Midnight to Monaco - One In A Million (Com Truise Remix)

Com Truise transforms the throbbing blue eyed soul of Midnight to Monaco into an anxious, 3AM club banger. In typical Truise fashion the song opens with interwoven drum samples fracturing beneath spaced out arpeggiators. What holds the track together is the pop style, nightclub vocals, from Midnight to Monaco, recalling 90s acts like Soul Decision. Cruise is a master of refashioning old sounds and bringing a new perspective to 80's synths. Not unlike a glitchier, Jan Hammer tune, this is a real nighttime song for the summer. Check it:

Beverly - South Collins (video)

Thick and foggy, Beverly's latest single is pure guitar pop at its best. Like a sleepier Paula Cole song, played near an idling chainsaw, this tune is both delicate and jagged. There are hints of Lush here, yet less of the psychedelia and more of the moonscaped pop. It would be easy to label a song like this as shoegaze, but it feels much more like a forgotten cut off Gish, or Belong. While everyone waits for the summer club bangers to trickle onto the net, its nice to grasp onto some serious rawk. The video captures a jaded songstress dealing with heartbreak in a rural town. Slow-motion shots of hip locals at the bar and fall folliage take on an almost sinister vibe here, though its hard to place quite why. Take a look and have listen right here:

Yumi Zouma - Keep It Close To Me

As Yumi Zouma sails closer to the release of the their debut LP, they drop this breezy new single, Keep It Close To Me. With a propulsive beat and cloud-like chord progression, Zouma maintain their own brand of glassy-disco. Like Saint Etienne, Yumi Zouma has a keen sense of how to blend the best aspects of house and twee for light, yet poignant pop songs. Look out for new tunes from the New Zealanders this Spring and hopefully it will help us all inch closer to Summer!!

Lust For Youth - Sudden Ambitions (video)

Here's a new clip from the Swedish darkwave connoisseurs, Lust for Youth. Preparing for their new LP, Compassion, out tomorrow, LFY have been peppering the web with infectious singles. Sudden Ambitions, feels very Lust For Youth. The mid tempo appregiators, the baritone drawl, and trebbly bass reminiscent of New Order, are all hallmark qualities of recent tracks from the group. What makes Lust for Youth most interesting is not their effortless ability to recreate goth-pop music from the 80s, but more their continued production of solid, head-bob worthy, pop tunes. The vacancy left in their music allows for icy stabs to really undulate through the melody, and singer Hannes Norrvide’s voice to command the listeners attention. This is a group that will surely continue to grow its audience. I'd watch for them to be playing much larger stages this summer and into the future. The video here has a very Tough Alliance vibe, with shadowy projections against the band, and a fascination with team swiming. Have a gander:

Shocking Pinks - Double Vision Version (video)

Cryptic and sensual, Shocking Pinks, latest single is the sort of song you crave from a group like this. Double Vision is quite literally two competing tonal themes working harmoniously together. The drums erupt in stuttering bursts, reminiscent of Kanye's Paranoid, before giving way to an infectious, off kilter bass groove. It seems like the beginning of a stark disco track, but before long the whole tune is echoing with liquid guitars and synths. This combination of dance music and atmospheric sounds is nothing new for Shocking Pinks, its simply that it works so well here. This is a tune I can't get enough of, and whether there is another version of Double Vision or not, this is only one that matters. Its time to let go of the winter and slink in the Spring, and what better way to do so than with this mopey, club banger:

Part Time - It's Alright With Me

Its not a new year, without out a new track from Part Time! Mr Loca sets sail with a breezy ballad about giving up the ghost of a past babe. Lush guitar strokes and harmonized "ooOo's" bring to mind The Field Mice, or earlier, Donnie and Joe Emmerson. As usual Part Time is easy listening and It's Alright With Me is another track that will lodge in your skull.

The Chemical Brothers - Wide Open ft. Beck (video)

Long running Big Beat Mancunians, The Chemical Brothers finally put forth a clip for their reinvigorated single Wide Open. Wide Open, in typical Chemical Brothers' fashion is expansive with its sound, as large square and saw synth tones punctuate a melody around Beck's voice. The vibe here is far from abrasive, with a warm, repetitive progression that recalls Royksopp, or Gui Boratto. The video is a stirring visualization of dancer's metamorphosis from a human, to a porous elasticated being. It's a slightly unnerving transition from organic to synthetic person, yet the dancer's elegant movements remind us that she has remained human, despite such drastic change. Its a scene that brings to mind the film, Ex Machina, where a robotic woman endeavors to discover her true place among the human race and in the end still falls somewhere between man and machine (even after globbing on bits of skin to cover-up her metal parts). Beck, who's disconcerted drawl is typically associated with guitar based songs, lends himself perfectly to this mid-tempo electronica, using his voice as an almost extra layer of instrumentation, rather than a stand-alone part of the song. It's really a gorgeous track, with an addictive quality not unlike Julian Casablancas's work with Daft Punk. Check it now: