The Good Natured

I've been in an electropop craze for a while now, a few months...and with good reason. There's a ton of new electronic acts out there these days, it's the "it" genre, if that's possible. If you had told me I'd have been into electronic 10, even 5, years ago I'd have shuddered, but things are different now. When I thought "electronic" years ago it was the bleep bloop stuff, either dark and with haunting vocals, or none at all, or it was angry and urgent German dance floor music...either way, no thanks!

These days there's a lot more rock and dance type electronic leanings, and a definite revival of the 80's New Wave synth appreciation. I'm all for that, at least in general. One such artist is Britain's The Good Natured. This lady, Sarah McIntosh is basically the whole band, though she has people who play with her. She looks like a pixie Robert Smith (a la The Cure) but makes music that I can only describe as La Roux remixed by New Order. I think she's brilliant, and one of the few acts I've came across of late that I feel like most people in the indie community can look at and say "yeah, she's got something". Really talented.

A taste of The Good Natured:

Florrie

As I've mentioned before, in the past few years one of my biggest discoveries, at least in so much as bands I can't seem to stop listening to repeatedly and have become a bit of an ear worm for me, is Dragonette. On numerous occasions I've gone in search of similar bands so I can share the love. Alas, I've not found anything that's gotten to me quite like they have, but that doesn't mean I haven't made some worthwhile discoveries along the way.

One such discovery is the British pop artist Florrie. She's completely pop, bubble gum dancefloor-ready, but she's enjoyable, and more importantly, offering her introductory EP for free. She's currently unsigned by choice and trying to spread the word on her music as virally as possible, so this is me doing my part for her cause.

You can download her entire EP, as well as a boatload of remixes, and in March, her next EP, on her website HERE.

Songs "Summer Nights" and "Call of the Wild" are my favorites.

New CSS album

Brazilian imports, Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS) will be releasing a new album entitled "Donkey" in July. They have released a song from the upcoming album to their website so I thought I would share it here.

I like the song. It's a bit less edgy/spastic than some of their stuff from their self-titled album, but it's got all the fun beats and rhythm I would expect from CSS. Hopefully the whole album is as good.

• Rat is Dead (Rage)

Lykke Li

Once again I find myself scratching my head and wondering how so much amazing pop music can come out of one country. Perhaps the American pop contingent has become so infiltrated by corporations and/or bad hip-hop that we forget what decent pop music sounds like and have forgotten how to make it. Well, thank goodness the Swedes are keeping the ancient knowledge of pop music making flowing and are creating dance-worthy happy-making music for the masses...even if those of us in America who will get to hear it are in the minority.

The latest addiction for me is 22 year old Swede, and professional dancer turned musician, Lykke Li. Her music seems to lie somewhere between the music of Americans like My Brightest Diamond on the indie side, and her fellow European import Annie on the pop side.

I urge you to check her out if you're feeling withdrawl symptoms from decent pop music, and check out the video for her new single "I'm Good, I'm Gone" below. I am digging the video as much as the song. It's like a high school Cirque de Soleil!

Cansei De Ser Sexy

Lately I've really been digging Cansei De Ser Sexy (CSS). They aren't new, people have been singing their praises in the blog world for a while now, but it took me a while to catch on to how awesome they are.

Imagine a Brazilian Le Tigre. But more rolling around and dressing crazy like Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs...plus an affinity for pop references and 80's fashion, and you will have an approximation of CSS. They're upbeat, pseudo-electronic/synth rock with themes that play off whatever makes them jam. Take some of their song titles like "Meeting Paris Hilton" and "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above", referencing the indie band Death From Above 1979, as well as a take off of the Sleater-Kinney classic "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" called "I Wanna Be Your J-Lo". I love that they're just having fun and don't take themselves too seriously...you don't get more rock 'n' roll than that if you ask me.

• Let's Make Love (and Listen to Death From Above)
• Alala