Young Dutchman WRLD continues to expand his EDM horizons with this seemingly unlikely candidate for one of his remixes, “BB (Four Missed Texts)” by the mysterious Kid Froopy. It’s essentially disco-flavoured European-style R&B, taking many pages out of the mid-70’s songbooks, and much ado about nothing lyrically. Vocally I think of 70’s doyennes like Silver Convention, Penny McLean and Tina Charles – long forgotten names who left behind several worldwide pop and dance hits. This mix is all about the boogie and beat, and sometimes that is all you need 🙂 You can investigate by listening at the link above and downloading it for free.
Songs by NYC duo Great Good Fine OK often sound so good on their own, you just want to leave them as is. “Always” is the kind of glorious pop/dance tune that GGFO fans have got accustomed to particularly when it blows up powerfully in concert. NYC-based producers and brothers Anden made a splash on the BILLCS Top 30 on the weekend with their percolating remix of Satchmode’s “Undertow”. Their official remix of “Always” could go far, and testament to that is the first two minutes of the song, which just glide along beautifully, matching Jon Sandler’s major vocal when it starts to soar after the first minute. It may not be in entirely the same wheelhouse, but the remix sounds like a logical update of Erasure’s early 90’s music, but trading electropop for soulfulness and staccato high end for rich tones. “Always” is the song to get club sets going after a mid-or-down tempo break. Check it out at the link above and pick it up on your favourite digital platform.
When Chicago’s Snøwmass picks a song and wants to make it ultra sick and dirty, watch out. So in his hands, “Bad Kids” by L.A.’s Convex featuring New Jersey hip hop vocalist Titus becomes “dirty evil EDM kids from outer space”. It’s a song that will get everyone out on the dance floor acting in whatever crazy fool way they want and no one will think the lesser for it. Between Convex’s slick synths, Titus’ commanding sneer, and the crunch of those Snøwmass wobble house beats, this is deep down dirty bass house at its finest. Download “Bad Kids” for free above and if you find yourself trying to bust moves that you’ve never tried before… don’t say you weren’t warned first!
SEBASTIAN CARTER featuring JULIA CHURCH, “City Lights”
“City Lights” by Swiss producer Sebastian Carter is one of those songs that sounds at the same like many different house tracks and none of them at all. It’s got an atmospheric backdrop, some great ear-catching synth work, and a timeless, forlorn-sounding vocal by singer Julia Church. Club DJ’s will love it because it will blend with so many songs, but patrons will be Shazaming it when those key instrumental and vocal moments arrive. “City Lights” has a crisp European flavour that you won’t find in your everyday North American deep house track. You can pay it some deserving attention at the link above.
“Thrill” is a playful new song that knows how to make EDM swing. I really don’t know anything about its mysterious artist TRI, but no matter the droll French lounge jazz vocal married with some simple but standout horns and swinging percussion all work very well together. But adding some well-placed electronic effects gives the song added dimension and helps direct “Thrill” to an entirely different audience. “Thrill” is as quirky and adventurous as what Toronto’s Uninvited Guests attempted to do last year with updated renditions of classical Glenn Gould songs (read my post). It’s full of spirit and sustains its four minutes well. Be sure to give TRI’s “Thrill” a listen at the link above.
Just after the New Year, the BILLCS Top 30 will reach its 500th chart! Now I suppose if I had been posting it weekly it would be well over 1,000 editions by now. In this edition, there are so many hot new songs that several get caught in a mid-chart log jam while others continue to flourish near the top. And don’t discount the four new songs that arrive either!
The Top 10
“Closer” by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey will always be a hard act to follow now that it’s one of the biggest hits of 2016. So that’s all the more reason why Alex and Drew should release another single! Below you can hear “All We Know” featuring Phoebe Ryan.
(free download!)Both “Native Son Prequel” by Gramatik featuring Leo Napier in a Jenaux remix (holding at #2) and “Balance” by The Him featuring Oktavian (up 6 to 3) are positioning themselves nicely to succeed “Closer” at the top. But which one will do it, or will something else beat them to it? Aussie teen Joe Mason is already scoring on this chart with his remix of “Elevated” by RKCB at #13, but check out his remix of “Balance” below (free download!).
MAX gets his second Top 5 hit on this chart with the Two Friends remix of “Lights Down Low”, which vaults 9 to 5. And if you missed my blog post on his new project called Party Pupils, with their cover of OutKast’s “Ms Jackson”, you can check it out right here.
The remixes keep arriving for “Rainbows” by Victor Perry, which continues to advance 8 to 7. Check out Zewmøb’s bright and funky remix below (free download!).
I’m very happy that two EDM acts that continue to break out happen to land in my Top 10 at the same time. Tritonal’s “Broken” (with Jenaux and featuring Adam Lambert, above) climbs 12-9 and “False Alarm” by Matoma featuring Becky Hill (below) moves up 13-10. Matoma put on a heckuva show on September 23 in Toronto , where the audience was very drawn to the variety in his set… imagine what he could do with a stadium-sized audience! Tritonal has their turn coming up in my city on October 14 🙂
Movin’ On Up
The fastest riser on the chart this week belongs to young Norwegian singer Jesper Jenset whose wickedly catchy “High” scores in a Young Bombs remix, climbing 22-15 ahead of some pretty fierce competition!
Also making a key move on the chart this week is Steve James collaboration with duo RKCB on “In My Head”, which like “High” has a drop that’s hard to beat. “In My Head” moves up 20-16.
Rihanna’s “Love On The Brain” advances 21-19 but fear not, it’s just caught in that log jam of great new songs and should break loose in two weeks.
Liquid Diet’s “Luminary” from the trio’s debut album Double Life rises 24-20, while they’ve released a hilarious and raucous NSFW video to their song “My C**t” (below) – if you’ve seen something like it before, think less wild and Austin Mahone (also below) 😉
Rod Thomas, aka Bright Light Bright Light, has now proven three times that he can make great albums and not just great singles. Each of his albums has excellent deeper tracks, and in particular those are the ones that register with me more on Choreography. His collaboration with Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic “I Only Want To Please You” is up 26-21.
“Just A Dream” is a dark, hallucinogenic feast for the ears by Molly Moore and featuring Brandyn Burnette in one of their best vocal pairings yet. Culled from Molly’s upcoming EP Now You See Me, “Just A Dream” climbs 27-22.
And They Keep On Comin’ … Four Debuts
Arriving at #23, why it’s Brandyn Burnette again (four times in this chart 😀 ), this time fronting Elephante’s song “Plans” from the I Am The Elephante EP. “Plans” shows incredible versatility from both performers, just when you think there’s not another side that can be showcased, here it is! Just a beautiful song, too.
If it didn’t get you from first listen – for shame! My fellow Torontonian The Weeknd surprised everyone with the immediate release of “Starboy”, featuring none other than Daft Punk, and then its compelling video. It should be topping charts everywhere in the next two weeks, and bows here at #24.
L.A. quintet Satchmode write some pretty interesting songs, and one of them, “Undertow” was recently remixed by NYC brothers Anden, which got it featured on Tiesto’s Club Life mix. Anden gives it a late night cruising-down-PCH feel to it, and it premieres at #27! My original post about it is right here. It’s a free download too!
One of the most inauspicious instrumentals of 2016 received a winning remix this summer, which got it to #1 on the Hype Machine charts. The song is “Vague” by Fabian Luttenberger, as remixed by none other than Saxity’s talented Stan Sax – so yes, do listen for the highlight that is the saxophone break! “Vague” is one sultry affair that will be stuck in your head for days (check out my original post right here), and is new to the chart at #28. It’s another free download!
View the full BILLCS Top 30right here, and be sure to click on the photos to hear all of the songs.
Listen to the BILLCS Top 30 Songs on Spotify! Click on this link to take you there, and follow me on Spotify: BILLCS Top 30 Songs
Listen for me with my Pick of the Week at 2:20/6:20/10:20 AM/PM EST onhttp://www.planetradio.ca most days Monday through Sunday, and my flashbacks to a Toronto Top 10 of yesteryear Tuesday evenings at 9pm EST
L.A.-based, Philly-bred Dylan Orvell, aka producer/DJ Speaker Of The House, has great ways to shape a classy deep house groove around what really is a fine pop song. Such is the case with his latest original “Awake, Asleep”. To make it even that much better, he’s got Remmi as its vocalist. You already know her from these blog pages from her endearing vocal on LZRD & Spirix’s “Take Me Apart”. As a result the song has an intriguing, breezy, dreamy quality about it, with a classic melodic structure, and when that drop comes along you are already sold. “Awake, Asleep” goes down easy and will take you deep into the night 🙂 Listen above and pick it up on iTunes.
It’s a great song choice to launch a side project and MAX (Schneider) and his producer/remixer buddy Ryan have done just that as the duo Party Pupils and their cover of OutKast’s “Ms Jackson”. Following on the recent success of MAX’s album Hell’s Kitchen Angel and a lot of touring, launching another venture seems like a good idea. Party Pupils definitely want you to have a great time, so they’ve taken the essence of “Ms Jackson” and turned the beat around so the sway of the original turns into a wicked EDM bounce. This is just the start… club DJ’s would be remiss let this one pass by… with more to come over the next few weeks from Party Pupils. In the meantime download “Ms Jackson” for free at the link above.
Chicago’s Clew is off to a great start with his debut single “Tarzan”. This one will totally catch you off guard with its insanely catchy tribal/island house rhythm. And then you are going to completely dig the way Clew’s hip hop verses flow over top, as they segue into the melodic hook of the song. My only thumbs down is about the overuse of autotune in the chorus, which gives a dated Lil Wayne/T-Pain feel to that part of the song, which doesn’t really belong there. But the song briskly sails by and is an unanticipated blast. Check out “Tarzan” at the link above and just be forewarned that your body might get a few steps ahead of your mind…
UK producer/DJ trio Black Saint arrive with the slick and varied “Could You Love Me”. Even though they call this their “dub mix”, if you’re not a fan of that style, don’t let that label detract you. While there’s a solid basis of classic dub style in this mix, particularly in the first minute of the song, there is so much else going on that is worthy of your attention. “Could You Love Me” has plenty of terrific soulful vocals, including the hook which is over an on-point early 90’s house groove, but also drifts into jazz and dubstep flavours. So Black Saint are determined to win you over with many tricks up their sleeves which all work quite well in one package. Check it out at the link above.
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