For the past year plus Robyn’s anthemic “With Every Heartbeat” has been a mainstay in my DJ sets and my ipod. The former Swedish national treasure nailed the basic structure of a hands-in-the-air, where’s-the-chorus, dance-floor-destroyer, but she also tapped into a special type of lyrical structure that lends Kleerup’s disco chug an air of anticipation. Annie achieved a similar effect in the Röyksopp-produced “My Heartbeat” as did Santogold in “L.E.S. Artistes” and Bat For Lashes on “What’s a Girl To Do.” Unconventional pop music by its very definition has fewer tropes, but these icy singles point in the same direction at the very least – something approximating an up-tempo ballad and a minor key. I need to drill down on more examples to make a case, but until then I’m going to relish the curiously lush production on Tawiah‘s “Every Step.” I first heard this gem on Gilles Peterson Worldwide and months later finally found it on the itunes store. Nonchalant snaps, simmering rim shots and an insistent bass drum underscore this South London’ native’s gorgeous poetry.

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A couple of years ago when Joss Stone busted onto the charts with a scorching rendition of The White Stripes’ “Fell In Love With a Girl,” gender pronouns lovingly switched and backed (at least in the video) by ?uestlove and The Roots Crew, I wasn’t terribly interested in the blue-eyed Soul phenomenon. It’s not even a new thing, it’s just trends coming full-circle in a way. See, when all the 40-something British housewives were in their teens and early twenties, they were partying to Northern Soul, its only logical that their darling Duffys, Amys and now Adeles should be singing in the grand tradition of Delta Blues via Dusty Springfield. Cold Shoulder, with its sunny breaks and haunting strings, is Adele’s first chart-bound single in the US. The Basement Jaxx remix is of course my favorite, though there is an “Out of Office” version that is quite a bit punchier. I love how she repeats the main verse of the chorus when conventional songwriting dictates that she should follow “words made of knives” with a rhyming couplet. Undoubtedly Adele is garnering success because of a trend beyond her control; it kind of reminds me of the influx of Neo-Soul artists into the US pop charts in the late 90s actually. Only time will tell us which of these blue-eyed dollies will be a Jill Scott, and which a Jaguar Wright.

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