As many of you may know, the French have a stronghold on the electro-house and electropop scenes; so we can’t help but be excited with Kitsuné Maison 11 – The Indie Dance Issue set to release this Monday. With the current trend in EDM toward emotional, slow-motion music, Kitsuné Maison does a good job by not overstimulating but rather gently tugging the listener to the dance floor with the poppy, indie-rock tunes.

The mix begins quietly with the sweet and simple synth, drum, bass and vocal combination of a mystery artist sure to gather more attention in the next few weeks. The next track,“Phantastic Phone Call,” by Alexander Dexter Jones takes the listener back to the 80s with sparkly, echoing synths and Robert Smith-like vocals, setting the scene for a sound closer to synthpop than electro-house, which continues with Housse de Racket’s “Roman.”

Pionciau’s edit of Gallops’ “Miami Spider” shifts the direction with a four-to-the-floor rhythm mixed with rock-style guitar riffs and synths to match. Nu-disco DJs/producers Azari & III chop up the vocals of Romy of the XX in Creep’s “Days” and lay it over a crisp beat to strip down this pop-tune for a dance floor track that emphasizes the appropriate physical elements as the listener is led through more minimal tracks from The Touch and Peter and the Magician.

Then comes the build up of the pop-rock-meets-synthpop momentum from Logo, Beat Connection and The Nightbox. The dreamy haze of Guards “Resolution of One” has poppy guitar riffs to mellow out the listener before we reach the end of the compilation. “Conte d’Eté” from Exotica, a title of which translates to “A Summer’s Tale,” is an appropriate final track for the beginning of the season as we look forward to more releases from artists caught by Kitsuné Maison’s radar.

[audio: http://www.highrisepr.com/highrise/GUARDS_ResolutionOfOne.mp3″] Guards “Resolution of One”

• Tag: 80s nostalgia, Audio, electropop, indie dance, kitsune maison, Reviews, synthpop, Video