The fight for diverse and conscious voices

...if you're me, at least. I'm seriously jonesin' for a source of new sounds that I can get at work. Meanwhile, up in the cloud...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx0x5aRPhgk
https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/foxes-youth-disco-fries-radio
Foxes. I keep thinking I've heard her voice before, but can't figure out where. A little net.surfing tells me she's been fairly hot in the UK for a year or so. She's being officially "introduced" to the American market with this track, "Youth", that she put out last year. It's got a fantastic set of drum bits and I like how they work with her voice. Most of the rest of the track is not-terribly-interesting standard electronica, but she appears to have real potential. The Vevo link is actually the start of a playlist that'll run you through most of her commercial stuff.

The second link is Disco Fries' remix of "Youth". It's a sharper-edged production that I think does a better job of featuring her than the official track. You have the same vocals and drums but instead of standard electronica there's a lot of variation, ranging from simple piano up through house sounds.

https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-animals-anthem
https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-i-am-coming
A Mashup Germany double-shot. The first one is an interesting exercise - it's using three different versions of the same track, two versions of a supporting track, and a little more this-and-that from three other tracks. If you're a serious music nerd like me you can track down the individual items and listen to the differences to see what M.G. is picking up. Or you can just kick back and enjoy the result.

The second track is another of M.G.'s 10-track assemblies. It seems unfair to call this a "Men At Work" mash but that's sort of the dominant sound/beat throughout. There are a ton of vocal bits throughout, but he's looped that signature bit... well, just listen and tell me if you disagree.

https://soundcloud.com/ssense/phaeleh-for-ssense
Last time I noted Phaeleh it was for trip-hop and this long-form set definitely has some of those elements though he labeled it "dubstep." There's no wub to speak of in here. Instead, it's largely quiet, moody, and cinematic sounds. Vocals tend to be muted in favor of orchestral sweeps and gentle beats. The tracks are all listed (one of the best parts of SoundCloud, imo) and you can explore at your leisure.

https://soundcloud.com/diplo/sia-ft-the-weeknd-diplo
Sia more or less burst into pop consciousness with "Titanium" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg). The tune gets credited to David Guetta most of the time but Sia wrote it and Guetta ended up picking her to do the vocals in part because of the demo of the track she recorded. Her stuff since then has been largely electro-pop (this track is not hillbilly nor really much soul, despite what the labels on it say). It's strongly voiced, richly layered vocal electronic pop. I particularly like middle part, starting around 1:40, which features more of her voice with only light accompaniment.