Yes, Canadian soul singer Remy Shand has been back on the music scene for about a year now, creating new sounds and sharing them online, hopefully in anticipation of a full release sometime soon. It’s so good to have him back, and the best of what I’ve heard lately is “Son Of Night”, a real throwback to warm, emotional R&B of the 70’s, stripped down to just vocal and guitar with a few effects. And the ending of this short song just makes you want much, much more! The best place to buy Remy’s music is on hisBandcamp page.
When in doubt, you can always turn to young Dutchman Jeronimo for a feel good song to make you smile. His latest is “Denk Denk Denk”, sure to have you reeled in before the minute mark with its singalong chorus, and before you know it you might master a little bit of Dutch! The title means “Think Think Think”… something we all tend to overdo and forget about just having fun. “Denk Denk Denk” is light and carefree Spring-flavoured pop. The singer never fails to impress me with his unique voice and expressive performances. You can get it worldwide on iTunes.
North-east England is bringing us quite a varied amount of fine music this year, and among it all is rock quartet Boy Jumps Ship, who hail from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The video for “Better Days” has so much going for it – a sincere, emotional, energetic performance, as well as a really positive message which hits home in the close-ups. The prolific band has a grunge-influenced sound that is augmented by melody and a catchy hook in “Better Days”. Tag Boy Jumps Ship onto your playlist with Cage The Elephant. The song hails from their EP Be Good Be Gracious, which you can get on iTunes.
I’ve already written about(and charted) “Fall Into Love” by Wrathschild, the new name for the duo of Simon Curtis and Wolfy (Ro Danishei). Their slightly sci-fi themed video for the song arrived on Friday and it’s a joyful celebration of being carefree while falling in love. The duo and their director have captured this beautifully with bright colours (pink, for sure), some truly natural smiles in happy close-ups, the beach, playing games, Wolfy in fur (yeah in L.A., but that’s normal 😉 ), and Simon in a comfy unique onesie (stop the frame and take a look at the buttons he’s wearing too). Huge props to all involved for deciding to make a feel good song and video. There is a reason why Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” is #1 around the world and Wrathschild taps into that vibe.
Dance music rules the ascending songs on my new personal charts, while some striking new pure pop songs debut 🙂
The Top 10
All but one of our songs in the Top 10 move up, and that’s because the only song that moves down was #1 two weeks ago…
The irresistible house banger collaboration of Showtek & Justin Prime with Matthew Koma, a reworking of last year’s instrumental “Cannonball” with Koma vocals and lyrics on “Cannonball (Earthquake)” (video up top) grabs #1! The rest of my active Top 10 however responds to their catch line of ‘Show us what you got / When the m***erfuckin’ beat drops’… It’s also Matthew Koma’s 4th #1 entry, following “Spectrum”, “Parachute”, and “1998”.
It looks like “Addicted To You” by Avicii featuring the unbilled Audra Mae is smashing it worldwide too. It rises to #3 and watch the new video for it below.
Ascending into the Top 5 are “Find You” (6-4), which has cracked the Top 40 for Zedd, Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant, and Adam Tyler’s poptastic free download “Electric Valentine” (7-5), becoming the singer’s 3rd Top 5er on my chart 🙂
Sam Smith’s “Money On My Mind” gives way and falls from first to second place, but his entry with Disclosure, the affecting “Latch”, has its eyes on the top of the chart, moving 10-6.
The third and last Matthew Koma entry remains in the Top 10 – it’s Hardwell’s “Dare You” up 9-7.
The three new entries to the Top 10 breakaway from the log jam on the last chart: John Newman’s “Love Me Again” climbs 13-8, with Nick Hagelin’s “Finest Clothes In Town” catching fire 14-9, and Disclosure x2, featuring Mary J. Blige on the redone “F For You” at #10. Listen/watch the latter two below.
Also On The Rise
San Diego’s Convulsic brings his inventive EDM/dubstep game with “Love Space” climbing 17-12, with more to come from this talented newcomer.
Right behind is Martin Garrix, whose free download of EDM/trap song “Proxy” is on fire, and packs a wallop on the chart, moving 23-13 as the fastest riser 🙂
Semi-Precious Weapons’ “Drink” moves 15-14 behind some heavier songs now, but the band recently released its lyric video to “Look To The Stars” as their full album is on deck for release. Watch below.
Jason Derulo has apparently only teased us with his Tattoos EP, so a full album called Talk Dirty will be coming soon. While the title song is a lot of fun and climbs 22-18, I’m hoping the new album continues along the lines of some of his pop successes too like “Whatcha Say” or “In My Head”.
And talking dirty and “Horny” seem to fall hand-in-hand on this chart, so Lonnie Gordon’s could-be dance club hit moves up 24-20.
Sandwiched rather adroitly in-between, “I Wish We Were Leaving” by Bright Light Bright Light and Elton John climb 25-19 while BLx2’s EP of the same name arrived today on iTunes with two remixes of “I Wish”. Also give a listen to a new song on the EP “She Carves Her Desire” below.
FrankMusik continues with his prolific releases in anticipation of his full album called By Nicole. His opening single “Dear Nicole” advances 28-24, while the video for a new song “These Streets”, with an interesting mix of jaunty melody and affecting lyrics, arrived this past week. Watch below.
Debuts!!
I cannot get enough of Sam Smith, cannot wait to see his show on April 23, and thoroughly enjoyed his two performances on Saturday Night Live. One of these was for the R&B-flavoured ballad “Stay With Me”, and this stunner bows at #21, from his upcoming In The Lonely Hour album, not due till June (but maybe Capitol/Universal will move it up on the sked…).
It’s already caused a stir online, and if you’ve been in hiding then you’ve missed the new project brought to us by Simon Curtis and Wolfy (Ro Danishei) called Wrathschild. “Fall Into Love” is a gorgeous pure pop testament to those feelings when you’re on that cusp, and it arrives at #22. And with the pair’s already fine chart pedigree – Simon with 5 #1’s, Wolfy with one of those plus another Top 10er – “Fall Into Love” will do very, very well.
It appears we’re on another roll in the boy band genre, but this time with guys who play their music as well as sing it. England’s Rixton has “Me And My Broken Heart” at #26, and like Martin Garrix, has Scooter Braun management in their court. Then there’s Australia’s 5 Seconds Of Summer with the extremely fun, catchy “She Looks So Perfect” nabbing #1 in the UK last week and premiering on my chart at #27.
The Full Chart
Listen to the songs or watch the videos using the links on the pictures on the pretty and detailedweb edition of my chart.
02 01 CANNONBALL (EARTHQUAKE) Showtek & Justin Prime featuring Matthew Koma 01 02 MONEY ON MY MIND Sam Smith 04 03 ADDICTED TO YOU Avicii featuring Audra Mae 06 04 FIND YOU Zedd featuring Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant 07 05 ELECTRIC VALENTINE Adam Tyler 10 06 LATCH Disclosure featuring Sam Smith 09 07 DARE YOU Hardwell featuring Matthew Koma 13 08 LOVE ME AGAIN John Newman 14 09 FINEST CLOTHES IN TOWN Nick Hagelin 12 10 F FOR YOU Disclosure featuring Mary J. Blige 03 11 TAKE COVER Neverest 17 12 LOVE SPACE Convulsic 23 13 PROXY Martin Garrix 15 14 DRINK Semi-Precious Weapons 05 15 COLLIDE Jake Miller 19 16 READY FOR YOU NOW Sean O’Reilly 20 17 BACK TO CALIFORNIA Steve Grand 22 18 TALK DIRTY Jason Derulo featuring 2 Chainz 25 19 I WISH WE WERE LEAVING Bright Light Bright Light & Elton John 24 20 HORNY Lonnie Gordon New 21 STAY WITH ME Sam Smith New 22 FALL INTO LOVE Wrathschild 11 23 INTO THE BLUE Kylie Minogue 28 24 DEAR NICOLE FrankMusik 08 25 HAPPY Pharrell Williams New 26 ME AND MY BROKEN HEART Rixton New 27 SHE LOOKS SO PERFECT 5 Seconds Of Summer 16 28 MOTEL POOL Travis Garland 21 29 INVISIBLE U2 27 30 MANiCURE Lady GaGa
That Jane Badler was also a well-reputed singer as well as a leading actress (most noted for portraying Diana in the TV show “V”) came to my attention about two years ago when she released the EP “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” and the beautifully dramatic title song, which got to #8 on my personal chart. A few releases later and we have “Volcano Boy”, a lush and very accessible pop song. It has a mystical side to it – a boy born out of a volcano? – and a sense of fearlessness which are quite in contrast to the pop melody. “Volcano Boy” is another lovely surprise from the multi-talented Australia-based (but America born) Jane, who makes fine choices in the songs she records. You can buy “Volcano Boy” on iTunes and watch for the remixes coming April 14. Check out the video below.
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