Just the right balance of hateful and genius

Isn't there a lot of exciting new music around at the moment? I'm as excited as Nick Grimshaw on a day when there isn't any post.

Icona Pop - I Love It
Rarely does a song irritate me more than this. I find it insanely catchy and i find myself humming it, but not that i want to. The lyrics are truly awful nonsense, plumming the depths of the worst europop powered by online translator services and whatever cool phrases we heard this week on Glee. The repetition ensures that the song sounds like a relentless 2m30s chorus. My introduction to this song was a live performance on Germany's Pro7 during the TV Total Wok-WM. For some reason, the two girls who screech their way through the song start off by trying to make out they were DJs perfecting the sound of their obviously pre-recorded backing track. They then came to the front of the stage to start caterwauling and when one of them missed a vocal cue and started singing during what should have been an instrumental part, the extent of the backing track was revealed. Anyway, i should hate this, but i have to give them credit for making something so mind-numbingly infectious, perhaps we can christen it as the first song of a new genre: Chlamydia Pop.

Macklemore, Ryan Lewis & Wanz - Thrift Shop
On to something from which we can derive more positives. We're all fully aware of how mysogynistic and materialistic the average American rapper is, and for the opening few lines this stereotype is maintained. Then it takes a dramatic turn and the trio rap about being cool on a budget, something i've never heard before. Highly commendable for doing something more positive than rapping about your "other, other Benz" and cleverly executed too.

Bastille - Pompeii
Bright, uplifting British indiepop, which would be fairly unremarkable were it not for the singer's inability to say the word "close" properly. You see, if i couldn't do that, i wouldn't make it a key part of the chorus...

Pink ft Nate Ruess - Just Give Me A Reason
70% of people like Pink for the party records. The other 30% like Pink for the confessional tormented pop ballads. Nobody likes Pink when she makes these tedious, borderline country records. Dire.

Bridgit Mendler - Ready or Not
Meanwhile at the Disney Club, a group of cynical executives are trying to decide how to push their latest potential superstar teen sensation. One of them suggests they should make a record which is a paper thin introduction and statement of impending media saturation, hype and burnout within five years. See your Lohans and Spearses for previous examples. The record actually made is hideous, trotting out every cliche of a girl finding her voice. "Ready or not, here i come!" chants Ms Mendler excitedly and "I'm about to break out!" and "I like your face, do you like my song?!" and "Light my heart up baby like a matchstick!". I scarcely am able to believe that a record could be more plastic, fake or trite.

Droideka - Get Hyper
At the other end of the credibility spectrum is Cambridge based electro whizzkid Droideka. His stark assault on the ears has been a surprise entry to the UK charts, but illustrates that there is a mainstream market for well executed dubstep or drum and bass with a detatchment from reality. Whereas the previous review from Ms Mendler was a collection of trite rubbish that doesn't say anything, the occasional vocal stabs of "GET HYPER!" say more than she'll do in her whole career. There is nothing manufactured about it, no focus groups, no glossy videos of fake parties, just a freewheeling creativity which is to be loudly applauded and encouraged without being dragged into the machinelike music industry system.