Until last month, trying to justify to people that I’m a fan of both Santigold and M.I.A. has made me feel like a pre-Anne Sullivan Helen Keller (i.e. probably not that great of taste in music and unable to articulate myself anyway). Just pick one big, young, multicultural, female act, Emma! You don’t need both! But since Santigold put out “Big Mouth,” her first single in what feels like forever off her new album, Master Of My Make-Believe (due to arrive May 1st via Downtown/Atlantic Records and said to feature cameos from Major Lazer’s Switch, TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner, and songwriter/producer Greg Kurstin), I’ve begun to feel more and more like Miss Sullivan herself. With an intro at home among the updated-80s synths and poppy basses of Glass Candy, Temper Trap, and Desire, Santigold’s “Disparate Youth” is pure enthopop bliss—but is it enough to shift Santigold out from behind M.I.A.’s neon and rhinestone-encrusted shadow and earn her the title of Miracle Worker? We’ll have to wait and see.

“Disparate Youth” is available on iTunes, long with remixes by Switch, the 2 Bears, and Amateur Best. Check out the “animated video” for the song above if you can’t spare the $0.99.

STREAM: Santigold – “Disparate Youth”

Everyone (see: Miley Cyrus) loves Grouplove. We fell in love back in 2010 when they swung through D.C. and recorded an acoustic version of their iconic single, “Colours.” That track, along with their breakthrough hit “Tongue Tied,” have been remixed, reworked, and re-loved to death. Then, just when you thought it was safe to move on, Swedish electropop quartet Little Dragon went and injected some dance floor-ready rhythms into the ‘Tongue Tied”, trading in the band’s signature bubbly vibe for whiplash-inducing snare hits and chopped vocals. The result is a track that definitely holds its own against Gigamesh’s remix and the original, which clocked in at #18 on our best songs of 2011 list.

MP3: Grouplove – “Tongue Tied (Little Dragon Remix)”

M. Ward is back! Free of Zooey and his Bright Eyes co-conspirators, his new album, A Wasteland Companion, comes to us in April. A jaunty contrast to “The First Time I Ran Away,” the album’s sleepy first single, “Primitive Girl” shows off Ward’s versatility with a sound strikingly reminiscent of James’ iconic 1993 hit, “Laid.” Enjoy the playful ode to a mysterious primordial dame below.

STREAM: M. Ward – “Primitive Girl”

We can all use a little more neon in our lives. Director Bill Schumacher seems to agree in his take on Elliphant‘s “In The Jungle.” The video lays glowing lights over a parade of jumping ravers, moshing santas and a kid jumping in a fully-rigged party cart, an absurd scene that could only be soundtracked by this feisty tribal number. The video’s scripted to a condensed two-minute version of the track; you can stream the Swedish electronic jam in all its extended glory below.

STREAM: Elliphant – “In The Jungle”

I’m kicking myself for not having discovered Disclosure until just recently.  The UK duo has gotten some serious playtime with their two new singles, “Flow” and “Tenderly.”  The tracks have the perfect balance of heavy bass, bouncy rhythms, and baby-bottom-smooth vocals that get those two left feet moving.  Go “Like” their Facebook page to download their entire EP for free!

STREAM: Disclosure – “Tenderly/Flow”

Dummy: Adele, Lana Del Rey and the Foo Fighters are among the winners at this year’s BRIT Awards.

Dummy: You can also watch a performance of Blur’s five-song medley from the awards night, which include revisits to “Song 2,” “Girls & Boys” and more.

Facebook: Justin Pierre confirms that we’ll be seeing a new Motion City Soundtrack album in June.

Hypebot: Eventbrite passes the 50 million tickets sold mark.

Mystery Jets: The legendary UK indie-pop outfit announces their fourth album, Radlands, with a release date  of April 30th.

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Unknown Mortal Orchestra sings about escapism from the everyday familiar in “Strangers are Strange,” as shown in the lyrics “It’s fun to pretend that we are strangers/so we can be strange/like strangers are strange.” The group just released an equally quirky video for the track that looks like something out of Wes Anderson’s portfolio. Actually directed by Sam Kristofski, the video centers around a group of sharply dressed and even more sharply bearded men on an amateur stakeout. Fast camera pans and Futura fonted subtitles only add to the suspense.

STREAM: Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “Strangers Are Strange”

The internet seems to catch everything, right? A giant impenetrable web, in which every event of the most minimal consequence is caught, documented and consumed. But often the fast-paced indie-music blogosphere glances over records, EP’s and new artists of all types. Salvageable but neglected sonic gems are left in the dust of the next buzz band and hybrid genre, without due recognition and coverage. Here’s a young rap duo with a bright debut EP that seemed to fly by last year without due credit. The group is Dream Jefferson, and their album Punch Perm is fresh, fast and fun. Their music takes cues from both 90s underground hip hop and today’s synth-pop trends, coupling smart, sophisticated rhymes with poppy, dance-able beats. Plus, the cover art is dope beyond belief. Check it out above, and give the track “Purple Hearts” a listen below.

STREAM: Dream Jefferson – “Purple Hearts”

Sponsored multi-sector cross-collaborations can easily veer into commercialized trainwreck territory. Recording artists working with fashion designers working with corporate marketing teams? That’s not just too many cooks in the kitchen–that’s too many cooks who all speak different languages in a kitchen designed by someone who’s never operated a stove. But sometimes, rarely, this synergy can create something truly special, as is the case with Charli XCX’s latest track “I’ll Never Know.”

Charli XCX, who indicatively cites Wednesday Addams as a style icon, lent her goth pop charm to accessories designer Fred Butler for the Red Bull Catwalk Studio project. With “I’ll Never Know,” she obliterates the assumption that catwalk soundtracking can’t stand alone as real music, creating a gem that will continue shining long after London Fashion Week packs up its tents and vanishes into the mist. So why does this collaboration work so well? According to Charli, both Fred Butler and she “speak in color and music, so we get each other perfectly.” If this sounds like voguish nonsense to you, check out the song and you’ll see precisely what she means.

MP3: Charli XCX – “I’ll Never Know”

British indie-pop duo Summer Camp has announced the release of their new single, “Losing My Mind,” heralding their upcoming UK tour and validating the innumerable tears I cried over missing their performance at All Things Gold 007 last week. The single appears on their debut studio album, Welcome to Condale, but in an effort to make things up to me, I suppose, Sankey and Warmsley will release the digital download as a package, featuring remixes from 24 year old producer Dexter Tortoriello dba Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross and veteran U.K. trio Saint Etienne as well as an exclusive acoustic version of the song.

While the acoustic number has still yet to go public, streaming versions of the two remixed renditions appeared late last week and we’re having a hard time choosing between them. Like the DGRC remix, Saint Etienne lends the track a melancholic, Ennio Morriconesque spin, but they also succeed where DGRC does not in creating a cleaner, deeper cut, shedding light on the surprisingly depressing lyrics that can otherwise be masked by the original’s peppy tempo. The single drops on March 1 through Moshi Moshi Records, so until then, the English/Art History major (aka socially acceptable excuse for obsessive compulsive analysis) in me felt obligated to include a link to all three versions for the necessary comparison and contrastison. Discuss.

STREAM: Summer Camp – “Losing My Mind (St. Etienne Remix)”

STREAM: Summer Camp – “Losing My Mind”

DOWNLOAD: Summer Camp – “Losing My Mind (DGRC Remix)”