Skream is responsible for the biggest and most praised La Roux remix (they even got a NME award for it, though the weekly magazine forgot to invite him to receive the prize) which reinvented the Elly Jackson's voice by putting it in the middle of heavy bass and dysfunctional dubstep beats. After being featured in a television ad, you'd expect the collaboration to produce new songs, and that’s exactly what's just happened...

The British producer is going to release his second album Outside the Box at the beginning of August, and invited the red head (or ginger, ranger,  whichever you prefer) to sing on new track ‘Finally’. It might not feature a chorus as big as ‘I’m Not Your Toy’, but the rest of it is better than the remix.

Elly Jackson’s voice, for example, seems to have grown and hits your ears in a nicer way than before. We really think (and everybody probably agrees that) Skream and La Roux should make this a more permanent thing, but, of course, they should keep their day jobs as well.

Hiya Kelis

Remember Kelis in her 'Caught Out There' days? To me she kinda had the same kind of je ne sais quois feeling that Nelly Furtado (back in her Turn Out The Light days) and the Black Eyed Peas (back in their Request Line, pre-Fergalicious days) used to have before they completely and utterly sold out to the pop idol gods.

Or something.

Anyhow, years later, Kelis has managed to maintain her je ne sais quois edge, whilst at a similar level of mainstream, Furtado and BEP lost pretty much every last shred of cool numerous number one singles ago.

So girl made her comeback with 'Acapella', and with her album Fleshtone freshly released, Kelis has been back in the limelight doing the rounds. Jools Holland saved the footage from her 'Caught Out There' days, and gets her to accompany him in a little bit of 'Sweet Dreams' action:

And check it, Kelis also covered everyone's favourite ranga with a quiff, La Roux:

Cheesy. The best word to describe La Roux, but, boy, don't we just love her? From that whiney nasal vocal to her perfectly coiffed hair that looks like my little nephew playing punk in the shower - she is awesome. Even though she still needs to understand that she's a mainstream act and therefore shouldn't talk shit in interviews, we love her all the same.

And she's just released 'I'm Not Your Toy' as a single. It comes with a video that made me laugh so much that I built a six pack. Basically, it's so good that I don't even know what to point at. Let's just start from the beginning so we don't lose anything.

WAIT! WHAT IS THAT? IS THAT A RED SHARK? Nope, it’s La Roux, emerging out of the water in this awkward shot. I’m a bit scared of the moment when she opens her eyes. Please, Ms Ginger, don't be hunting my soul.

"Watching my performance makes me a better artist.” she says while viewing the video on a prehistoric version of an iPhone.

“My music is so good that these black dancers teleported their arses here just to dance!”

Oh and now it’s a house party, but the alcohol is yet to kick in so people are just staring and standing.

Some white rich people are worried about black people. When they will ever learn?

La Roux noticed these two above, so she sent a hologram of her head to explain that they are all nice people here and that sort of discrimination is unacceptably racist. La Roux’s faux head ain’t happy.

Some people start doing some awkward moves (look, these are members of her live band!) to show they don’t care about colour.

Mr. Grandpa is happy!

Which makes La Roux happy!

And so she goes back into the lake, where she is going to be hungover in the morning. People will say that it was the best party ever.

Click here to check the whole video.

La Jackson

We don't talk about Little Boots anymore because her album is such a turn off. Kind of trying to be everything that is going on at the moment but keeping everything that you liked about these genres out of her songs. I think she (by "she" I mean her team) might be afraid that normal people won't get it. Well, I don't get flushed down genres.

Although we still like La Roux because she still sounds exactly the same since we lent her our ears. Sometimes the sound may get a 'bit over', but it's still 100% her - plus don't forget the other dude who's name no one seems to know. This little story is just an excuse to post three new remixes from La Roux (and not to post the new ones from LB), from the French producer datA to Fred Falke; including the Nacey Remix featuring Matt Hemerlein.

datA has to be our favorite Justice cover ever. His album might have some fillers, but when he gets right it's almost like he's hitting the 'DVNO' spot again. And he got La Roux's 'I'm Not Your Toy' right. All the dramatic samples mixed in with electrofunk lines suits the music really well. He even made Elly's voice a bit less annoying, and just for that he deserves a prize. Well done, Justi datA.

'Bulletproof' might be the first Fred Falke remix in a while that he doesn't use backslap bass - and that's kind of a big thing. What it does use, is some kind of early Killers synths and some effects on Elly's voice. This remix sounds like an Euro hit about to be played on every radio station for the next couple of years. Be warned.

Nacey aka Andrew Wallace is a producer from DC who thought it would be a good idea to give 'Bulletproof' a classical feel using piano, tense bass lines, strings (thanks to his friend Matt Hemerlein) and Timbaland-like beats. It turns out he was right and this is a great version of the song.

La Jackson

I don't want to be la rude (thanks Frankmusik for that one), but can someone get a better make up artist for La Roux? Her whiney voice sure sounds great on 'Bulletproof' - not to mention the special effects that remind me of high budget TV ads and her amazing pointy red hair - but I'm still a little scared of her eyes...Putting aside those crazy colours, the video plays (again) with the eternal '80s influences that surround the career of the boyish Elly Jackson, but not in a tacky way. Both song and video are nicely produced and might finally take the duo to the number one spot. Now I just wonder if I'm ever going to see Ben Langmaid, the other half of La Roux...

If the '80s were a weird decade for you and you'd rather La Roux to sound more electronic (but still pop, of course), you might want to check the great remixes from the producers Tepr and Zinc below. While Tepr involves 'Bulletproof' in a radio friendly electro cover, Zinc takes the song into a non-obvious fidget environment.

Last time, with The Melodic One compilation, Kitsuné Maison introduced the world to artists like La Roux, We Have Band and Appaloosa; got us dancing once again with Fischerspooner and Lo-Fi-FNK; and made everybody's heart feel funny with songs from Ted & Francis and David E. Sugar. So there's absolutely no doubt that we are dying to listen to their 7^th compilation, The Lucky One.

First, because it's got some ace new singles from bands like We Have Band and Golden Filter. And then there are the songs that we already know and adore like 'Something Good Can Work' from Two Door Cinema Club, 'Solo' from Chew Lips, 'In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix)' from La Roux and 'Lisztomania (Classixx Version)' from Phoenix. And finally all the songs from bands we don't know but we'll probably love. In Kitsuné we trust!

In order to celebrate the upcoming release of both Kitsuné Fall/Winter 09 collection and Kitsuné Maison 7 - The Lucky One, Loïc Prigent & Fabien Constant did a cool change-your-clothes-as-fast-as-you-can competition featuring some songs from the compilation. Cheap creative fun.  Check the video below and some of it's songs at the bottom.

Track list after the jump, innit. >>

Single cover

Yes, like I said, I'm one of those people who likes to compare La Roux and Little Boots all the time. And as both of them got a new single out backed up with some nice remixes, it's time for a 'who is better' moment on the blog. This post is divided in two parts (check the first one here), now it's the time of La Roux and her latest single 'In For the Kill'.

SONG

Who knew the '80s would be such an unforgettable decade? After all these years, you can turn on your radio and tune in to a new song that is more dated than Depeche Mode's career, but don't you just love it? Elly Jackson's unique voice is almost over the top but it just about fits in with those silly old beats.

REMIXES

The Twelves's sound like those vertiginous DFA adventures, only more radio friendly. If all the bands/producer put as much effort as those two guys put into every remix, Hype Machine would be a nicer place.

Lifelike went darker than his usual, but still stuck to the '80s theme, like if Kraftwerk went as human as The Pet Shop Boys. Heartbreak's is quite similar, only colder. Way colder.

Skream's ethereal instrumental makes La Roux's lyrics feel deeper. The breakbeat/dubstep influence was also really welcome.

VIDEO

Blue. Pink. '80s retro-futurism. A Delorean. Smoke. Funny glass. Cool. Clichês. Mix all those things together and you've got a video clip a La Roux for 'In For The Kill'. Not that we were expecting anything less...

SCORE

7/10

BONUS

The Mad Decent crew remixed La Roux's first single 'Quicksand'. It's not what you would expect them to sound at all. Somebody must be depressed at Diplo's label... Is that you Wes?