Icona Pop's Bratty, Hypercolored "Manners" Video Is Top Of The Blog Pops Today

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​"This icona pop video got the "arcade fire newsbreak 2008" blogger treatment, huh?," tweeted the blogger who runs The Culture Of Me a little while ago, and, well, a brief Twitter search will show you that yes, there's a fair amount of online chatter surrounding the Swedish pop duo's new video for "Manners," a glitched-out campfire singalong with a persistent hook—not quite at the level of "#beliebersarewinning," but enough to move the "take notice, music people" needle. Of course, releasing a video with people decked out in dayglo paint is a surefire way to get on the minds (and in the blog backends) of those people who've just returned from not-long-enough long weekends. But it helps that the song, which stomps like "Closer" but possesses a deliciously petulant hook, is very good as well. Clip after the jump.

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Lloyd's "Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)" Is Gleeful, Profane, And Completely Great

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Next week King of Hearts, the new album by Atlanta R&B crooner Lloyd, comes out after what seems like a really really long time since he provided the hook to the near-chart-topper "BedRock." (Early 2010 wasn't that long ago in real terms, I know.) Last night "Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)" made its way online, and oh boy, is it a doozy. The Polow da Don-produced track is backed by a loop that sounds if not based off then heavily inspired by Duffy's "Mercy," if that track was an ode to, uh, the nostalgia-worthy genitalia of the addressed lover. There's "narration" by frequent Lloyd foil Lil Wayne; there's also a fantastic, withering verse by Andre 3000—the second to appear this month! (And don't forget his outstanding contribution to the remix of Ke$ha's "Sleazy" earlier this year, either.) And Lloyd turns in a fiery performance, unleashing his spectacular pipes in such a way that really sells just how sexually pent-up he is over all this. Anyway, if there's any justice, this song will rule the summer. Listen below. (And if you're in an office, for God's sake, put on headphones first.)

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Wild Flag's "Romance" Will Get You Up And At 'Em

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​The bicoastal all-star quartet Wild Flag premiered "Romance," a track from their forthcoming self-titled debut, on WFMU's "The Cherry Blossom Clinic" over the weekend. And it is awesome; garage-rock stomp combined with the guitar pyrotechnics of Mary Timony and Carrie Brownstein and lyrics about their romance with... music! Plus there's a hand-clap breakdown to make the dancing that will pair very well with it even more fun. It is so good to hear music that sounds so alive on a sleep-eye-crusted Monday morning. Embed after the jump.

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Twin Sister's Woozy "Bad Street" Is A Cool Song For A Hot Day

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Shawn Brackbill
​The Brooklyn quintet Twin Sister will release their first full-length In Heaven on September 27, but the first taste, the burbling, sugary "Bad Street," is tailor-made for a steamy day like today. Lead singer Andrea Estella sweetly asks for her paramour to feed her stories and promises over a synth line that's part Human League, part pitter-patter—when she says "I want it bad" over and over while the music simmers underneath, her infatuation is so audible it's almost dizziness-inducing. (Also, maybe it's just me, but I hear a bit of a callback to the intro for Neneh Cherry's "Kisses On The Wind" in the vocal looped underneath said declaration?) Clip after the jump.

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Beyoncé's "Party" Is Cool, Collected, And Andre 3000-Assisted

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​Beyoncé's 4 has been slowly revealing itself to the world in advance of its June 28 release date, and the latest track to leak is "Party," a sumptuous Kanye West and Consequence production with a wistful, syllable-bending assist from André 3000. "Party" flips the expectations put forth by its title and winds up being pretty much the direct opposite of "Run The World (Girls)"—it's a slow-burn sex jam that reaches back to the golden age of WPIX-FM and has a buried-deep callout to "La Di Da Di." Listen here (for now, anyway).

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Listen To Two New Songs From Jamie xx

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​Jamie Smith—a.k.a. Jamie xx, of The xx and of collaborations with the late Gil Scott-Heron—has released his first single, "Far Nearer," in both limited-edition vinyl and download form. The B-side, "Beat For," is a chilly, downtempo track that could very easily soundtrack a spell of the spins, while the sun-dappled A-side sounds a bit like a scattered-on-the-ground remake of "My Girls" (some readers will probably nominate the song for Summer Jam status immediately after reading the description; I'm a bit more on the fence but will try to give the song a few more spins). Both tracks are streaming after the jump.

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Nicola Roberts's "Beat Of My Drum" Makes A Transcontinental Bid For The Song Of The Summer Title

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Nicola Roberts's former mate in the British hit factory Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, is somewhere licking her wounds over being sacked from The X Factor. What better time, then, for Roberts to release an absolute banger of a single? "Beat Of My Drum," produced by Diplo, sounds like somebody created a track after listening to a bunch of 45s playing at once at maximum volume and wanting to channel the jolt of that experience into one song—it's part Go! Team, part Spice Girls, part "Run The World (Girls)," and all sugar-rush thrill. Listen after the jump.

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Coldplay Go To Rio, Cry A Lot On "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall"

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​Late last night the surprisingly effective sapmeisters who make up Coldplay released their new single "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall," and it's a pillowy dance anthem that's either about a breakup or about rising up against oppressive forces (lyrics like "don't want to see another generation drop/ I'd rather be a comma than a full stop" make it seem like the latter, but then there's a bit about "you" emerging from some sort of light and telling Chris Martin's narrator that everything's going to be all right, so who knows). The last minute or so is given over to a guitar rave-up that sounds absolutely glorious, with dueling riffs occasionally being given over to pealing guitars in such a way that makes me think it's going to be as big of a hit as a rock song can be this summer. Listen below.

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Five Songs That Could Rule This Summer (And One That You'll Probably Listen To A Lot Anyway)

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​This weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, the season where people--despite their best efforts--engage in communal listening thanks to power of radios blaring through cracked-open windows, propped bodega doors, and other points of entry that are cracked just wide enough to let in something resembling a breeze. The unofficial establishment of a Jam Of The Summer has been something of a fun pre-season ritual for pop watchers, who love prognosticating on matters regarding mass musical-consumption tastes. After the jump, five songs that have the bass-shaking power to be heard all over New York City this summer--and song that'll probably get played quite a few times thanks to its seasonally appropriate theme.

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"Smile" By The Funky Twinz And Angel J Is A Bubbly, Sticky Jam

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​As part of our We're So Out Of Here For Three Whole Days pre-Memorial Day weekend coverage, tomorrow we're going to put forth a list of potential summer jams--you know, those sorts of tracks that not only might be blared from bodega radios and passing cars over the summer, they should be. Unfortunately "Smile," by the UK production duo Funky Twinz and featuring a vocal from Angel J--whose sticky, high-pitched coo recalls the voices that dominated freestyle and R&B decades ago--came out in November 2009, so it's probably a little too stale to be eligible for Mass Summer Jam status (there's a summer-to-summer statute of limitations on these things after the Great "Umbrella" Domination Of 2007-08). But it's still something that you should throw on this weekend, should you be hosting a party or just sunning yourself. Clip after the jump.

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