PARTY TRACKS OF THE WEEK! (FREE DOWNLOADS)- Neon Jungle, Icona Pop & Ellie Goulding.

NEON JUNGLE - TROUBLE (SHAROQUE REMIX)

This remix isn't so much looking for trouble as looking for the dancefloor. Rebellious girlband upstarts Neon Jungle's latest single "Trouble" gets a retro funky house remix that transports it from bedroom to Miami Beach, driven by an irresistible piano hook. 

Sharoque has made high octane dance remixes of a number of pop hits over the last year, including particularly euphoric mixes of Misha B and Little Mix - Check out his SoundCloud.

ICONA POP - GIRLFRIEND (CHAINSMOKERS REMIX)

"Girlfriend" is already a speeding down a highway song, but NY duo Chainsmokers take it one step further so don't be surprised if your car takes off during playback. It's got a gorgeous progressive house build-up and a heart-stopping drop that will rattle your bones. And your girlfriend's.

Chainsmokers have torn apart tunes by Fenech Soler and Phoenix too  - Check out their SoundCloud.

ELLIE GOULDING - BURN (DRIFTA REMIX)

As catchy as "Burn" is, it's plodding dancehall rhythm encourages more of a sway than a full on gleeful body contortion. So it's just as well that London producer Drifta acted on the potential that we all saw, to turn it into a full on rave anthem. The Drum & Bass throb suits the track so well, and given Goulding's recent fondness for the genre, Drifta's remix could almost be an original - download it for FREE from the SoundCloud widget above.

Drifta always kills it with his bootleg remixes, and his solo material is must-hear material for any commercial Drum & Bass fan  - Check out his SoundCloud.

Top 5 Tracks of August 2013.

5 - LADY GAGA - APPLAUSE

Although she cited a "pop emergency" for an excuse to release "Applause" earlier, we already know Gaga is an impatient popstress - let us not forget her rush releasing "Born This Way" in 2011. However, unlike that massively underwhelming comeback, "Applause" is surprisingly immediate. It suffers from all the usual immovable Gaga-isms - terrible annunciation, shameless european dance synths and a bizarre hammer house of horror vocal - but you can't argue with a chorus like this. The "A-R-T-P-O-P" hook at the end is brilliant too. "Applause" is definitely the right side of Gaga.

4 - THE SATURDAYS - DISCO LOVE
As successful as The Saturdays have been, they do have a tendency to release music as personality-less as their brand. Every song feels like it could be a debut single for any flash in the pan girl-group. It looks like they're trying to shake this anonymity by finding their "thing". However with new singles "Gentleman" and now "Disco Love", they seem to be settling on being the new Girls Aloud - quirky lyrics and genre-hopping. "Gentleman" was the a step too far down novelty lane, but "Disco Love" is surprisingly uplifting. And when you don't flinch at "it's Donna Summer all year long", you know they're onto something. 

3 - LUKE FINCHER - NO RESPONSE

It's quite a feat standing out from the hoards of soulful male singers from the US and UK - but Fincher has something special. The 17 year old blows them all out of the water in one incredible performance on "No Response". Over reverb-drenched Weeknd-esque R&B synths, Fincher hits notes with an effortless confidence and strength. Every tasteful melismatic flick and achingly tender note shimmers and captivates. And he absolutely kills the falsetto climax in the heart-stopping chorus.

2 - ICONA POP - GIRLFRIEND
Although almost identical to "I Love It", with any luck "Girlfriend" will be as big as their breakthrough hit. The key to the girl's success is their lack of glamour and ego, and this makes the simplicity and commerciality of their anthemic dancepop go from potentially tedious to charming, tongue-in-cheek and 'feel-good' in the most infectious sense. Even the track's most obvious sexually ambiguous undertones can be forgiven.

1 - TENSNAKE FT. FIORA - 58BPM
Finally released in its glorious 5 minute form, "58bpm" is a sensual slice of 80s soul heard through the future bass kaleidoscope... at 58 beats per minute. And it's the ultimate comedown anthem - perfect to soundtrack a reluctant end to the sunniest, most joyous summer in memory. The track is so daringly slow (indeed that's the main feature) that is seems suspended in mid-air, as a single warm chord lingers tentatively above a lurching beat, as Fiora's vocals seem to melt as the chorus hits. Sadly destined to be underrated, the track is nevertheless the most creative and spellbinding piece of music Tensnake has created to date.

Icona Pop - Girlfriend

The key to Icona Pop's success is their defiant lack of self-awareness. Breakthrough single "I Love It" was a simple electropop onslaught with the same couple of shouty empowerment rants repeated throughout the song - but to any criticism, their fans were given a useful automatic response: "I don't care, I love it!" This carefree, hedonistic and shameless attitude lifts Icona Pop out of the guilty-pleasure bracket and firmly into credibility. 

That's precisely why new single "Girlfriend" also works. Production wise, the track is almost identical to "I Love It", all pulsating electro basslines and commercial dance beats. The track also has the sexually ambiguous undertones of the most obvious kind, and distorted vocals aside, the structure and hooks of a two-a-penny Katy Perry track. But combined with the girls' playfulness and lack of hollywood glamour and ego, the simplicity and commerciality of their music goes from potentially tedious to charming, tongue-in-cheek and 'feel-good' in the most natural sense.

"I Love It" has become a worldwide hit, but Icona Pop clearly don't take fame very seriously at all, and why should they? It's a farce that can turn likeable artists into holier-than-thou popstars, making unconvincing and passionless music - Icona Pop could not be further from this world. What they do take seriously though is having fun, and delivering that sense of fun in the simplest, most accessible way - through Chart Pop.

Icona Pop are totally reinventing the idea of what it takes to have a worldwide hit, and it doesn't involve any image or pretense whatsoever - just catchy songs that remind us not to take ourselves so seriously. And "Girlfriend" is definitely one of those, and with any luck will be as big as "I Love It".

FOR FANS OF: Ke$ha, Charli XCX, Mausi

Daithi - Chameleon Life (feat. Rye)

It's hard to know quite what Irish indie dance beatmaker Daithi is going for with new single "Chameleon Life", but in attempting to tick so many boxes he manages to achieve appeal on an impressive number of levels. Seemingly flying the flag for cutesy indie/electropop before joyously morphing into a sparkling blast of sunny EDM, "Chameleon Life" paints with enough colour to please most fans of EDM, from the weird and quirky (Unicorn Kid, Fenech Soler) to the full on anthemic (Calvin Harris, Madeon), whilst managing to pander to fans of female fronted indie, courtesy of adorable singer Rye (Gossip, Icona Pop). But above all, its cheery carefree party vibe is predominantly what makes it's quite so infectious. Another bonafide Summer of '13 anthem without a doubt.

FOR FANS OF: Calvin Harris, Unicorn Kid, Fenech Soler

WEEKEND MINIMIX - 10/08

For my first weekly weekend minimix, I've gone for some straight up dance, with a few alternative frills along the way ;)

Tracklisting:
1.  Phonat - Set Me Free 
2.  TEED - Tapes and Money 
3.  Eli & Fur - Sea of Stars 
4.  Bright Light x2 - Disco Moment (Fear of Tigers Mix) 
5.  Miami Horror - Sometimes (Shazam Mix) 
6.  Icona Pop - I Love It

DANCE AND ENJOY!


 WEEKEND MINIMIX 10/08/12 by JoeCopplestone

Icona Pop - I Love It

If this doesn't mean summer's on its way, then honestly I think it will never come. Pulsating like Martin Solveig's "Hello", but with twice the energy and twice the fun, swedish duo Icona Pop's new single "I Love It" is full of obnoxious rants and offhand nihilistic catch-phrases like "I threw your shit into a bag and pushed it down the stairs". Relentlessly good fun, this is surely one of the songs of the year in the making.

Fun fact: The song was written by "Stay Away" star, Charli XCX!

FOR FANS OF: Ladyhawke, Crystal Castles, Dragonette