Bag Raiders

A post on this extremely talented duo from down under is long overdue. Chris and Jack have been producing glitzy star-pop under the pseudonym Bag Raiders since 2007. Shooting Stars (above) has been their biggest crowd pleaser to date, racking up over 1.3 million plays on YouTube, with both Way Back Home and Turbo Love also gaining considerable listener counts. Their self-titled debut was released in Australia in October last year, and Sunlight is the second single to emerge from the album, and it doesn't disappoint. Check it out below

Download: Bag Raiders - Sunlight

MySpace, Official, Facebook, Twitter.

Passion Pit remix Cold War Kids

Passion Pit take time out from working on their second studio album (rumoured to be released sometime in spring) to remix Cold War Kids' title track Mine Is Yours. The rework yields a synthetically styled dreamscape, with echoed vocals, pitch bent keys and a kick-snare beat lifted straight from Depeche Mode's 1988 stadium tour.

Listen and download yourself a copy below:

Duck Sauce remix Chromeo

TPNK favourites cross paths again with Duck Sauce's interpretation of Hot Mess taken from Chromeo's most recent long player Business Casual. The track features Elly Jackson of La Roux fame, with the remix revolving around her vocal hook. A nice fist pumper to start the New Year. Download it for free below.

Chromeo ft. Elly Jackson - Hot Mess (Duck Sauce Remix)

Cut Copy Update

Following on from Jamies last Cut Copy post, another sneak preview of the new album Zonoscope has made its way across the web over the last couple of days. It's an improvement on the last teaser, so fingers crossed they can at least match the quality of In Ghost Colours. Take a listen to Take Me Over below...

Cut Copy - "Take Me Over" (Radio Edit) Premiere by modularpeople

IS Tropical

A nifty little number from UK trio IS Tropical. They seem to be doing a few laps of the concert circuit of late, but primarily playing second fiddle to the headlining act - both NYPC and LCD Soundsystem providing the platform. I would warm to them a little more if they would just lose the leather jackets and bandanas and any of the other nu-rave accesories which they have packed en route to South Pacific.

Stream and download for free (via arrow pointing down)

Myspace here, official here.

Best Coast videos

Anyone not familiar with Bethany Cosentino's lo-fi, hazy, adolescent pop owes it to themselves to check out Best Coast's debut album Crazy For You which will surely find itself in many end of year top album lists. These videos for 'Boyfriend' and the bonus track 'When I'm With You' are a damn good starting point if you are yet to fall under her spell.

The Roots & John Legend :: 'Hard Times'

The Roots have teamed up with John Legend to release 'Wake Up', an album of soulful covers from the 60s and 70s, including one of my all time favourite funk-soul tracks, 'Hard Times' by Baby Huey. The Roots are one of the tightest bands around and here they manage to rework the track with even more tension and urgency than the original.

John Legend and the Roots - Hard Times (feat. Black Thought) by throw parties not knives

Introducing... Little Loud

One of my favourite new artists of 2010 has been the Brighton-based Little Loud, who has produced a string of consistently great remixes for high profile acts like Yeasayer, HEALTH and Goldfrapp this year. 'Chill-wave' is a term that has been thrown around a lot recently but is an apt description for his bright, cosmic sound and warm, delicate synths. The Goldfrapp remix is particularly beautiful and can be downloaded via the 'down arrow' on the right hand side.

goldfrapp - believer (little loud remix) by little loud

health - nice girls (little loud mix) by little loud

memory tapes - bicycle (little loud remix) by little loud

yeasayer - madder red (little loud remix) by little loud