Doesn’t look much like a deep house maverick, does it? Something about Walter Jones, the guy, and the hauntingly perfect single he’s just released, I’ll Keep On Loving You, doesn’t seem to add up.

The ho-hum, could-be-your-postman name. The hometown (New Orleans — not exactly a dance music mecca). The fact Jones has been making music for around 20 years and has (according to Discogs) a total of six singles, including this one.

And, of course, all of this is before you find out that the breathy, spaced-out vocals on both tracks of Loving You don’t come from a trilling, hired diva, but from Jones himself. Bathed in reverb, on maximum falsetto, but Jones nonetheless. I replayed each track several times when I read about the vocals and it remains somewhat astonishing each time. He burrows under self deprecation when talking about the process — he “added lots of reverb to disguise my horrible singing voice” and it “ended up [being] a really bad impression of Curtis Mayfield’s falsetto” — but the results are undeniable.

“Living Without Your Love,” the b-side, is what initially won me over. The stuttering vocal, the pillowy synths, the almost-funky programming. It’s really the vocal melody that cinches it, though — an immediate earworm that I’ve been singing in my head (and out loud in the hallways around eMusic HQ when I don’t catch myself) on a loop for the past few weeks.

Loving You has been repeatedly described as “lo-fi,” but it’s all relative of course. Some of the tinniness of the drums and the ocean-deep reverb might sound dollar-store to a Resident Advisor regular used to an (on average) more polished and precise production aesthetic, but this isn’t Wavves-gone-disco or anything. “Living” especially feels diffuse and totally airy and, ultimately, just fucking beautiful.

Even if you’re a dance music dabbler, it’s absolutely worth investigating Walter Jones’ surprisingly homespun and lush take on nu-disco.

Usually when I think of summer jams, I think big and bold and bright. I think of swooping Beach Boys harmonies or “Heat Wave”-y romps or, ya know, Summer Jam. I’ve noticed recently, though, the ease of which I’ve stockpiled a bunch of scratchy new lo-fi summer favorites. I know “lo-fi” is a bit of a red herring these days, but these songs are downright scrappy compared to the lush sunshine-pop I usually associate with summer boombox hits. These aren’t brassy fist-pumping anthems, they’re kinda rinky-dink and ragged and homemade.

Below are some songs I’ve been particularly enjoying, but it’s worth noting: pretty much ALL of these bands (save, maybe, Ducktails) have either no records available or nearly out-of-print ones. Most of them are also extremely new. Needless to say, they’re not really on eMusic. Still, I thought ‘em worth sharing — most links are to Hype Machine for your browsing convenience.

Neon Indian, “Deadbeat Summer”: Probably my most on-repeat of the lot. What I said when I first got hooked: “This is lo-fi used to effect, with a purpose: it’s hazy and chintzy and kinda beach-y. Like the sunburnt yin to Glass Candy’s icy yang.”

Beach Fossils, “Vacation”: Beach Fossils is Brooklyn’s Dustin Payseur — one guy, one bedroom (presumably) and one mightily oscillating vocal chorus effect. Maybe this would grate over an entire LP, but on the two or three tracks he’s got streaming so far, it’s perfectly breezy.

Magic Kids, “Hey Boy”: There’s been some talk of Magic Kids’ Langley School-ness, but rather than the detached female chorus, I think it’s the “Little Deuce Coupe” kind of bounce and 4-track orchestration that makes “Hey Boy” irresistible. Sometimes it reminds me of a purer pop version of the skewed Elephant 6 sound. Either way, total summer jam.

Girls, “Lust For Life”: We’ve gushed endlessly about these California Girls, but what’s one more plug? I hope this band takes over the world. “Lust for Life” is a short, sweet stunner and an instant classic. Please, please, please don’t miss the just-released video — their best yet.

Toro Y Moi, “109″: Another one man band (South Carolina’s Chaz Bundick) who, in fact, has another one man band that’s for his glitchy disco tracks. Kids are prolific these days. I blame Bradford. “109″ is the b-side to his upcoming single and it’s got that underwater, Ariel Pink kind of vibe but with much more pillow-y cooing.

The Drums, “Let’s Go Surfing (Knight School Version)”: The Drums are getting some amount of hype right now for their sparkling synth-pop, but I prefer the Knight School version of “Let’s Go Surfing.” Knight School themselves are a wickedly infectious new crash-pop band from Brooklyn who are about to put out their second album of the year (seriously, what’s happening these days?!) and they replace some of the rigidity of the original “Surfing” with some swingin’ drums and ragged three-chord guitar. I’ve listened to this song an embarrassing amount times over the last couple of weeks.

Real Estate, “Fake Blues”: Jersey dudes (along with Ducktails) who play these kind of classic rock-influenced laid back beach tunes. I could have picked any one of a handful of songs here, but “Fake Blues” has a particularly nice and woozy arc.

Ducktails, “Beach Point Pleasant”: Almost certainly the “jammiest” of the entries, “Beach Point Pleasant” is essentially just a looped quick synth arpeggiation with some meandering flanged guitar noodlings. I guess that doesn’t make it sound too appealing, but it’s a surprisingly effective for a “lay on a blanket staring up at the sun and zone out” kind of summer afternoon.

I was listening to this Turkish psych comp on the subway this morning (like ya do), thinking about recent obsessions (the comp is called Obsession) and how I’d fallen woefully out of the loop these past few weeks away from the eMusic hivemind. I’d been spending most of my downtime doing crosswords, eating exotic/borderline gross snacks and weeping over my dead laptop. When I got back into my trusty cube, I didn’t even know where to start.

Somehow, though, within two days I’ve already been sucked wholesale into a few fierce musical obsessions. And I couldn’t be happier.

Here are the three things I can’t stop listening to/watching/mulling over/championing:

- Cass McCombs‘ new single, “Dreams Come True Girl.” His sweet, Chris Isaak moment. Totally beautiful, totally classic and I CANNOT STOP LISTENING TO IT. Seriously… becoming a problem. It didn’t help (or DID help, depending on how you look at it) to come across a video of perennial obsession Girls covering “Dreams” recently in San Francisco. Too much perfect.

- Girls! New! Video! Ugh, it’s so transparent, the fan boy-ness. Oh well. To know “Hellhole Ratrace” is to love it, so there’s really no reason not to watch this. Right here:

- This immensely enjoyable (and decidedly NOT Joe-approved) throwback jungle/rave mix from wonky bandit Zomby, created for UK fashion rag Dazed & Confused. Soundtrack to cubicle moshing.

Since it’s day #2 back in the cube, I’m sure to add some more real soon. It’s good to be home.

Well it’s a bit misleading to say “first” — I’ve been listening on and off to the promo of the newest Junior Boys LP for a month or so. But it’s still with a set of fresh ears that I try to form an opinion of this very clean, very understated, mostly unassuming record.

First of all, if you haven’t read eMusic’s Michaelangelo Matos’ review, head over to the album page now. He’s already beat me to the punch on the unassuming-ness here — Begone ditches much (if not all) of the shiny big-chested vocal-pop moments of So This is Goodbye. The sound is more sleek and bleak, with sprawling track lengths and an incredibly crisp production lean (the synths tend to stab and squiggle rather than pitch up into a flourish). It’s still electro-pop, I suppose, and there are some delicious, candy moments: the sly funky boogie of “Bits & Pieces” and minimal new wave-lite of first single “Hazel” especially.

God do I hate saying “grower,” but… you know. I think the first couple of listens might cast Begone as a bit too chilly and faceless. People yearning for that skittering Johnny Dark production from the fake Timbaland/2-step days of Last Exit sure won’t be satisfied here and it doesn’t quite hit the High Highs of Goodbye (“In the Morning,” “Double Shadow”). There is a lot of bubbling beauty on this record, though: the sweeping lull of perfectly chintzy keys on “Sneak a Picture,” the slow-build swell of album ender “What It’s For.” These are the two longest tracks on Begone at about seven minutes a piece. It’s easy to get lost in the whooshing and swooshing (all sound, no fury?), but the cumulative effect reveals a sublimely beautiful drift.

A layered, subtle and flat out great-sounding record, it’s also an eMusic steal at eight tracks. No one quite does tasteful electronic pop like Junior Boys right now — it’s absolutely worth letting Begone unfurl it’s charms on you. I promise, it’ll happen.

Collectively, we love the Golden Silvers, a young UK band, about as much as someone possibly could. Their debut will be arriving April 27th, and though we have yet to hear it in full, we are certain it will be stupendous. We nearly had these guys for eMusic Selects back in October (just to show you how gray our fandom is), and we’ll be gladly promoting the hell out of them come next month. Above is their song “Magic Touch” performed live. Below, a video for the first single from their record, called “True Romance.”

As some of you know, we’ve had a Twitter account running for a few months now. However, now that Alex has taken over the majority of posting duties (from a too-silent me), this should be good. Follow us here: http://twitter.com/17dots.

There have been a few of you who’ve said you’d like to come out tonight, so here are all the details.

When: TONIGHT. From 6.00pm.

Where: The Northumberland Arms, on the south west corner of Goodge Street and Charlotte Street, London, W1T. It isn’t a very big pub, so we should be easy to find once inside.

Who: Me, you.

What: I think we’ve established this is a ‘meet up and have some drinks’ thing.

Why: It should be fun. It will be good to get a look at you. I’m running out of pictures of James May and Oz Clarke.

As always email the 17 Dots address (find it on this page) for more information/ better directions/ any other problems. See you later.

Towards the end of November our friends in New York held a little shindig where 17 Dots posters met 17 Dots commentators. So now I’m proposing we do the same over here. I can’t promise you James May or Oz Clarke (sorry, I just wanted to put some really English celebrities in the picture i.e. a bit scruffy and holding booze) but I can promise some free drinks, good conversation and all the gossip on what the American editors are really like. We could even try to get Amishi on a web cam!

So, the venue will be a pub in central London and the time will be the last week of August (unless no one can make it.)

Let me know what you think.

Over the last weeks we’ve had a few singles land from bands fronted by young women who are just starting to generate a buzz. Here’s a quick round up:

Zoey Van Goey Sweethearts In Disguise – My personal pick. Zoey Van Goey are from Glasgow and play glockenspiel-augmented indie pop, but don’t paint them as tooth-rottingly twee just yet. Sweethearts In Disguise starts out sweet but builds to a (gentle) psychedelic climax. Their harmonies aren’t flashy, but they are done well.

Florence and the Machine Kiss With A Fist – Bit of Crystals-style discomfort about Florence claiming “a kiss with a fist is better than none,” but the track crashes about with all the thrill of a good on-screen fight. Flo is very London indie – managed by the Queenz of Noize with Dev Hynes of Lightspeed Champion on guitar – and there are definitely Libertines-Kate Nash influences parading around amongst her blues and soul. It’s very now, but a strong track nonetheless.

Rosie Oddie and The Odd Squad Cola Coka Very mixed feelings on this one. It’s very catchy, but Rosie’s singing style is a bit nasal for me – weirdly though it’s her vocals that make the song. Her estuary rasp is different enough to grab your attention and keep it.