Pals Marina And The Diamonds and Charli XCX link up for “Just Desserts”. The track drops in anticipation of their forthcoming North American tour together that kicks off May 6th in San Francisco, CA. Sample the track below.
Marina And The Diamonds & Charli XCX – Just DessertsMarina and The Diamonds 
(Facebook)
Rating 7.70
Yeah like we could resist this one. UK producer Burns knocks this new “Primadonna” out the park and then some. Burns dials up some space/garage type tones in the mix but buoys it nicely with some good punch. You will like it. We promise.
Marina and the Diamonds 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.1
Our girl Marina goes in on her latest single “Primadonna” (the first official single from her upcoming Electra Heart LP) with this piano/acoustic guitar-driven rendition. “Primadonna”‘s class melody is on full offer here with an off-beat syncopated piano providing it an excellent countermelodic frame. The ideal arrangement for this song is, in reality, probably somewhere between this more spare version and the souped up clubby take that’s on the single. We love Marina on the club sound but this song, this particular melody, definitely sounds better dialed back a little bit.
Marina and the Diamonds (Facebook)
Rating 8.2
True story, “Radioactive” is one of my favorite songs of the year. I’ve had it on nonstop repeat the last several weeks. Something about the combo of a great track and the dynamism of an artist in some sort of transition really does it for me sometimes. “Scab & Plaster”, although not quite “Radioactive” good, is a top track in its own right. “S&P” has a sound that mixes 80’s UK rock (Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Cure, other stuff) and current pop radio (think Katy Perry working with a much broader emotive palette). (DoML)
Marina and the Diamonds – Scab & PlasterMarina and the Diamonds 
(Official) (Facebook)
Rating 8.2
So, an interesting turn here from Ms. Marina. The Stargate-produced (Katy Perry, Beyonce, Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow”) “Radioactive” is a big dance pop song. Like worldwide #1 big. Very interesting. Marina’s turn here reminds a bit of Jewel’s 2003 record “Intuition” which although was parody of that era’s pop music sound/visual affectations, behind that parody-front though “Intuition” was, at its heart, still the attempt of an artist to maintain relevance. (This was essentially Jewel’s last pop record). “Radioactive” seems to play that way. Marina doesn’t need “Radioactive” to have a career but she does need “Radioactive” if she wants to be a star. America, the West, the world’s relationship to pop music/culture/relationships in 2011 is kinetic, its changeable (“When you’re around me, I’m radioactive”). Girl can wink wink nod nod all she wants (the song is a parody of American Top 40/American culture/whatever), this is still her track, she owns it. And now she owns a potential worldwide smash. (“Love is all that I fear.”)
Marina and the Diamonds – RadioactiveMarina and the Diamonds (Official) (Facebook)
Rating 7.6
Brooklyn based collective Little Daylight have hit the scene with an indie-pop roar in 2013. Their first single “Overdose” was a beacon of early ’13, and following they debuted their live show at SXSW with subsequent touring with Charli XCX, Bastille, and Marina and the Diamonds. It’s no doubt this trio have been hard at work in anticipation of their debut, and recently released, Tunnel Vision EP. Team B3SCI recently had the chance to catch up with the band to briefly chat about a forthcoming album, life on the road — and of course NYC in the year 2213. Have a look at the conversation below.
B3SCI: We have to ask… is the band name based any bit off of the 1871 fairy tale by George MacDonald titled Little Daylight?
LD: Now the cat’s out of the bag! Yes, we were drawn to the idea of lightness vs. darkness that is inherent in that fairy tale. This juxtaposition tends to find its way into our music.
B3SCI: The band made it’s live debut at SXSW this year. How was the experience being initially exposed in such a crowded festival style environment? How would you best explain your growth as a band since?
LD: It was awesome for us to be able to debut the band live at SXSW. We knew there would be the opportunity for a good amount of exposure in Austin, so we rehearsed a lot leading up to it. We set up a few warm-up shows under a different name in New York to get the kinks out. The whole experience went great and since then we finished and released our EP and have done a bunch of touring, with Charli XCX, Bastille, and Marina and the Diamonds. We are also at work on our full-length, which should be ready to release just in time for SXSW next year.
B3SCI: Speaking of touring with Bastille and Charli XCX, have things been any different on the road most recently now with the Tunnel Vision EP upfront on people’s minds?
LD: Yes, definitely. We can tell that a chunk of the audience now knows the songs from the EP. It’s a great feeling to play to people who know and love the songs and sing along.
B3SCI: Is there a particular track on Tunnel Vision that the band hold especially close to their heart? Is there a story worth sharing?
LD: “Overdose” definitely holds a special spot. It was not the first song that we wrote together, but it was the first one that demanded to be released. We had a bunch of songs recorded and ready to go, but we all knew that “Overdose” was something special. Once it was finished, we knew it was time to release it and begin the Little Daylight story.
B3SCI: Give us one guilty pleasure that has an influence in your writing today…
LD: Are there really musical guilty pleasures anymore? Lorde is on Z100, in between Katy Perry and Daft Punk. I think we’re living in a post-guilty pleasure world, which is a beautiful thing.
B3SCI: We’re hooking you guys up with a roundtrip ticket on our (very real) B3SCI time machine. Where are you going and why?
LD: The year 2213, New York City. Curious if it will be under water then.
*Interviewed by Brian Litwin
Little Daylight (Facebook)
Rating 8.3
There’s no debate that chilltronic producer Chris Dexter aka oOoOO knows his way up, down, and all around a slow jam or two. Having racked up official remix credits for the likes The Big Pink, Salem, and Marina and the Diamonds, the Bay Area producer has been consistantly one of our favorites to keep an eye on.
oOoOO rolls through town Friday the 13th (ooooo spooky) with support from a stellar bill of talent including Sahy Uhns, Datsyuk, and BlackS. We’ve got a pair of tickets to giveaway for the event. To win just email us here and we’ll enter you to win! Winners are picked at random by next Friday morning. You can get additional details on the show at Central S.A.P.C. Good luck!
The Central S.A.P.C. 
(Tix) (Facebook)
oOoOO (Facebook)
oOoOO – Starr
2011. What wasn’t to love? The rise of weirdo R&B, the fall of chillwave, the end of R.E.M. We started the construction of this list over a month ago. One truly epic and extensive Google spreadsheet later, we arrived at this Top 50. We sorted and sorted and sorted, listened through a TON OF STUFF, “traded jabs” on whether James Blake or Jamie Woon put on the tougher persona, etc. Thanks for reading and we hope y’all enjoy the list!
01. James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream (Buy It) (Read)
02. The Weeknd – The Morning (Buy It) (Read)
03. Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Buy It) (Read)
04. Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know (Feat. Kimbra) (Buy It) (Read)
05. Britney Spears – ‘Till the World Ends (Buy It) (Read)
06. Maverick Sabre – I Need (Buy It) (Read)
07. Drake – Marvin’s Room (Buy It) (Read)
08. Beyonce – Party (Feat. Kanye West & Andre 3000) (Buy It) (Read)
09. Jamie Woon – Lady Luck (Buy It) (Read)
10. Michael Kiwanuka – I Need You By My Side (Buy It) (Read)
11. Kendrick Lamar – ADHD (Buy It) (Read)
12. The Alabama Shakes (formerly The Shakes) – I Found You (Buy It) (Read)
13. Nneka – My Home (Buy It) (Read)
14. Rihanna – We Found Love (Feat. Calvin Harris) (Buy It) (Read)
15. DJ Khaled – I’m On One (Feat. Drake, Rick Ross & Lil’ Wayne) (Buy It) (Read)
16. Adele – Rumour Has It (Buy It) (Read)
17. Labrinth – Earthquake (Feat. Tinie Tempah) (Buy It) (Read)
18. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis (Buy It) (Read)
19. Flo Rida – Good Feeling (Buy It) (Read)
20. Bon Iver – Towers (Buy It) (Read)
21. Azealia Banks – 212 (Buy It) (Read)
22. Big Black Delta – Huggin’ & Kissin’ (Buy It) (Read)
23. Florence + The Machine – What the Water Gave Me (Buy It) (Read)
24. Flight Facilities – Foreign Language (Feat. Jess) (Buy It) (Read)
25. Cults – Abducted (Buy It) (Read)
26. Raphael Saadiq – Good Man (Buy It) (Read)
27. Spector – Never Fade Away (Buy It) (Read)
28. Marina & the Diamonds – Radioactive (Buy It) (Read)
29. Afrojack – Lionheart (Buy It) (Read)
30. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – If I Had a Gun… (Buy It) (Read)
31. Active Child – Playing House (Feat. How to Dress Well) (Buy It) (Read)
32. M83 – Midnight City (Buy It) (Read)
33. Radiohead – Lotus Flower (Buy It) (Read)
34. Madlib & Freddie Gibbs – Thuggin’ (Buy It) (Read)
35. The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love (Buy It) (Read)
36. NO CEREMONY/// – Hurtlove (Buy It) (Read)
37. Ifan Dafydd – No Good (Buy It) (Read)
38. Bombay Bicycle Club – Shuffle (Buy It) (Read)
39. TOKiMONSTA – Little Pleasures (Feat. Gavin Turek) (Buy It) (Read)
40. Colleen Green – Cujo (Buy It) (Read)
41. Foxes – Youth (Buy It) (Read)
42. Jacques Greene – Another Girl (Buy It) (Read)
43. Grouplove – Gold Coast (Buy It) (Read)
44. Family of the Year – St. Croix (Buy It) (Read)
45. Lucy Rose – Middle of the Bed (Buy It) (Read)
46. LIPS – Everything to Me (Buy It) (Read)
47. Trophy Wife – Wolf (Buy It) (Read)
48. Dev – In the Dark (Buy It) (Read)
