Once again, another wonderful KITSUNÉ MAISON compilation comes down full of various artists doing various things including this song from the band Computer Magic. The newest compilation, entitled KITSUNÉ MAISON COMPILATION 12: THE GOOD FUN ISSUE, is replete with fun, a melodious song cycle that crosses a wide pattern of the hippest in hip, the coolest in cool and the newest in new.

Computer Magic‘s thrilling inclusion on the compilation came to me this morning in my inbox. The song “Ex-Believer” is a quirky, if slightly herky-jerky, selction of bebop electro pop for odd mods like yourself. It seems to me a timely number, being that every day that goes by, we’re all becoming ex-believers just a little bit more.

Computer Magic – Ex-Believer

Want to check out more from the compilation? Here’s a quick minimix, then you can click here to purchase the whole thing.

A few weeks back, Pigeons & Planes clued me in on UK duo Oh My!, who had just come out with a new track called “Run This Town” (not to be confused with the Jay-Z track of the same name.

::: EXHIBIT A ::: Oh My! – Run This Town

Here’s a TMS remix of said song, punched up a bit to become an electropop dancefloor banger.

Check out the ‘trailer’ for “Run This Town” (while we’re here and all) –

::: AND IF THAT WASNT ENOUGH :::

Get the Oh My! mixtape right here for your downloading pleasure.

Undoubtedly one of the hottest new records in my regular rotation comes from New York City electronic dance pop masters Holy Ghost! whose self-titled full-length is out now on DFA Records. This tasty remix, courtesy of Eli Escobar, is a fetching piece of down-and-dirty disco. Having recently completed a series of dates with Cut/Copy, they’re playing select dates in Europe (including an appearance at the Primavera Sound Festival in Madrid) before returning to the U.S. to appear at Camp Bisco, Hard Summer Music Festival in LA and the Identity Fetival’s stop in San Francisco.

Holy Ghost! – Say My Name (Eli Escobar Remix) by EliEscobar

::: Holy Ghost! May 2011 Tour Dates :::

MONDAY 09 MAY 2011
Friendly Fires and
Heaven
London, UK

SATURDAY 14 MAY 2011
with Adam Kesher
La Flèche d’or
Paris, France

MONDAY 16 MAY 2011
Mascotte
Zürich, Switzerland

TUESDAY 17 MAY 2011
Pratersauna
Vienna, Austria

WEDNESDAY 18 MAY 2011
Rote Sonne
Munich, Germany

SATURDAY 21 MAY 2011
The Pink Floyd Sound and Holy Ghost!
with Shadow Danc, Shadow Dancer, and 1 more…
Paard Van Troje
The Hague, Netherlands

SUNDAY 22 MAY 2011
Twin Shadow and Holy Ghost!
with Esben and the Witch and Fastlane Candies
Botanique
Brussels, Belgium

TUESDAY 24 MAY 2011
The Ruby Lounge
Manchester, UK

WEDNESDAY 25 MAY 2011
Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
London, UK

Recorded by Little Dragon recently at Different Fur Studios for yourstru.ly, this song, “Little Man”, will appear on their forthcoming album Ritual Union though, truth be told, details still remain sketchy about when that will drop. Head over to yourstru.ly and check out the video, tour details and more.

Of the many things Poly Styrene was, timid was never amongst them. Her personal and musical arc, from 1977′s Germ Free Adolescents all the way to this collection of songs for what would be her final album, Generation Indigo, showed quite the opposite.

She was many things to many people: a feminist punk icon, an experimental artist, an environmentalist and a staunch anti-consumerist. She openly shunned labels like “riot grrrl” “protest singer” and “sex symbol”, titles which she had quite easily earned. What she knew was that such labels were conventions of writers and the media who have a suffocating need to affix concepts to everything.

::: Poly Styrene – Code Pink Dub :::

What’s clear to anyone who pays even a cursory attention to the lyrics on this album is that her intentions were ultimately quite pure. Winding a balance between defiant and divine, she wanted to create some kind of harmony that would make the world a better place — not a revolutionary concept though, truly, Poly was precisely that — and in these songs, she had clearly unlocked a way to manipulate popular culture as a means to convey her thoughts about the injustices she saw. If tuneful power pop, dubstep, reggae-influenced pop music & electropop was a vehicle that could deliver her, she was willing to pretend as a means of subversion. What nobody counted on, probably not even her, is that the results would be so beautiful, beatific and satisfying to hear.

Producer Martin Glover, whose work has fueled the careers of artists U2 to Edwyn Collins to his own band Killing Joke, leaves no gaps. In life, this album would surely have propelled her headlong to the attentions of a generation raised on Lady Gaga, The Gossip and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. In the tragic irony of her passage on the day before the record was released in the U.S., I hope it nonetheless does the same. It’s hard to imagine, hearing this record, seeing her on the brink of resurgence only to disappear into the void.

::: SEE ALSO ::: [R.I.P.] Poly Styrene, Punk Icon (1957-2011)

::: PURCHASE :::

Poly Styrene – Generation Indigo [Amazon]

PHOTO: Fabrizio Rainone

With sadness, we can now confirm rumors of the passing of Poly Styrene, punk rock icon & lead singer of seminal U.K. punk band X-Ray Spex. According to a posting on her official Facebook page by her long-time friend Symond Lawes, “i just spoke to her mother and its very true, she passed away quietly last night, her mother and daughter were with her, bless you marianne. symond xxx”. The news was further confirmed by her PR team, saying “We can confirm that the beautiful Poly Styrene, who has been a true fighter, won her battle on Monday evening to go to higher places.” She was 53.

::: LISTEN ::: [Full Album Stream] Poly Styrene – Generation Indigo

Often considered the original “riot grrrl” (stemming from her band’s first 1977 single, “Oh Bondage, Up Yours!”), her musical evolution found her wavering between the Germ Free Adolescents proto-punk she pioneered, jazzier experimentations and, more recently, daring power pop, electropop and electro-punk. The artists Poly Styrene has influenced reference a who’s who of popular music over the past 30 years — most recently, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Santigold and The Gossip count among them.

Aside from her status as a punk rock icon, Poly Styrene (born Marian Joan Elliott-Said) has been called “a revolutionary with a genuine love for this world and the people and things in it” by those she worked with. She had long been an outspoken counterculture figure, willing to engage in protest to make her point as a tireless advocate for environmental causes, an opponent of rampant consumerism and fighting for the rights of women. Never one to consider herself a protest singer and openly against being labeled a sex symbol, Styrene instead simply wanted to make a difference in the world. “You don’t think you’re doing anything groundbreaking,” she recently told Sinead Gleeson in an interview. “I just made music because I wanted to put good energy out there. I was young and optimistic and you feel you can do anything.”

::: RELATED ::: Poly Styrene Remembered by Kathleen Hanna, Billy Bragg and Beastie Boys

In recent times, Poly partnered with producer Martin Glover (aka Youth of the band Killing Joke) to create a new album, Generation Indigo (which was officially released stateside today, 26 April). The album has been the subject of extensive critical acclaim, including Spin Magazine’s 8/10 rating.

On a spiritual level, Poly Styrene’s search for self in the period after X-Ray Spex brought her to the Hare Krishna’s in the early 1980′s, living for several years in a Hertfordshire Krishna temple with her daughter as she struggled to cope with bipolar disorder. In a candid February interview with the Sunday Times, the 53-year-old Styrene announced to the world that she had been diagnosed with & was battling breast cancer. While outward signs seemed to point towards a recovery, it is apparent that she succumbed to the disease last night.

Poly Styrene leaves behind her mother and a daughter, Celeste. Our condolences go out to her family, her friends, and her many fans around the world.

::: X-Ray Spex – Oh Bondage Up Yours! :::

::: Poly Styrene – Generation Indigo Minimix by Youth :::

Here’s a recent interview with rock journalist John Robb about what would become her final album, Generation Indigo. The album, released today in the U.S., was already slated to be streamed in its entirety by Spinner.Com, a stream which can be heard by clicking here.

::: Related Stories :::
Punk icon Poly Styrene dies [BBC]

Which Dev Hynes will you be getting today? Lightspeed Champion Dev Hynes? Test Icicles Dev Hynes? Songwriter Dev Hynes working alongside Theophilus London and Solange Knowles?

Today, the many faces of Dev Hynes have recombined to debut his newest project called Blood Orange. Tomorrow, 26 April, this song from Blood Orange will appear on a 7″ single recorded & co-produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. But you may enjoy it now thanks to Domino Records. Later this summer, a full-length album made with L.A. producer Ariel Rechtshaid will be forthcoming.

There’s only one of me at present (though there have been other writers from time to time & if you’re a music writer, you could even submit something for review) and, as a result, I don’t get to cover everything I’d like at exactly the time I’d like to. France’s very own Yelle has been the subject of more than mere wistful glances around here & I’m a big proponent of her particular electropop. So Yelle, if you’re out there, I didn’t forget you — I’m just running a bit behind.

Her second album & the single share the name Safari Disco Club — which should tell you what to expect. Just a couple of weeks ago, she wore the crowd out at Coachella for the second time (she also came to Coachella in 2008) & her flame has clearly caught on in the states. While you’ve probably already heard this (or maybe you haven’t?) I’m placing this on my blog more for a sense of completeness so I’ll remember what to go back and add to my year-end Best Of list. This song will surely be on it.

And okay, here’s “Ce Jeu (The Twelves Remix)” to go along with it. Why not?

Yelle – Ce Jeu (The Twelves Remix)

Long before anyone had dared utter the words ‘James Blake’, Toronto resident Alt Altman had been creating delicate, minimalist synth-pop with R&B overtones for several years under the name Digits — something like what you’ll hear in this song from his self-released, free EP Lost Dream. It is easy and accurate to compare his work to that of Erland Oye/The Whitest Boy Alive but there’s something much more controlled about Digits which keeps me replaying the EP over and over again.

[BEGIN HYPERBOLE] There is a constant hypnotic allure to the songs in this collection, an unrelenting and inescapable sadness chasing the glory of some kind of ecstasy. The record seems to beam me up, leaving me afraid to press stop for fear that I’ll wake up naked on the ground having been thrown from the spaceship. This is one of the most beautiful EP’s anyone has sent me in a long time, and I’m fairly well hooked. [/HYPERBOLE]

Tracklisting

1. Lost Dream
2. Rachel Marie
3. Pale Green Morning
4. Desire
5. Lost Dream (Remix)

[ You can download Digits' EP Lost Dream for free by clicking here ]

Sleigh Bells. Derek Miller. Alexis Krauss. Good band. On tour. Go see them. Don’t ask questions, just go! Full tour dates after thee jump.

[ Sleigh Bells Official Website | Buy Treats on Vinyl from Insound ]

SLEIGH BELLS :: Spring Tour 2011 :: April – May

APRIL
4/13/11 Pomona, CA @ Glass House
4/14/11 San Diego, CA @ 4th&B
4/15/11 Indio, CA @ Coachella
4/18/11 Tucson, AZ @ Rialto
4/21/11 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
4/22/11 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
4/23/11 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
4/24/11 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
4/26/11 Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity
4/28/11 Orlando, FL @ Firestone
4/29/11 St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theater
4/30/11 Miami, FL @ Grand Central

MAY
5/2/11 Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
5/3/11 Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
5/4/11 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
5/6/11 Richmond, VA @ The National
5/7/11 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
5/8/11 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
5/11/11 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
5/12/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
5/17/11 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
5/18/11 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews
5/19/11 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

[ PHOTO: Above & Beyond Mag ]

Indestructible (Edit) by robyn

[ Body Talk, Pt. 2 - Robyn ]

Kele – Everything You Wanted (RAC remix)

Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know (Leo Nevilo Remix)

EDIT: There’s a disagreement afoot whether this is 2-Step/Garage or it’s dubstep. I say 2-Step, someone who shall remain nameless say it’s dubstep. What say you?

Just Be Good To Green (Greenmoney’s Colour Blind remix) by Greenmoney

Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know (DYM Dubstep Remix) by Dewse

Tour: USA & Canada / Oct & Nov 2010
07 OCT WAREHOUSE LIVE, HOUSTON (US)
08 OCT THE LOFT, DALLAS (US)
09 OCT AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL, AUSTIN (US)
11 OCT MERCY LOUNGE, NASHVILLE (US)
12 OCT THE LOFT, ATLANTA (US)
13 OCT NORVA, NORFOLK (US)
14 OCT FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA (US)
16 OCT CORONA CAPITAL FESTIVAL, MEXICO CITY (MX)
18 OCT ROYALE, BOSTON (US)
21 OCT WEBSTER HALL, NEW YORK (US)
22 OCT BLACK CAT, WASHINGTON (US)
24 OCT LE NATIONAL, MONTREAL (CA)
25 OCT PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE, TORONTO (CA)
27 OCT LINCOLN HALL, CHICAGO (US)
28 OCT 7TH STREET ENTRY, MINNEAPOLIS (US)
30 OCT BLUEBIRD THEATRE, DENVER (US)
02 NOV HENRY FONDA, LOS ANGELES (US)
03 NOV BELLY UP TAVERN, SOLANA BEACH (US)
04 NOV SLIM’S, SAN FRANCISCO (US)
05 NOV HAWTHORNE THEATRE, PORTLAND (US)
06 NOV NEUMOS, SEATTLE (US)