Lists on BILLCS Music Blog – Page 8

Tuned-On! Top 300 of the 2000’s, Part 5 (100-51)

Online discoveries and remixes dominate the top 100 of this decade list. It is like no other list I’ve created before, but it parallels my list of the 1970’s in some ways since I was discovering the UK charts and dance remixes in the latter part of that decade. But there would have been no way for me to discover, without our current technology and without meeting online friends:

* Dance music available otherwise to club DJ’s such as songs by Casey Stratton, iio, Motorcycle, Axwell, Crystal Waters, Cassius, Armin Van Buuren, Roger Sanchez, and Matt Darey, including remixes of songs by Coldplay and The Fray

* Canadian talent from across the country such as Mitchell Hunter and Jake

* Talent from across the world like Agnes Carlsson, Freemasons, Adele, Duffy, and Newton Faulkner

* Lesser known artists awaiting their breakout, like Tyler Hilton, Evan Taubenfeld, and Dan Black

* Updates on favourites such as David Usher, Darren Hayes, and Chris Isaak

* Monitoring success of new decade favourites like Jason Mraz and Lifehouse

The ‘hits’ are still here too, though much less so than ever. Discovered the traditional way were songs by 3 Doors Down, Leona Lewis, George Michael (“Amazing”), The Fray (“Over My Head”), and Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown.

So the Top 100 begins with the updated list right here – don’t forget to leave your comments and observations!!

Tuned-On! Best of 2009, Part 1 (50-26)

To me, 2009 was the year that pop music exploded online. Sure music has been available for many years online, and iTunes legitimized online sale of music downloads near the beginning of the decade. But never in all these years has music been so close to listeners that they can practically taste it (and maybe that’s next!).

It has recently become a reasonable business strategy to make music available for free as a promotional tool, to attract listeners and fans to various websites and of course to iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, or their local music store to download or buy CD’s. And is it just me, or is the world even that much closer now? Never have I been in contact with more people around the world than just through this 40 year old hobby of mine, which I transformed from website and message board to a blog this past Fall. I’m absolutely loving it.

Music for me in 2009 stayed on the pop-rock-dance tip, with only a handful of modern-alt.rock tunes sustaining my interest. Literally fantastic singers are now everywhere, waiting to be heard, and I’m so glad I found some of them. For every enjoyable favourite who returned with new music, such as Chris Isaak, Duncan Sheik, or Pet Shop Boys, there were new stars glimmering like the UK’s LaRoux, Sam Taylor, Florence & The Machine, Gary Go, and Dan Black; Ireland’s The Script; Australia’s Presets and Nelson Clemente; Sweden’s Darin, Mans Zelmerlow, and Agnes Carlsson; Canada’s Colin Munroe and Noah; and the USA’s Evan Taubenfeld, Val Emmich, Matt & Kim, and Keri Hilson. Dig deep enough online and you’ll find free downloads for Dan Black’s “Symphonies”, Matt & Kim’s “Daylight”, Munroe’s “Will I Stay”, Clemente’s “You Want Me Don’t You (Spekr Freks mix)”, 100 Akres & Roz Bell’s “Pink Cadillac”, and Newton White’s “Breathless” that are all artist-approved. And online remixes even made it to national radio, witness the frenetic redux of The Fray’s “You Found Me” by Lenny B – a song I didn’t like in its original version instantly became one of my favourites of the year!!

So in this blog filled with lists I will add another list of favourites that will hopefully stand the test of time in some ways. I’ll start with the first half, from 50-26, the rest will appear tomorrow with additional thoughts about some of the songs.

You can view the full list right here.

Tuned-On! Top 300 of the 2000’s, Part 4 (150-101)

As the numbers get smaller, so the songs begin to be increasingly difficult to talk about without going into many superlatives, so I will probably save those for the Top 50 or so. When I look at this group of 50 songs, I see mainly songs that energize me or affect me emotionally. So for every rave up that is Madonna’s “Sorry” or George Acosta’s remix of “Just Another Day” or Nadia Ali’s “Love Story” or Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” or Alex Gaudino & Crystal Waters’ “Destination Calabria”, there is JC Chasez’s totally underrated and hurtin’ “Until Yesterday”, Stabilo’s almost-sinister “Flawed Design”, Darren Hayes’ very dark “I Like The Way”, Mary J. Blige & The Game’s heartfelt mashup “MJB Da MVP”, the emotions-run-wild in Mika’s “We Are Golden”, Florence & The Machine’s gothic “Rabbit Heart”, and the teen love’s growing pains in David Archuleta’s “Crush”. Don’t discount the fabulous one-off’s that are “Jerk It Out” by The Caesars or “Summer Jam” by The Underdog Project either!

This will be my last update of this list until after December 29. I’ll be away after Christmas for a few days but may blog about this and that if I have time. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it!

You can find the updated list right here – don’t forget to leave your comments!

Tuned-On! Top 300 of the 2000’s, Part 3 (200-151)

Let’s see – a few amazing dance anthems/comebacks (“It’s All True”, “Stamp Your Feet”, “Night Of My Life”), a solo debut (“Like I Love You”), two songs that re-entered my chart (“Last Train Home”, “You Want Me Don’t You” – the latter as a remix), doubles from Rufus Wainwright, Coldplay, Kanye West, and Marianas Trench, plus wondrous stuff from Tyler Hilton, iio, Darin, Blue Man Group, Mans Zelmerlow, Gary Go, Jamiroquai, Josh Kelley, and more!

You can find the updated list right here – don’t forget to leave your comments!

Tuned-On! Top 300 of the 2000’s, Part 2 (250-201)

From big worldwide hits (“Yeah”, “Naughty Girl”, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”) to more localized hits (“That Girl”, “The Way (Put Your Hand In My Hand)”, “Alone In The Universe”), to club smashes (“Planets of the Universe”, “My My My”) to rock tracks (“Sometimes”, “Load Me Up”) to first timers (“There You Go”), to CD only tracks (“I’ll Do Anything”, “Hot Mess”) – you’ll likely find something you like a lot on this list.

You can find the updated list right here – don’t forget to leave your comments! 🙂

Tuned-On! Top 300 of the 2000’s, Part I (300-251)

Yes it’s that time once in every ten years when I get to recap the list of my favourite songs of the decade. Of course this list is likely to change even as early as next year, but it’s a snapshot of all that I thought was worthwhile in the decade. In some ways it corresponds to my bi-weekly chart, but there have been some past favourites that I no longer play or hear as much as in the past, and those songs are not on this list. This list is not exclusive to singles or songs on the radio… there are many album tracks.

I will eventually post the full list in the sidebar to the right, but for now you’ll have to watch the blog each day this week for the first 200 songs. The Top 100 will be revealed sometime during the week of December 28.

You can view the first 50 songs right here and of course by the tags you can see some of the artists who are on the list.

Enjoy, and post some comments about your favourite songs on the list!!

“Delusional” by Simon Curtis is #1 on the Tuned-On! Top 30 #316 – Dec 21/09

I’m so impressed with Simon Curtis’ “Delusional” that it arrives at the top from outside of the Top 10, the first time this has happened in two years. Darren Hayes’ “How To Build A Time Machine” debuted at #1 in December 2007, but prior to that the last time a song reached #1 from outside of the Top 10 was again with Darren Hayes’ “Step Into The Light”, which shot from 12-1 in June 2007. Those are great footsteps in which to follow for sure. I’m looking forward to Simon’s “pop mixtape” 8Bit Heart in the new year! Simon’s gradually rolling out songs from 8Bit through his Twitter fan base – apparently the next one is called “Fell In Love With an Android” (yup Simon’s a sci-fi fan).

Simon’s #1 leaves Mika’s “Blame It On The Girls” stranded at #2 and Dan Black’s “Pump My Pumps” at #3. Jay-Z & Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind” charges into the Top 5 with Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” itching to follow in two weeks, right behind at #6. Canadian east coast singer Mitchell Hunter’s wistful pop candy “Someone Else’s” lands at #10.

The fastest riser on the chart though belongs to US-Sweden dance meisters Miike Snow with “Black & Blue” soaring 27-14. Pet Shop Boys also make a decent move with the increasingly catchy “Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing” at #18. PSB are particularly great at taking songs that you wouldn’t expect them to cover and making them their own.

The pickings this week for debuts on the chart were mighty slim, though it’s nice to see one of these songs being remixed for radio, and that’s Joshua Radin’s delicate “I’d Rather Be With You” (see video below).

The Year End Top 50 is in the works as is my Top 300 of the 2000’s – it will be a busy two weeks. Happy holidays!

View the complete chart right here or use the link under **BILL’S PERSONAL CHART** to the right!

Favourites from the Decade Lists, Part 3: The 1990’s

As we approach the end of the first decade of the 2000’s, I’ve decided to add my lists of personal favourites from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s in preparation for the end of this decade.

If you look at the list of songs that make up my list of favourites from the 1990’s, it must have been difficult to figure out what I really like the most in terms of music genre. But one thing’s always for certain: I love a great well-sung song with a terrific melody. Beautiful songs by Chris Isaak, Jeff Buckley, Everything But The Girl, Rufus Wainwright, Extreme, and Jann Arden grace the list for this reason. Rock songs from Live, Nirvana, Collective Soul, Smithereens, New Order, Electronic, and the Matthew Good Band all have their place on this list, and as technology expanded rapidly during the 90’s, so did the ways to make a dance song cut loose. Thus we see songs by Kristine W., Everything But The Girl, Delerium, and even The KLF with Tammy Wynette in-between the grooves. As the Internet rose, so did communication world-wide. I only found out about Faithless’ “God Is A DJ” because an email contact in Sweden was kind enough to send me a compilation CD in exchange for information about Bryan Adams. Music was still a solid hand-held CD for me… but I began to wonder how I could acquire songs that weren’t released in North America yet for a decent price. iTunes and downloading were on the horizon as I began listening to streamed music online.

It still dwells inside of me that we lost two of my favourite singers of all time in 1997, one the same age as me, and one younger. Jeff Buckley’s death was heart-wrenching; his music was only a discovery of mine two years prior, and boy did it grow on me in time, and I sought solace in the many, many online tributes. And Michael Hutchence, who I saw five or six times in concert with INXS, apparently took his own life. His vibrant on-stage personality was one-of-a-kind.

With sentimentality out of the way now, I hope you enjoy the list using the link below.

Bill’s 100 Favourite Songs of the 1990’s

My chart: Tuned-On! Top 30 #315 – Dec 7/09

The shakedown of favourites is beginning on this edition of my personal chart. I have a bit of a ‘recurrent’ rule – songs drop off the chart automatically after 10 appearances (20 weeks), and 3 of my favourite songs of the year will do just that as Dan Black’s “Symphonies”, Gary Go’s “Wonderful” and Mans Zelmerlow’s “Rewind” hit that pinnacle.

But there are plenty of great tunes that remain, as Dan Black and Mika both continue their reign at the top of the chart. That same Dan Black is back in the Top 5 with “Pump My Pumps”, while Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, Michael Buble, and Lady GaGa all arrive in the Top 10.

As with two weeks ago, Simon Curtis is a talent to watch with the very hit-worthy but free download “Delusional” once again the fastest riser on the chart (I’ll be blogging about Simon’s latest free download preview of 8Bit Heart called “Diablo”, too!). Lifehouse is back in hit territory with “Halfway Gone”, and Luigi Masi has a new EP out called On Your Radar which features his previously free download “Radar”. Other debuts from last week by Roisin Murphy, Michael Buble, and Kris Allen get stuck in a logjam but should soar in two weeks.

It seems hard to believe, being in December, but I’ll have only one more chart before my year end Best of 2009 is published. Watch for it!

This edition has three debuts. Those producers extraordinaire, Sweden’s Bloodshy & Avant, along with American singer Andrew Wyatt, comprise Miike Snow, and their latest catchy piece of business is “Black And Blue (Savage Skulls Remix)”, available for free download using the link on the chart. The previously blogged-about medley of “Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing” by Pet Shop Boys is also a new arrival to the chart. But my focus this week is on new UK vocalist V.V. Brown, who you may have heard this past summer with “Shark In The Water”. I wasn’t a big fan of that song, and I am hardly one for cover versions (yet I’ve also charted PSB’s version of “Viva La Vida”…hmmm), but her version of one of my favourite Rolling Stones songs, their 1978 #1 “Miss You”, is a stunner and is my highest debut.

You can find the full chart here or in a link on the right sidebar. Enjoy!

Favourites From The Decade Lists, Part 2: The 1980’s

As we approach the end of the first decade of the 2000’s, I’ve decided to add my lists of personal favourites from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s in preparation for the end of this decade.

This list for me showed a personal evolution of Top 40 oriented pop and dance songs through modern/alternative rock of the early 80’s, through to highly personalized selections from the late 80’s. 1986 was a critical year when our local Top 40 AM station shuttered, leaving listeners to find their own way through to their ‘hits’. Fortunately with my involvement in campus radio up to 1988, I had a treasure trove of selections to hear as well as access to other music buffs whose own choices might influence my tastes. By the end of the decade, though the focus was still on Singles – and I have many album tracks from the 80’s that should be on a Best Of list – it evolved into a highly personalized set of songs, some of which are not known or recalled by many. If you’re a fan of CFNY-FM Toronto (now The Edge 102.1), light splashes of Canadian success by the likes of MOEV, Rarefaction, Vis-a-Vis, Blue Peter, Saga, Scott Merritt, and Spoons may trigger happy memories. New Order, The Style Council, INXS, and Big Country were my artists of the day, while ‘one hits’ by the likes of It’s Immaterial, Wah!, When In Rome, Womack & Womack, and Secret Service also grace the list (link below).

Bill’s 100 Favourite Singles of the 1980’s