#POPDAR - Bossy Love, Mercedes, Lea Lea

Bossy Love - Wind Me Up

By chucking her sugary AlunaGeorge-esque vocal over a jittery beat and dubby brass hook, Bossy Love is onto a winner with "Wind Me Up". If the idea of AlunaGeorge collaborating with Major Lazer excites you (as it does me), then Bossy Love WILL be your thing no question.

For Fans Of: AlunaGeorge, Wild Belle, Dirty Projectors





Mercedes - Full Tilt

Mercedes is a young UK rapper with ambitions of a US sound. With the creativity of Azealia Banks and the bite of Angel Haze, the early 90s Beastie Boys rave-vibe of "Full Tilt" could well be Mercedes' very own "212".

For Fans Of: Azealia Banks, Angel Haze, Beastie Boys






Lea Lea - Wonderer
Lea Lea (Pronounced Li Li? Le-ah Le-ah?) brings some East London edge to some ultra-sleek back-to-basics South London dubstep. Her voice is light and husky, bringing to mind Lauryn Hill and perfect for this kind of R&B/dubstep crossover. Benga would kill to work with this girl, and indeed, boost up the bass a bit, and you could be fooled into thinking that "Wonderer" was that very collaboration.

Her self titled debut album is out now.

For Fans Of: Delilah, Katy B, Lauryn Hill

- Joe Copplestone, 16/10/13

#POPDAR - Sam Sparro, Frank Hamilton & Lucy Spraggan

Sam Sparro - Quantum Physical Volume 1 EP


After flirting with camp chicago house on his underrated Pink Cloud EP, before returning to his disco, soul and funk roots on impressive second album Return To Paradise, new EP Quantum Physical Vol. 1 meets comfortably in the middle. The rolling electropop basslines of "Fascism" are particularly addictive.

FOR FANS OF: Frankmusik, The Presets, Disclosure

Frank Hamilton - Teenage Dirtbag


A surprisingly tender and textured acoustic cover of the teenage rock hit. Frank's voice shivers with meekness in this quintessentially British reinterpretation of the track.

FOR FANS OF: Bombay Bicycle Club, Ben Howard

Lucy Spraggan - Mountains

The X Factor probably think of Lucy as the "one that got away", after she was forced to drop out of the competition due to sickness, a competition she was comfortably leading I might add. Her debut album Join The Club is everything you could for from the intelligent and talented Spraggan, but "Mountains" is its crowning glory. First heard on the X Factor, as a result of a brave choice to sing an original song in the first week of live shows, "Mountains" is touching and inspiring lyrically, and soothing and majestic musically. Few X Factor alumni have needed to X Factor less to succeed; Lucy was the whole package from day 1.

FOR FANS OF:  Haim, Chloe Howl, Kate Nash

- Joe Copplestone, 10/10/13

#POPDAR - Hey Ocean! - Make A New Dance Up

Hey Ocean! are a blast of Canadian-indiepop joy, whose album Is reaches us in the UK a few months too late to hit summer, but just in time to keep us cheery throughout Autumn.

With its contagious Two Door bounce, ska-friendly brass and chirpy Haim-esque vocal hooks, "Make A New Dance Up" is far and away the brightest beam-of-sunshine on a still-pretty-sunny album. Dual vocalists Ashleigh and David hiccup their way through a kooky samba chorus, and you can almost hear the dorky grins on their faces.

By next summer, hopefully we'll all have made up our very own dance to take to their shows. Or at the very least, have butchered an existing one.

Their new album Is, um, *is* out now on iTunes.

FOR FANS OF: Two Door Cinema Club, Haim, Best Coast



- Joe Copplestone, 2/10/13

POPDAR: FKA Twigs - Papi Pacify

I would point out the FKA Twigs was formerly known as Twigs, but as you can see, she beat me to the punch.

Twigs' EP1 was a dark and experimental effort - disturbing and unnerving industrial R&B that still managed to be subtly sexy. Her second EP, helpfully titled EP2, concentrates a little more on that final description, with Twigs' voice breathing and floating over a much warmer trip-hoppy ambience on each track.

But on EP highlight "Papi Pacify", the nearest thing to a radio-friendly track Twigs' has produced to date, she allows herself to be more overtly sexual and as a result delivers the most arresting vocal of her output so far.

The track seductively creeps through it's choppy, sparse verses that do very little to accompany Twigs' light and airy vocal, as she clasps at every note as if gasping for air. "Never tell me no" yelps Twigs breathlessly, begging "tell me I'm the one you want" - it feels like she's unleashing two EPs worth of sexual repression. But the real payoff is the exhilarating drop into Weeknd-territory for the *gasp* chorus (!), where Twigs' gleefully unleashes her catchiest hook to date, as a crushing hip hop beat gyrates against a sexually-charged growl of a bass line.

FKA Twigs' EP2 is available to download now from iTunes.

Official Website.
Official Twitter.

FOR FANS OF: BANKS, The Weeknd, Etta Bond