ALL YOU REALLY WANTED FROM ME.

If Haim are the best new LA band already on everyone's radar, then Wildcat! Wildcat! are next in line to bowl people over. It was their Royal Tenenbaums-inspired calling card and flawless aesthetic that first caught our eye, but it wasn't long before the trio's technicolor serendipity pop had us hook, line and sinker. With vocals that flit between the chronic lightness of Passion Pit and Active Child and keys mined from the darkest depths of Miike Snow's imagination, Wildcat create a bristling soundscape like no other. Multi-tiered synths build up and crumble like sovereign empires, with smoke breaks in between to recharge the self-destructive cycle, flawless production leaving the whole affair shining resplendently throughout. Get familiar with Wildcat! Wildcat! and their debut offering "Mr. Quiche" below, as this lot are sure to be turning serious heads in the months to come.

DOWNLOAD: "Mr. Quiche" - Wildcat! Wildcat!

TOUCHING THE SKY TONIGHT.

D-E-W-L are a relatively mysterious new d-u-o emerging from the backstreets of London with a refreshing approach to experimental soul and leftfield R&B. Debut offering "Red Velvet" affectionately (confectionately?) borrows elements from Miike Snow and Phantogram, setting the scene with a glitchy backdrop, Icarus-flying oohs, and chop pop vocals out of the Clock Opera playbook. Then come the heartwarming tones of fingers falling gently on piano keys and that soulful croon on the hook, coming off like the most unclassifiable parts of James Blake and Jai Paul with a vocal reminiscent of Paul Usher of the late great Magistrates.

It's like a more subtle take on Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness", until D-E-W-L catches full-blown Ratatat fever and revs up dueling guitars and rousing atmospherics, as tribal chants drive you to an epic conclusion. There's no shortage of reference points in play here, yet the final offering - premiered below - manages to come off entirely unique, a monolith of pop accomplishment that has us incredibly excited to see what the two Londoners have in store for us next.

DOWNLOAD: "Red Velvet" - D-E-W-L [exclusive]

HARD TO IMAGINE.

There's something about Sweden's Little Majorette that's deceptively brilliant. Frontwoman Zoe Durrant's voice is unthreateningly whisper-soft, sometimes infantilized even, bringing to mind fellow Scandinavian heartbreakers, Flunk. We first fell for Durrant in her previous project Havana Guns - whose debut single "She Always Goes Down" briefly won over our hearts and minds before their breakup back in 2006 - but with Little Majorette she's back and better than ever, joined by musicians Petter Winnberg and Nils Tornqvist, who also moonlight as musicians in Miike Snow's touring band.



In "Never Be The Same", Durrant's vocals provide the perfect distraction from the suspicious piano chords ominously crescendoing under the dark electronic shadow of the song's intro, anxiety building as the synths crawl closer and you brace yourself for the jump scare around the corner that never comes. That is, until the massive gang vocal chorus drops and an avalanche of Miike Snow-sized synths from the coldest Arctic winter fall from the sky above. Then just as you think the coast is clear, they unleash one of the most chillingly amazing keys riffs we've ever heard, almost classical in its design as it spirals up, up and away into the cold night air as the song reaches its twilight. And just like that, Little Majorette burst onto the scene out of nowhere with one of our favorite singles of the year. Shock and awe.



MP3: "Never Be The Same" - Little Majorette

YOU WERE MY FAVOURITE GHOST.

We dropped the first official offering from the rather amazing Clare Maguire in the form of "Strangest Thing" last month, and now we've got an official Bloodshy & Avant remix courtesy of our friends at NME Radar. We doubt this was originally conceived as a remix given how well it works as an alternate single version of the track, but regardless we're pretty enamored with it. With an instrumental that wouldn't be out of place in the catalog of Miike Snow - with whom Bloodshy & Avant moonlight as two-thirds of the band's creative core - the track's semi-tropical bounce stands in sharp contrast to the stark drama of the original arrangement, but it's a nice alternate version that's a more than welcome addition to our late summer playlist at Neon Gold HQ.

MP3: "Strangest Thing" (Bloodshy & Avant Version) - Clare Maguire