And now for today's music links

[drwex]

As promised here are a few music links to keep you listening while I chase up more good stuff. I've cleared out most of the backlog so unless something new pops into my headphones I may not have much this week.

http://hypem.com/#/track/891068/Friendly+Fires+vs+M83+-+We+Own+the+Paris+Sky+Akilles+Dirty+Sexy+Smash+
This is is poppy/dancey mash-up. Friendly Fires bill themselves as "electro-punk" which I'm not sure makes any sense but what I read of their performance at the Reading Festival earlier this week makes it sound like they do a good live set. Their MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/friendlyfires) has a couple of their own tracks and a couple of peoples' remixes of their stuff, which is OK I guess. M83 by themselves are also sort of meh, a typical poppy boyband sound (http://www.myspace.com/m83). Somehow the whole manages to be greater than the sum of its parts.

http://hypem.com/#/track/891625/The+xx+-+Islands
Also in the poppy-pleasant sound space is new band The Xx. The track has some interesting instrumental bits underlying vocals that are soft and understated. It's a soul-influenced pop sound that has promise. Check out more stuff on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/thexx) and tell me whether this band qualifies in the category "Artists that start with X"...

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Tiga/track/Beep_Beep_Beep_Extended_12_Remix
Finally there's this oddity. It's definite dancefloor music, but it's a slower, more relaxed and extended mix than the usual high-BPM stuff. Tiga's other stuff didn't impress me much, but this track has a particular appeal. It's the kind of thing I'd put on a car sound system for some long boring drive, to keep me moving and interested.