COUNTING CRYSTALS.

We admit we slept on this one. But as usual Kitsuné - our bedfellows from across the Atlantic - were there to pick up the slack and we have them to thank for introducing us to the delicately crafted pop gems of Nightbox. The group of Irish transplants come to us via Toronto (where they picked up some slick production from Death From Above 1979's Al-P and Sebastien Grainger), and lucky for us they sound exactly like a five-piece from Ireland by way of Canada would. It’s like lucid dreaming at a Two Door Cinema Club meets Winter Gloves kind of costume party, and all of a sudden there’s a “no need for small talk” song that does away with any false pretenses and jumps headfirst into the great unknown with you. Then, just as the pre-chorus burns slowly towards the explosive bass-driven climax on the chorus, you're thrust back to reality and the dream is over. So wake up.

MP3: "Pyramids" - Nightbox

HALF OF A HEAVEN.

Imagine Kate Bush suspended in the cosmos, simultaneously shrouded in waning sunlight and waxing moonlight. Brooklyn’s Chrome Canyon, or Morgan Z (née Whirledge, formerly of Apes & Androids) unravels this precious, balled-up ballad, installs whirring rocket power engines, and watches it take flight. Not so much a cover as it is an intricately woven re-imagining, Chrome Canyon brings vocalist Phoebe Oglesbee into the mix on the verses but keeps Bush's legendary soprano beautifully intact on the chorus and backing vox (we think? they work so well together it's almost hard to tell where one ends and the other begins), all the while drawing out the glorious drum line of the original and throwing a sheer spaceman jumper on top for good measure. Released in commemoration of the release of Bush's new album, Chrome Canyon’s “Suspended in Gaffa” is the sound of 21st century heartbreak, and it's kind of perfect.

MP3: "Suspended In Gaffa" (ft. Phoebe Oglesbee) - Chrome Canyon

A MAN AMONGST THE PEOPLE.

This Strange Talk EP we dropped in May (available for sale here) has really been earning its stripes as the official soundtrack of our summer - we're spinning this record on the daily and it's still got legs for miles. Helping to prolong its shelf life though are a crop of brilliant remixes, which we've been dropping for you every few weeks since the release. Last month Lightwaves and Vanguard brought the heat in the first round of "Eskimo Boy" remixes, but here comes Draper ready to deliver the coup-de-gras knockout with one of the fiercest remixes of 2011. Speeding up the spiraling synth riff of the original, Draper strings the listener along with punchy percussion and swirling electronics before plunging them into a moment of crisis on the chorus with a MASSIVE drop into a wind tunnel of warped synths and chopped up vocals. BIG MOVES.

MP3: "Eskimo Boy" (Draper Remix) - Strange Talk [exclusive]