New Battles album Gloss Drop lands June 7.
Photo courtesy Warp Records

In this edition of Playlist, Wired magazine’s senior pop culture editrix Nancy Miller spotlights the first single off Battles’ upcoming album, Gloss Drop. The podcast’s track list opens and closes with new music from Javelin, with some Japanese psychedelia and the always lovely Florence + the Machine sprinkled within.

Who:Javelin
Song: “Cowpoke”
Album:Canyon Candy
Electro-pop duo Javelin hail from Brooklyn (well, Rhode Island originally), but on this album and particularly with this song, they’ve taken on a more folky, country feeling. In that vein, they’ve got a Kickstarter project going to create an internet Western inspired by the EP, which comes out April 16 in conjunction with Record Store Day.

Who:Battles
Song: “Ice Cream (Featuring Matias Aguayo)”
Album:Gloss Drop
This springy little track is the first single off Gloss Drop, which is poised to hit the internet June 6. If you made it to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, this year, you might have spied the cover art on a well-placed billboard. Battles will continue the promotion throughout 2011, curating the U.K.’s Nightmare Before Christmas festival in December.

Who: ?????
Song: “????????”
Album:Japanese Rockin’ Psyche & Punk ‘65-’71 Let’s Go Jan Jan!
This trippy instrumental number comes from a 2005 compilation of equally trippy instrumental tracks by Japanese artists. A handy, free online translator says the band’s name translates to “Mustang,” and the song title to “Pin Lock Gel.” Whatever it all means, it’s fun to listen to.

Who:Tricky
Song: “UK Jamaican”
Album:Mixed Race
Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws, aka Tricky, is — you guessed it — a British artist of Jamaican dissent. While touring North America to promote Mixed Race last December, Tricky’s tour bus spent nearly a day and a half caught in a Minnesota snowstorm, with band members subsisting on Jack Daniel’s until a local farmer came to their aid.

Who:Electric Laser People
Song: “Move Right, Move Left”
Album:Straight Talk on Raising Kids
On Electric Laser People’s MySpace page, the band describes its sound as “Melodramatic Popular Song / Tropical / Visual.” While interesting, the labels don’t quite grasp the scope of the group’s music. “Move Right, Move Left” is a veiled political reference wrapped up in a groovy little package.

Who:Digital Dance
Song: “Computer Rock”
Album:Treatment
Electronic music is everywhere right now, but the guys from Digital Dance were riding the electro-pop new wave in Brussels, Belgium, all the way back in 1981, when Treatment was released. Computers don’t make a lot of unintelligible clicks and beeps anymore, but this song’s sound effects will take you right back to the days of the Apple II.

Who:Florence + the Machine
Song: “Addicted to Love”
Album:Addicted to Love (Single)
What hasn’t already been written about Florence Welch? The flame-haired Brit is so beloved that she was tapped to fill in for a Best Original Song performance at the Oscars when the original vocalist was unavailable. This song is a cover of Robert Palmer’s 1986 hit.

Who:La Femme
Song: “La Femme Ressort”
Album:Le Podium #1: La Femme
You’ve probably already surmised that La Femme hails from La France, the Basque Country to be specific. The band members’ coastal upbringing informs their surf/guitar music, sort of like a modern Beach Boys with more electronics and a female singer.

Javelin draws inspiration for Canyon Candy from a road trip.
Photo courtesy Luaka Bop

Who:Revolver
Song: “Losing You”
Album:Parallel Lives
Fresh off a two-night stand at South by Southwest, Parisian rockers Revolver sum themselves up thusly: “Revolver are a French band named after a Beatles album singing in English.” This folky, upbeat number appears on the group’s second EP.

Who:Javelin
Song: “Streets of Laredo”
Album:Canyon Candy
Another twangy new track from Javelin. Though cousins George Langford and Tom van Buskirk are born-and-bred East Coasters, they drew inspiration for their latest album from a 2009 road trip across the American West. Yee haw!