Not". As undulating synths ring their way around your finger, her lovelorn voice resonates like the smoking pixie fireball of Lykke Li with the rapturous homespun afterlife of Ms Mr. There's no expiration date on this one, but you're gonna wanna get familiar with Sirena as soon as possible.
We've been loving Mr. Little Jeans' debut album since she first sent us a secret preview of it late last year, and now she returns to publicly unveil our favorite track from it, "Oh Sailor", as her new single. A billowing youth anthem in waiting, Monica's wistful vocals drift in and out of your dreams, walking a delicate line between the whispered beauty of Lykke Li and the skyscraping uplift of The Naked & Famous' Alisa Xayalith. And when the ocean-sized chorus engulfs you with ageless harmonies from the Silverlake Conservatory Of Music Youth Chorale, it's like nothing else you've ever experienced in 2013. Truly perfect.
Niki & The Dove are basically our new favorites. Malin Dahlström has the frostbitten Scandinavian looks to kill with the icy vocal chops of Lykke Li and Alex Winston, while her partner in crime Gustaf Karlöf crafts the kind of electronic opuses you just want to live inside of forever. "The Drummer" is currently on repeat as one of our favorite singles of the year, but supporting it on EP of the same name is stellar past single "Mother Protect", which gets a new lease on life with this oven fresh remix from LA's Goldroom. Fresh off sun-baked remixes for Penguin Prison and Poolside, Goldroom zooms in on the glittering arpeggios of the original and adds an uplifting key progression that takes the original to warmer shores, where its icy disposition melts away under the sunny beats of the beating sun. It all goes double-time in the breakdown as you start to get lost in her atmospheric vocals, until the determined keys return to lead you exactly where you need to go. Consider it the perfect track to whet your appetite before the duo headlines our introductory POPSHOP UK event with The Sound of Arrows this tomorrow at Cargo. Not that we need to remind you, but it's completely FREE ENTRY, so get involved if you're into living the dream without regrets.
DOWNLOAD: "Mother Protect" (Goldroom Remix) - Niki & The Dove
We've been loving the sights and sounds of new Lucky Number hopefuls Friends for a minute now, so it's with great pleasure that we bring you this exclusive mp3 of their pristine debut single "Friend Crush" ahead of their Popshop debut next Thursday (tickets still available here). There's a rough charm about "Friend Crush" that's too endearing to ignore, breezy melodies and shimmering guitars coming together to perfectly complement the earnest innocence of frontwoman Samantha Urbini as she yearns for something just a little bit more. They're one of the most exciting new bands in Brooklyn, if only because their sound is so far removed from the Brooklyn we're used to - sonically this wouldn't be out of place in Lyyke Li's catalog with Bjorn Yttling at the production helm - and we can't wait to hear what they've got in store for us in the months to come.
Mr. Little Jeans has been kicking around the blogs for a long minute now, but we’ve had her triumphant single “Angel” in regular rotation for months and still can’t get enough. Nevermind the fact that this Mr. is actually a Ms., she's one of the best new talents we've heard in an age and we're thrilled to introduce her as the latest addition to the Neon Gold team. Effortlessly coalescing the vocal stylings of everyone from Karen O to Lily Allen and Lykke Li, mademoiselle Little Jeans' has emerged as one of our favorite new vocalists in the game and the perfect candidate to carry on the legacy of former Neon Gold leading ladies Marina Diamond and Ellie Goulding. "Angel" is one of the biggest tracks we've heard this year and has all the makings of a bona fide underground smash, a true ladies night anthem in waiting. We'll be bringing it into the world on Neon Gold late next month as our next release, so take some time to familiarize yourself with its brilliance below.
So this was our go-to jam when spring first hit NYC last year and we've had this post in the works ever since, so figured we should just go ahead and get this out there. That said, there's not been much uncovered about Stockholm's mysterious Nottee in the intervening period since she first skipped across our radar way back when. We still know next to nothing about her - we're pretty sure she's related to one of the Lo-Fi-Fnk bros and we know she's got two stone cold jams in "Control" and "Young Modern Life", but that's about it - though she's just announced her debut shows outside of Scandinavia and recently posted a promising new demo to her myspace, so seems like things are starting to pick up for the Swedish chanteuse. But to be real with you, all we really care about is the fact that the sun is shining outside and "Control" sounds like a winning mix of "My Moon My Man" and that whole Lyyke Li record, and we're pretty down with that.
Our fondness for Sweden's native brand of frosted pop is well documented, and today we're pleased to introduce you to their latest offering, Sirena. Street name Elsa Carmina, the Barcelona-born singer ushers in a tidal wave of exotic heat on debut single "Love Is Not". As undulating synths ring their way around your finger, her lovelorn voice resonates like the smoking pixie fireball of Lykke Li with the rapturous homespun afterlife of Ms Mr. There's no expiration date on this one, but you're gonna wanna get familiar with Sirena as soon as possible.
