It’s always the quiet ones that surprise you the most.

On June 5, Girls Aloud‘s Nicola Roberts steps out on her own with her debut solo single, “Beat Of My Drum.”

“Beat of My Drum” is, without question, the coolest post-Aloud effort to date: Produced by Diplo and French producer Dimitri Tikovoi, the song is a playful blend of some of indie-pop’s finest enfants terribles, fitting snugly between the militant dance beats of M.I.A. and the glitchy, monotone speak-song of Uffie.

“L! O! V! E! Dance to the beat of my drum!” Roberts playfully commands during the chorus, unleashing her inner cheerleader. Yet the song is completely erratic (in a brilliant way), bouncing glibly between its manic “Pon de Floor” (Major Lazer)-like beats and frenzied stutters: The chanted chorus is wildly different from the too-cool-for-school spoken verses, which have absolutely nothing to do with the cooed bridge. And don’t forget the almighty beat breakdown toward the end!

Whereas Beyoncé fell short with “Run The World (Girls)” by fault of uninspired imitation, Nicola’s offering only improves upon Diplo’s original blueprints, resulting in a weird, wonderfully left-of-center pop single: It’s fresh, fun and terribly exciting.

With just one single, Roberts has already rendered every other Aloud member’s solo endeavors utterly irrelevant. “Beat Of My Drum” is a definite contender for one of the year’s best singles, and an immensely promising first taste of Roberts’ forthcoming debut album, Cinderella’s Eyes.

Team Ginger, forever and always.

“Beat Of My Drum” will be released at June 5. (Pre-order on iTunes UK)

Genre: Dance-pop, electro
Sounds like: Ke$ha, Uffie, Jessie and the Toy Boys

Meet Kay, nee Kay Kristin Boutillier, the newest electropop princess on the block who already seems poised for world domination.

Kay first popped up on my radar just over a year ago, when her glitchy, ambient interpretation of Nancy Sinatra‘s classic “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” began circulating. Kay’s version featured an instrumental track sampling Lil Wayne‘s “Lollipop”–an unlikely pairing that reminded me of Sky Ferreira‘s similarly haunting “Happy Dre” mash-up.

A few well-chosen buzz tracks followed–including the swaggerific “M.A.J.O.R.”, produced by MuuMuse fave Doctor Rosen Rosen, a tongue-in-cheek cover of Justin Bieber‘s “Baby,” and a dance floor-ready collaboration with Tiesto titled “Work Hard, Play Hard”–but Kay really grabbed my attention with her official first single, “My Name is Kay.”

Penned with mega-hitmakers Ryan Tedder and Evan “Kidd” Bogart, “My Name is Kay” combines the contagious teen spirit of “Hollaback Girl” with the faux-gangster posturing that Ke$ha perfected with “Sleazy.”(Unsurprisingly, the track has already been championed by ArjanWrites and Perez Hilton.)

Better still than the studio version, though, might be Frankmusik‘s “Lost the Damn Gameboy” remix, which swaps the stop-and-go vibes of the original with a driving house beat.

Kay’s as-yet untitled debut album is due out via Interscope/Universal sometime this year.

Still hot from the Internet-killing, bandwidth-shattering success of yesterday’s Top 40 Albums of 2010 list (including a most major of giveaways, in which I’m giving away ALL TEN ALBUMS that made the Top 10 of the list–you still have time to enter up until January 2!), I now present MuuMuse’s Top 50 singles of 2010.

There were a lot of good songs released during the year. A lot of them didn’t end up making the list. It’s entirely unjust and profoundly disturbing to think about, but what can you do?

I don’t feel like explaining my choices…SO I WON’T. Why? Because I am such a fucking rebel. GO TIME!

LET’S GO!!!1!!

I got something MC’s can kiss: It’s the latest video from Uffie!

Check above to see the Uffster in action for “Difficult,” the fourth single from her debut album, Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans.

The AB/CD/CD-directed video finds the leading lady looking gorgeous while wandering down an endless hallway of M.C. Escher-esque proportions that slowly spirals into some kind of disco-inspired chaos.

I wonder how many times she had to shoulder-check those chicks walking right into her during production–I’ll bet she’s got a bruise!

Uffie’s debut album, Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans, was released on June. (iTunes)

Uffie, Uffie!

Behold the video for “ADD SUV,” Uffie’s second single off of her debut album, Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans.

Following the colorful storybook styling of her video for “Pop the Glock,” Uffie spends her time here playing passenger, swerving through the streets with her hipster pals, racing, and (unsuccessfully) dodging the po-po.

A fittingly hip video for a thoroughly hip song. And oh my God, Pharrell is still so cute and fashionable. Could do without the ‘stache, though.

I got something MC’s can kiss…Uffie‘s Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans is officially out!

While the album is available digitally on iTunes UK (on iTunes US tomorrow) and Beatport, it also comes packaged in a special edition DENIM edition in the UK and France (see above). J’adore!

If you haven’t already, check out Uffie’s MySpace to hear a few cuts from the record here.

I think a MuuCast is long overdue. Don’t you?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been going out to assorted bars and clubs in NYC for a variety of reasons (including Kylie Minogue‘s surprise performance at Splash!) For the most part however, the music selection being played hasn’t really inspired much excitement on my end.

This is MuuCast Episode 4: Your Disco Needs You, a collection of some of my favorite mixes of the moment. Basically, this is just a taste of what I’d want to be spinning were I to walk into a club tonight.

While it’s still missing tons and tons of mixes (as well as those sad disco melodies, trance tunes, and darker haunts I simply couldn’t live without), I thought this was a fair representation of some of the songs that make me want to cut loose and/or strut and vogue. (FYI: If this were a ball, I believe I’d take the title for executive realness and be a part of the House of Xtravangza. Just so you know.)

Anyhow, enjoy…this is one of my favorite collections thus far. Just dance!

Download here.

The full tracklisting:

Miley Cyrus – Can’t Be Tamed (Wideboys Stadium Club Mix)
Christina Aguilera – Not Myself Tonight (JMBW & Joel Dickinson Club Mix)
Sugababes – Wear My Kiss (Wawa Remix)
Britney Spears – Gimme More (Paul Oakenfold Remix)
Uffie – ADD SUV (Armand Van Helden Club Mix)
Kylie Minogue – All The Lovers (Michael Woods Remix)
Lady Gaga- LoveGame (Dave Audé Club Mix)
Rihanna – Rude Boy (Wideboys Stadium Mix)
Utada – Dirty Desire (Mike Rizzo Club Mix)
Britney Spears – 3 (Groove Police Club Mix)
Madonna – Give It 2 Me (Paul Oakenfold Edit)
Kelis – 4th of July (Richard X Mix)

For those of you still loving up Uffie‘s latest Mirwais-produced single featuring Pharrell, “ADD SUV,” hold onto your prescription medication–you ain’t heard nothing yet.

The Uffster will be unleashing the ADD SUV EP on June 8, complete with two mixes by Armand van Helden and one by Hudson Mohawke. The former mixes are complete hands-in-the-air rave affairs, while the Mohawke mix offers a strange sort of chill-out trip-hop sound that pulls the track apart into a dozen different directions.

Below, please enjoy a free stream of the Armand van Helden Club Mix right now, courtesy of Ed Banger Records.

Very good.

To preview and purchase “ADD SUV,” click here.