The Neighbourhood release their debut EP I’m Sorry next week; we’ve heard the bruisy Female Robbery and instant-hit Sweater Weather, and Wires is the California-based quintet’s latest offering. Wires has a bit of a hip-hop vibe, which makes sense if you know the core members of The Neighbourhood were a hip-hop band (do you call that bands in hip-hop?) before they started this current project.

All Cascine-releases are essentials if you’re a fan of dreamy pop - won’t bother to sum up their roster, just head over to their website. Their next surprise/release is Stockholm-based duo Ditt Inre, whose description reads “part melancholy, part pop and part dance.” They release their debut EP En Värld I Brand (I suppose that’s Swedish) on May 29 and a first song of that EP Månljus (saknad) (probably Swedish too) is available below. Spiritual, moody pop from the Nordics - it never lets you down.

The ever-charming Charli XCX stopped by Daytrotter some time ago to perform some songs. While I am a big fan of her dark take on pop, these minimalistic versions she’s been doing lately are the ones where her voice really shines. You can hear her perform Nuclear Seasons above, head over to Daytrotter for Stay Away and Wires.

Little Boots’ new single Every Night I Say A Prayer is already the inevitable pop song of 2012 - and now it has a video in which a dozen guys show you their best dance moves, so it’s only getting better. Directed by Zaiba Jabbar.

Twin Shadow has just announced the release of Confess, the follow-up to his 2010 debut Forget. It will be released on July 9 via 4AD, a first taste in the form of a new song titled Five Seconds can be found below along with the tracklisting. It’s got a bit of a Prince vibe, which is obviously great (he kind of looks like Prince on the artwork too). Very fast-paced, yet never far away from the distinct dream pop we heard on Forget.

mp3Twin Shadow - Five Seconds

01 Golden Light
02 You Call Me On
03 Five Seconds
04 Run My Heart
05 The One
06 Beg for the Night
07 Patient
08 When the Movie’s Over
09 I Don’t Care
10 Be Mine Tonight

Masked post-chillwave/glo-fi whizzkid Slow Magic releases his debut ▲ (triangles will never die) today via LebensStrasse. Eight tracks that embody the bare essence of chillwave but gain this extra, Jai Paul’esque drugged twist. Stream it below and head over here to buy it on vinyl (or CD).

The Morning Benders recently changed their name to POP ETC - mainly because of this (and all of this), but also because they decided to give their sound a 360° and make proper pop tunes instead of this baroque indie pop they had been doing for quite a while (and quite good, actually). Don’t let the auto-tune scare you off, as Live It Up is actually an amazing pop tune. A self-titled “debut” is on its way: note June 12 in your calendar.

Girls, women & babes galore in the video for Icky Blossoms’ debut video Babes. Pretty sure some people would call this song a “club-banger”, but because I find that word somehow degrading, I’ll just call it a house-infused, sexy song that gets you going within seconds. 

Niki & the Dove have made a mixtape which features chopped up versions of songs that appear on the duo’s debut album Instinct (including some weird semi-disco’ish version of Gentle Roar) and some previously unheard tracks. The fact that it is titled Mixtape 1 suggests there may be more on the way - let’s hope so.

Earlier today, the tracklisting of the deluxe edition of Instinct was unveiled and it seems we’re being treated on 4 (FOUR!) bonus tracks. Pretty sure they will be as mind-blowing as the rest of the album.