I Just Want You To Pop

Christopher and Raphael Just (featuring Fox N Wolf) “Popper” – The girl from Fox N Wolf has such a strange voice. The sound of it is almost cartoonishly childlike, but she’s always communicating sexuality and/or aggression in a way that seems to deliberately invite cognitive dissonance. In this collaboration with electro duo Christopher and Raphael Just, she practically throws a tantrum on the dancefloor between sweet Scissor Sisters-does-the-Beegees disco choruses and cut-up vocal fragments. The track is a relentless machine, building towards an intense peak so great that even a little bit of bad white rapping is excusable. (Click here to buy it from Rough Trade.)

Temposhark (featuring Imogen Heap) “Not That Big (Metronomy NotThatRemix)” – The best sort of minimalist pop accompaniment does not call attention to its starkness, but rather creates a musical illusion of fullness and depth. This track is a fine example, built mainly around a snakey keyboard part, simple percussion, sparing lead, and a stuttered vocal sample. The most exciting moment comes when the tempo of the keyboard part on the break suddenly speeds up for moment before settling into the second verse. Is this what it means to “temposhark”? (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)