The long-awaited comeback of La Roux doesn’t come with the kind of blazing (pop) guns we expected: Let Me Down Gently is a ballad, with Elly Jackson begging for a place in your heart; half-way the rhythm gets a kick in the ass, with their typical ’80s synths swirling up the song to that pop grandeur we know from La Roux. Thematically it’s a far cry from the punchy, somewhat bitchy theme that stands strong on her 2009 self-titled debut - she’s no longer Bulletproof and let down her Armour (of) Love.

Waves crash against the rocks in the video for Ben Khan's elusive Youth, which reminds us of the sudden impact that same artist made with his music on the internet. People here and there are picking up on his sexwave, his redefined version of ecstatic pop music anno 2014, and now the lead track comes with a matching video directed by BRTHR (the brains behind that Kitty in Space thing Miley Cyrus did at the AMA’s). 1992 is out now and streaming in full below.

Once Say Lou Lou sang an acoustic bit of the chorus of Lana Del Rey’s eminent Ride to us whilst walking down the street after their gig (that was obviously a really special moment) - today they have their own proper Lana-moment with Peppermint, the b-side to their latest single Everything We Touch. It’s all bittersweet harmonies, with the duo basically begging you not to say it’s over, sweetened by the growing strings in the back. They have this thing where their a-sides are pop anthems, which is in high contrast with the heartwrenching b-sides - we love it either way.

Leo Kalyan goes all Sensual (with a big S) on new song Breathe, following up a series of refixes and first original offering Temptation. He allows the production itself to take a breath as well, with it being slimmed down to merely a smooth electronic affair, twitched here and there with a subtle beat and soft guitar riff.  Near the end he sings “don’t know what you want from me / but I know what you’ve done to me” - it doesn’t sound as strong as a sentence like that could be, but the message comes across thanks to the straight-forward direction he heads in.

Seinabo Sey caught the world’s attention with game changer Younger - follow up Hard Time brings more of her arena-sized pop to that same game, which basically declares her a winner. Once more she was paired up with Magnus Lidehäll, who finds her soulful voice stand strong against an iconic production. “This time I will be louder than my words” she sings ironically in the bridge - it’s a scream that’s basically as loud as a fire alarm, with the burndown being pretty grand.

Boots happened to produce the latest Beyoncé record, is friends with your favorite acts (think Beyoncé, Sia, Sam Smith, Kelela and the likes), and released quite a handful of songs these past few weeks, which have now been put together in form of a free mixtape titled WinterSpringSummerFall. On WSSF, the rising boy wonder toys around with genres, clashing them together and, most of all, setting his creativity free: it results in some exciting first solo steps of the name on everybody’s lips. One moment he’s rapping over abrupt beats, the next he’s singing to you about how he’s been dreaming about you (with Beyoncé, of course), clinging to that last spark of hope. There’s no rules to the game Boots plays: he sets his own, and that is perhaps what we like best about him. Stream WinterSpringSummerFall below and grab a download here.

Fyfe shows his good heart on new track For You, repeating the message that every little thing I do is for you over a stuttered beat, exploring a slightly more darker sound than we’re used to. Don’t be surprised by the saxophone near the end, which nearly steals the spotlight from Fyfe’s leveled production - it’s just another reason to put it on repeat as soon as you finish the song. Here’s to hoping we are treated on a proper Fyfe full-length this year (with at least one more sax moment please).

Even though the title suggests otherwise, Allie X takes things down quite a notch on new song Bitch - well, at least for the first minute. Layer is being put upon layer until it’s a multi-layered thing of madness that gets even more mad with a Crystal Castles-like vocal squashed over it. It’s all about how girls are being treated as a personal help for others: “make the bed and do your laundry” and what not she sings, full of force, subtly flipping the bird and taking the power in her own hands.

Chorus Grant challenged the weird male pop liga (Ariel Pink, Cass McCombs and the likes) with debut O Everyone; follow up is a pairing of Godplans and Taxi Off the Pasword, which drifts more towards the storytelling soft pop you know from Jens Lekman and Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience, The Whitest Boy Alive). He very much tells his own story though; the kind of story you read from start to finish without any breaks. Taken from the Copenhagen-based singer-songwriter’s forthcoming debut album via Tambourhinoceros.

With Tell Me ‘Bout That, K Stewart delivers quite the debut single. A typically 90s r&b vocals sits back on a very futuristic and unheard production (courtesy of Karma Kid), at least in terms of pop songs: that’s exactly what it makes it stand from the crowd, bursting with beats and layers of other wonky things. This new girl from the block has actually been touring with Bondax and once did a really, really nice cover of Halo at Soho’s Freedom - let’s keep an eye on her.