“Blow Ya Mind” takes you on a trip back to the early 90’s when The KLF were all the rage with their techno-fused dance music. It’s not what you would expect today coming out of Italy with noted producers Promise Land and GLDN, but it’s a lot of fun and will work exceptionally well in clubs whose audiences enjoy songs with retro appeal. With a cool vocal patter matched with wonky sounding synths “Blow Ya Mind” will keep you wound up well after its effective and brief middle pause. Promise Land and GLDN definitely create an abundance of fresh vibes out of this techno inspiration, something I think we’ll hear more of from other producers.
“The King” is definitely an intriguing instrumental release that will go a long way at festivals. Swedish duo Dimitri Vangelis and Wyman truly go big and majestic with this one in partnership with my fellow Torontonian, the Juno Award-nominated Dzeko (whose set I got to see back in March in Miami). “The King” could easily be a set opener, with its sweeping start which leads into a minute and a half of solid A+ trance… and then it comes to a halt, taking its well-paced time to build up again after 40 seconds or so. If this wasn’t done so right, the audience could easily bail on the song, but one could visualize some kind of royal making his or her pointed and quiet walk, only to raise his/her hands to let the proceedings recommence. And so, let the crowd go wild for the rest of the song’s 3:29. “The King” is one unique song for the electronic dance music world so be prepared to hear it all summer and into the winter festival months.
In the same vein as Don Diablo and CiD’s “Fever” comes “Smoke” by Danish producer Toby Green. It’s a fast, fun progressive future house song that will definitely turn heads with its pauses punctuated by one word “okay”. The repeated, trappy melody line is infectious and this is the kind of songs that keep patrons up dancing in a club. Definitely one to listen for both in clubs and at festivals. Toby Green continues to leave his mark in the competitive electronic music world with songs like “Smoke”. Okay – out.
In early May, I introduced you to Boston’s Almost Owen through a delightful acoustic indie bedroom production. He’s followed that up with a full blown alt.rock effort called “One Lucky Man”. He’s got a great voice and like with many classic rockers, he can sing a lot of powerful, meaningful lyrics and draw the audience into his story without worrying that he’s actually singing too much. The song has a straight-forward arrangement with a steady rhythm that steers it quickly through three and a half minutes without it seeming even as such. Definitely keep your ears open for Almost Owen – he’s a sharp songwriter who knows what his listeners want to hear, and delivers a great message with “One Lucky Man” in the process.
It seems easy enough to think that a song called “Feels Like Summer” might be a simple, straight-forward pop song about fun in the summer. But UK singer/songwriter Samuel Jack was raised partially in Johannesburg, South Africa, and his interest in music was sparked by Paul Simon’s Graceland. So I’m confident there is a myriad of influences brewing inside, which leads to Samuel’s rich, R&B-inspired vocal that gives “Feels Like Summer” extra depth. The song itself is reflective, looking back on a teen romance that brings back the summer setting all over again, even when it isn’t even summer. All too many of us can relate to those feelings, which is why “Feels Like Summer” is a charming winner and Samuel is a singer to watch. If you like music by Hozier and Passenger then add Samuel Jack into the mix.
It’s not an easy sell at first listen, by “Overwhelm” by L.A.-based electronic artist Bridesmen is a beautiful song that encourages us all to confront and embrace our feelings. With a slant on mental health and well-being, the song is supported by a compelling and lovely lyrical dance video for you to check out above. Bridesmen is the recording name for Kenton Chen, who some of you may know from TV’s “Sing Off” a number of years back, when he put together an impromptu acapella group that sang in the finale. Kenton’s career has been mainly focused on jazz and acapella, so Bridesmen offers another avenue for him to raise awareness about a variety of issues as well as his own barriers he has faced as a Gay Asian American. “Overwhelm” has a classic song structure that allows it to be both affecting and relateable. You can hear vocal and songwriting styles of artists like Joni Mitchell and Carole King in the story, as well both classical and modern influences in the music which perhaps reminds me of tauter songs by electronic artists such as ZHU or Odesza.
There’s lots of change afoot on the new chart. The lower rung gets cleaned out and replaced with six debuts which have loads of top-of-the-chart potential! And speaking of the top, a new #1 has taken over from a bunch of strong favourites, which will all have difficulty leaving the Top 10 any time soon.
The new #1 is also the fastest riser on the chart, something that doesn’t happen often! And it belongs to Illenium and Jon Bellion with the stunning “Good Things Fall Apart”, soaring 9 to 1. During the last week, Illenium announced a North American tour and I’m happy to be attending in Toronto on September 28 🙂
M-22, Cedric Gervais and DubVision & SYZZ all slip down as a result of “Good Things Come Apart” now ruling the chart, and only Mokita’s “Kiss And Tell” (above) and Lost Frequencies & Flynn’s “Recognise” (below) can also move up within the Top 10, advancing 6-5 and 10-9 respectively.
The progressive electronica of Mako’s “Coyote” rounds out the Top 10 moving 11-10, becoming the singer’s 4th Top 10 on this chart.
With the Top 10 pretty much locked down, songs below can only make limited movement and some will break loose of that in two weeks. That leaves three of our debuts from two weeks ago to get recognized with bigger jumps. “Don’t Leave Me Lonely” by Mark Ronson featuring American singer YEBBA (above)climbs 23-17, while Switzerland’s Eurovision entry “She Got Me” by Luca Hänni (below) leaps 25-19 , and the soulful pop of “Where Did You Go” by Nick Peters and Jamie Grey (also below) rises 27-22.
So it’s the debuts that do most of the talking this week. The highest debut at #23 belongs to the dynamic pairing of Don Diablo and CiD, who I saw dropping this song together in Miami in March, a fun grower called “Fever” (above). Next at #24 is an album track – and I like saying that because it’s from the first full album by EMAN8 (Brandyn Burnette) also called Emanate. The song is a nice mix of pop and electronica called “Time” (below) and it’s a standout from the album. It follows lead off single “Amen” onto the chart, which peaked at #15 earlier this year. At #25 is a returning pair to the chart, US producers and musicians Eric Sharp and Zhao with the catchy “Monday Blues” (also below). These guys previously charted together in 2016 with “The Thirst” (#7), and Zhao is also the vocalist on both.
I’m not done just yet! Like Don Diablo, another veteran appearing on the chart for the first time is Borgeous, who arrives with vocalist RUNAGROUND with “Better Anyway” (above) at #26. Then there’s a delicious slice of melodic deep house courtesy of Italy’s Eric Zava and DJ Mirko B at #28 with “Even In Confusion” (below) featuring the vocals of newcomer Daniel Gorash. The final debut is yet another entry from the prolific Mahalo this time with Poland’s Milkwish for some more dark deep house “Alone Again” (also below) at #30. Mahalo and MŌZ are also at #27 with “Go Ahead”, which recently peaked at #4.
View the full BILLCS Top 30right here! Click on the hyperlink on the song titles to hear the songs or watch the videos!
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LOST FREQUENCIES and ALOE BLACC, “Truth Never Lies”
Following up the more pop-oriented and anthemic “Recognize” featuring Flynn (currently #9 on my personal chart) is Belgium’s Lost Frequencies with “Truth Never Lies”. The song gets deep down and personal with a warm and urgent vocal from Aloe Blacc, who you heard recently on Avicii’s “SOS”. Because of this “Truth Never Lies” draws you in within its first 30 seconds and keeps your breath bated as the rest of the story unfolds. It’s a solid dance song too that will make you sway and clap along. But I think it’s the bluesy anchor that Lost Frequencies provides to compliment Aloe Blacc’s tones and range that makes “Truth Never Lies” instantly memorable.
“Beast” definitely has a lot of firepower for the dance floor in just under two minutes. That’s because it’s a collaboration of two well-established young producers, New Jersey’s Purari and SoCal’s MAKJ, who caught Hardwell’s ear for release on his own Revealed Recordings. “Beast” is an easy progressive house festival banger to be sure but it’s also an extremely well-crafted piece of music. Lush synths go really big then quiet, and there seems to be some techno inspiration that recalls the work of past big names such as Josh Wink. Quite simply there’s a lot that happens and the powerful chorus will truly take command of the dance floor when it plays. “Beast” goes for the big bounce and leaves you wanting even more.
It’s a bit off the path from a lot of today’s pop music, but that’s probably what makes it refreshing: “Shotgun” is new jazzy pop from Canadian band Monkey House. Canadian radio listeners will be familiar with them from the 90’s and early 2000’s with such songs as their cover of Steely Dan’s “Lazy Nina” as well as the original “Big Money” receiving regular airplay. Led by pianist, Emmy Award winner, and Juno Award nominee Don Breithaupt, Monkey House’s “Shotgun” has an 80’s vibe about it that will appeal to fans of artists of that era such as Matt Bianco. But it’s the summery chorus that you won’t get out of your head and can easily be earmarked as a great summer driving song. It comes from the forthcoming album Friday with a video to follow that will be directed by Oscar winner Miles Dale. Don’t let this one slip by – definitely one fine summer bop!
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