The fight for diverse and conscious voices

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Scissor_Sisters/track/Invisible_Light
Scissor Sisters (http://scissorsisters.com/) are one of those American acts you wouldn't ever know were American because nobody over here knows about them while they're making it big in Europe. "Invisible Light" is off their upcoming album and carries on in their signature style, which is sort of postmodern glam rock, and sort of gay club Eurodisco. If you like Pet Shop Boys you'll probably enjoy this. The RCRD LBL stream presents three remixes along with the original. All of the mixes are a bit understated - this thing is just begging to be mashed up with something heavy and hardcore. (And yes, their name does refer to THAT and if you're currently reading Girls With Slingshots this is way funnier than it would be otherwise.)

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Nas_and_Damian_Jr_Gong_Marley/track/As_We_Enter_Tinie_Tempah_Remix_
This is apparently Tinie Tempah week in my music stream because here we have a remix of Damian Marley and Nasty Nasir Jones (apparently known mostly as "Nas and Damien" - http://www.distantrelatives.com/). It's a pretty straight-up reggae/rap mix and if you like that sort of thing (I do) then this is a fun head-boppy tune that I think does a good job of taking typical hip-hop tropes and mixing them up with a rasta feel.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Black_Devil_Disco_Club/track/Sorrow_Dub
Black Devil Disco Club immediately wins the award for coolest band name this month. This is a one-man Paris-based disco DJ, who is not afraid to note that he's 64 years old. That puts him in Rolling Stones territory. Unfortunately his MySpace page (http://myspace.com/bddcreal) is something of a mess so it's hard to get a general feel for his sound. The one track here is almost trance-y electronica but with an underlying club rhythm.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/School_of_Seven_Bells/track/Babelonia
School of Seven Bells (http://www.sviib.com/) is another of those sounds that's hard to characterize. It's clearly built around the high, clear vocals of the sisters, but it also has some edge and unusual instrumentation to it. It reminds me a little bit of Cocteau Twins and an even littler bit of Massive Attack. There aren't that many acts fronted by two female singers that aren't folk and these guys really aren't folk - if anything I'd call it trance-rock.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/David_Guetta/track/Gettin_Over_You_feat_Fergie__LMFAO_Sidney_Sampson_Remix
David Guetta is really hit-or-miss for me. He produces some real trainwrecks and then again he produces some awesome stuff. His original style can be very funky electro-house that I like a lot, but he's done so much it's hard to classify him. This set has two people remixing his "Gettin' Over You", both of which I like, and an Arman van Helden remix of "Memories" that is just OK. Guetta (http://davidguetta.com/en - warning starts playing on entry) is a French DJ who's been working for almost three decades. Lately he's gotten a lot more attention in the US due to collaborations with pop start like Britney Spears and Akon.

http://www.theyoungpunx.com/site/category/podcast/
I found The Young Punx through APC and when I first blogged it I thought Simon Iddol was part of the project. It turns out that Young Punx are three loud-mouthed, wise-ass, very funny UK kids. And they have a podcast, which seems to consist of them playing their own stuff, tracks they like, live mixing, and amusing commentary over and around the music. Their "Young Punx FM" podcast page has more than 30 entries and I've only listened to the first one fully. It's two hours of funny and funky and good music. Also, some of the bits are really quotable.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/lcd-soundsystem-%E2%80%93-bye-bye-bayou-turbotito-remix.html
LCD Soundsystem (http://www.lcdsoundsystem.com/) gives up an extra-cool electro-rave tune. It's got basic house beats and trippy vocals but a second rhythm layer makes this more of a drive/dance mix than you'd expect initially. This is the sort of thing I like to have on the car sound system when I have a lot of miles to cover.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/robyn-fembot-live.html
http://audioporncentral.com/2009/12/i-blame-coco-ft-robyn-caesar.html
http://audioporncentral.com/2010/01/i-blame-coco-ft-robyn-caesar-miike-snow-and-diplo-remixes.html
Robyn (http://www.robyn.com/#) is a far too white, far too cute and poppy of a singer chick to be producing these funky sounds. This is no Ace of Bass, trust me (also, she's way hotter). Robyn's been around for a while, doing more standard pop things, so I was wondering where I'd heard her voice before when I realized she'd been the featured backup singer with Coco Sumner (http://www.myspace.com/iblamecoco) on Coco's release earlier this year of "Caesar". And for extra-bonus coolness, Coco released not only the original track but two remixes - one by Diplo and one by Miike Snow. I love these side-by-side remixes; it's a kind of dueling turntables, giving you a feel for how very different two DJ styles can make the same base track sound.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/simon-iddol-dirty-like-dat-the-young-punx-vs-michael-jackson.html
http://audioporncentral.com/mashedpoppedpunked
http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/simon-iddol-%E2%80%93-infinity-sunset-mix.html
Simon Iddol is the force behind APC and he's such a prolific blogger that it's easy to forget that he also does his own projects. Here we get a full-on dose of some of his best.

The umbrella project here is called The Young Punx (http://www.theyoungpunx.com/site/) and it features some of Europe's best young DJs, producers, and remixers doing their thing live and available for download. There are literally hundreds of MB available for free download at the site and if you like what you hear you can buy more through Amazon and iTunes. The new album is called MASHED POPPED PUNKED and it has 12 tracks of The Young Punx vs everyone else from Vangelis to the Pixies to opera. Yes, really. Some of the Young Punx names will be familiar if you read my music entries - lobsterdust and schmolli for example - and other names are new to me.

Finally, the third link is to a four-track set on Soundcloud that Iddol put together. It's very Euro-pop and much lighter than the Young Punx tracks.