Róisín Murphy: "Exploitation"

Unfortunately I can't find the mesmerizing 9.5-minute album cut so this 4:20-friendly single mix will have to do. Róisín Murphy - of the Róisín Bran Murphy's, of course - spent the first decade of her music career fronting the seminal techno-pop UK act Moloko before striking off on a solo career that, thus far at least, has proven more critically acclaimed than publicly lucrative. Murphy's lack of fiscal fortune is our artistic gain, as the entirety of Hairless Toys seems engaged in outdoing even the mighty Björk in terms of flirting with pop conventions while still keeping them stubbornly at arm's length (please extend the similarities no further than similar intent; I could have just as easily compared Murphy to Kate Bush or even a less calculating St Vincent).

Paris XY: "The Return"

This one has been kicking around a few weeks but I can't let it slip through the cracks. The 90's female singing style has been heavily in vogue for at least a year now, but Paris XY flip the script a little bit, never really delving into the expected modern rock but also proving too restless to adhere to the new wave schtick which still hasn't gotten its overdue backlash. "The Return" percolates along menacingly for the first few minutes before escalating into a filthy update on old skool rave... and no bullshit EDM in sight! Yep, what this track almost gets wrong - sidestepping disaster only at the last second - is every bit as important as what it emphatically gets right.

Darktown Strutters: "Evil Eye"

"Darktown Strutter's Ball" is one of the most oft-covered standards of early jazz, as well as providing the title for the most racist film of all time. Not sure how this discogaze (please don't let that be an actual word) group settled upon it, but "Evil Eye" is some solid ass 2 AM summer chill music.

(via Gorilla Vs Bear):

Para One (feat. Irfane, Teki Latex & Cam'ron): "Every Little Thing" [Girl Unit Remix]

No idea how Cam'ron showed up on this thing. The best that can be said is that he doesn't really detract from the tune, but "Every Little Thing" isn't about the verses anyway. If this song were aimed at Top 40 radio it would ruin that stop-you-in-your-tracks chorus with a generic EDM backbeat. I'm really fucking bitter about pop.

Shlohmo + Jeremih: "Bo Peep (Do U Right)"

I have no idea what's going on with that artwork but this track right here is how shit is done. I'm not too big a fan of Jeremih on his own, and frankly it sounds like he's kinda trying to jump on the cloud R&B trend on "Bo Peep", but Shlohmo can do no wrong. I mean, he probably can but this isn't gonna be the song to end his streak.

Banks: "Fall Over"

Proving once again that Brooklyn is on the way out and LA is on the way... actually, pretty much already here, Banks follows up last month's "Before I Even Met You" with another radio-friendly club take on modernist Blue Eyed Soul. Girly girl is comfortable enough to not only shoot her newest video like it was a Victoria's Secret audition, but like Mike Jones before her she's even got her home phone number posted to her Facebook profile.

Goldroom: "Sweetness Alive" [Future Unlimited Remix]

We've covered Future Unlimited before, but here they're remixing Goldroom - a band hitherto unknown to WKMR - to stunning effect. Nothing wrong with the original, but take a gander at the unreconstructed version over at Goldroom's Soundcloud then come back and tell me this mix doesn't take it to some next shit.

Psychic Twin: "Strangers"

More evidence that "chillwave" was a crass marketing gimmick all along, and that the faux genre's perpetrators actually meant to occupy the crevice between arctic synthpop and tropical dream pop all along. I mean, they're all marketing terms, obviously, but most of them serve a certain shorthand purpose, as opposed to the clearly deliberate attempt to coin a phrase just for the sake of coining a phrase. Oh, and by the way: Psychic Twin, y'all.

Banks: "Before I Even Met You"

In spite of what many who want to write off all new music as derivative will tell you, there's been an insane amount of excellent - even groundbreaking - shit that's come out of the 80's synth renaissance in recent years. Truth be told, though, we've reached a saturation point and have now hit Peak New Wave. So what's next? Fucking 90's revival, what else?

Banks kind of hearkens back to the Trip Hop-lite of Poe but makes sure to throw a little of that sultry Lana Del Ray sex kitten in there to stay contemporary. It sounds a bit art-by-committee on paper, but as a first single it works pretty well; the vocals have an appealing melodic flow, and I actually appreciate the fact that whoever produced this opened up the beat instead of burying it in gauze like every other shoegaze/dream pop crossover track of 2012.

Monarchy: "Disintegration" [feat. Dita Von Teese]

If a moment can be pinpointed for the exact date that Marilyn Manson lost the plot, it was whatever afternoon he decided to trade in Dita Von Teese for that chick from Thirteen. Yeah, she was of age by then, but that's just too much skinny pastiness for one couple to pull off.

Sky Ferreira: "Lost In My Bedroom"

As I type this the Billboard Hot 100 is topped by the likes of Rihanna's "Diamonds", Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "Scream & Shout", an art-by-committee collaboration between will.i.am and Britney Spears.

Fuck you, there's no way you can tell me those songs are better or even more accessible than "Lost In My Bedroom". There are no offputting, rough edges on this song whatsoever, so explain to me how the Gaga and Ke$ha fans can't get into this... hell, Sky Ferreira is even signed to Capitol, an admittedly past-its-prime major but still home to chart topping acts like Luke Bryan and Katy Perry. Maybe it's a matter of time: WKMR fave "Ho Hey" is shockingly on the come up so anything is possible (PS: congratulations, assholes... that song has been out for a fucking year already).

Pillowfight: "Get Your Shit Together"

Where do I recognize that cinematic backing track? Ah, I'm pretty sure I heard it on a Tarantino soundtrack which means he in turn stole it from someone else. Double down on my research? Fuck that. Pillowfight is a new project by Dan the Automator and the somewhat lesser known Emily Wells. Wells' vocals strongly recall the trip hop era of the late 90s, which seems to be the next big era to be revisited wholesale.

AlunaGeorge: "Your Drums, Your Love"

The Weeknd doesn't have a monopoly on syrupy, left-field R&B. The duo of Aluna Francis and George Reid. In addition to making a splash with their You Know You Like It EP earlier this year (and the blanket Pitchfork coverage which attended it), they've also remixed the likes of Lana del Rey and Friends, not to mention being remixed themselves by Friendly Fires and Bondax. "Your Drums, Your Love" is their most impressive work to date, the electro vox on the chorus being the kind of thing that Kanye drools over.
AlunaGeorge on Nowness.com.

Churches: "Lies"

For all the talk of 80's revivalism, there are a few bands that are definitely pimping the 90's (particularly in the vocal arrangements). Metric come to mind, and now here are female-fronted Glaswegian band Churches ringing in that EBM crossover rock as well. If this band have an album out you wouldn't know it from the FIVE links (!) on their Facebook page, and that's about as much clicking as an unpaid writer like me is willing to put into it. I mean, I'm my own intern for fuck's sake.

Fore: "Don't Have a Clue"

Nothing particularly compelling about the rapped verses - they're heartfelt yet average - but the soaring chorus is what sets Zimbabwe artist Fore's "Don't Have a Clue" apart. With that falsetto reminiscent of old British New Romantic bands this is one of the premier chill jams of the summer.

You can get the entire Going Back is Not the Same as Staying on Fore's Tumblr.

The Presets: "Youth in Trouble"

I grow increasingly confused by these impossible-to-watch music videos even as I become more and more enamored of the songs behind them. In this case you wouldn't want to fuck with the snaky, mesmerizing bass groove at the heart of "Youth in Trouble" anyway, so if these visuals were intended as some kind of warning they're certainly superfluous.
(via The Color Awesome):

Ghost Beach: "Faded"

I'm not at all enthused about that milquetoast, designer pop chorus, but there's enough going on instrumentally on Ghost Beach's new jam "Faded" that I'm willing to give the wannabe pop punk middle frames a break. Ghost Beach arose out of the ashes of TV/TV, whom I've never heard of so presumably no loss there... especially if they were a pop punk band.

Virtual Boy: "Memory of a Ghost"

Not every song needs to be a perfect compendium of flawless parts. Witness Virtual Boy's new single "Memory of a Ghost": you'd be hard pressed to make a case that the flimsy, robotic vocals add anything to the whole, but the washed out, broken carousel of a melody segueing into that sizzling, pan fried synth line is definitely worthy of multiple listens.

Virtual Boy, the self titled album from you know who, came out a month ago on Alpha Pup.
(via XLR8R)

The Golden Filter: "Kill Me"

Syndromes, a ten minute short film from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, is the genesis of The Golden Filter's song "Kill Me" (though the video below is a separately shot piece with a differing theme). Syndromes is being screened at this year's SXSW Film Festival, though it's already been released on DVD coupled with a six song soundtrack album by The Golden Filter (you can also view it on the band's website). Otherwise not a whole lot appears to be going on in the GF camp at present, but this weird ass video should hold you over in the meantime.


The Golden Filter - 'Kill Me' from The Golden Filter on Vimeo.

Mouse on Mars: "Polaroyced"

Whatever money is being lost in the music industry certainly doesn't appear to be getting spent on music video budgets.

Mouse on Mars return after a six year hiatus with Parastrophics, their first album for fellow German Modeselektor's Monkeytown imprint (February 28). In terms of the video itself you don't get much more lo-concept than this: basically just a guy in a lucha libre wrestling mask breakdancing in various alleyways. The actual music is a bit more sophisticated, a chattering chiptune rhythm line underscoring squelchy, knob tweaking synth lines. Somehow it manages to be almost poppy in spite of itself. Welcome back, meine Freunde.