It’s kind of rare that an EDM song (let alone one in the future bass sub-genre) has an adorable quality about it, but Hollywood producer/songwriter PatrickReza’s “Let U Fall”, featuring collaborator and sultry vocalist Aubren Elaine, is that exception. The simple lyrics walk that line where you know that your friend/lover/partner has your back with the repeated lyrics “I won’t let you fall”. It has an equally simple melody line, augmented by some nice layers of synths, which gives you almost a playful sense of keeping your balance during a relationship. Anyway I enjoy what Patrick and Aubren have concocted and I hope it will catch on with DJ’s who know to draw friends and couples out onto the floor in a slower set with a song like “Let U Fall”. Pick it up as a free download at the link above.
Chicago’s Megaphonix follows up the uplifting “Open Your Mind” (currently residing at #20 on my personal chart) with “Don’t Stop”. It’s got a breezy, effortless melody to keep club goers happy in the summer months along with a compelling classic house rhythm that scores with immediate notice early on. The futuristic vocal effects are persuasive; they help make “Don’t Stop” into a club anthem and will resonate in a big club environment. Chalk up another one for Megaphonix as his music continues to receive worldwide support. Stream or download it for free at the link above.
You need to have a great set of ears and imagination to take a gorgeous song like “Elevated” to another very sophisticated level. With stunning, sometimes soulful vocals that remind me alternately of FrankMusik and Robin Thicke, L.A. duo RKCB clearly are on the right path with this song. But for dance music fans, Australian teenage producer/remixer Joe Mason seems to know innately how to accentuate all of its best features, and reimagines the song at a point in a set when the DJ has tired out his audience and brings it back down under some soft lights. Except Joe’s mix doesn’t get all too mellow, he throws in some blissful futuristic vibes to make the lights flash and to keep the crowd on the floor. “Elevated” in this remix is simply going to become a ‘gotta have’ song for many dance music fans. Download it for free at the above link.
DVBBS & SHAUN FRANK featuring DELANEY JANE, “La La Land” (Spirix remix)
Newly based in L.A., teen producer/remixer/performer Spirix continues to cast an inventive, progressive spell over some recent dance music songs, two of which are currently on my personal chart (#1 his co-remix of Brandon Skeie’s “So Bad”; #14 his collaboration with LZRD on the original “Take Me Apart”). Here he shakes up the latest from my Canadian EDM contingent – the DVBBS lads, Shaun Frank and vocalist Delaney Jane, “La La Land”. Quite honestly, it doesn’t sound much like the original, and though I know many EDM fans already love the original, I think Spirix’s approach improves on it. He keeps the aggressive pace already well-established for DVBBS front and centre in his remix as well as the carefree melody which is attractive about the original. Yeah for some it may be too busy and I think Delaney Jane’s voice perhaps is over-transformed, but you can’t deny the kind of reaction this remix will make in a packed club. Download it for free above and see why! 🙂
The new edition of my personal chart is one of my favourites of 2016. It was difficult to compile in many ways, and there’s also so much great new music out that it makes it challenging to create only a list of 30 favourites. This is also causing songs to exit the chart sooner perhaps than in recent years – many used to last the full 10 appearances (20 weeks). But onward and upward with this post highlighting a number of the songs 🙂
The Top 10
He apparently has something new in the works, but right now I cannot get enough of L.A.-based singer/songwriter Brandon Skeie’s “So Bad” in either its original (above) or its swirling remixed version by EDWYNN x TIKAL and Spirix (below). This was the easy part of compiling the chart – “So Bad” nails #1 hands down and will be difficult to dislodge!
The runner up is the timelessly summery “Dreamin'” by the UK’s Embody featuring vocalist Camden Cox. It’s one to play at your beach parties 🙂
One of the more out-of-the-ordinary songs on the chart is “Sound Of Home” by Canadians Sterling Grove and vocalist Ellyn Woods, which in its deep house remix by Chicago’s Snøwmass climbs 6-4.
Rounding out the Top 5 is the enjoyable funky business that is “Get It On” by NYC producer/performer/remixer Jenaux, who is also making headway with his 80’s influenced rework of Gramatik’s “Native Son”, which I wrote about recently. “Get It On” rises 8-5.
More people need to discover the vivid Kat Krazy remix of Tom Odell’s “Magnetised” which leaps 11-6; you can find the original on Tom’s second album Wrong Crowd.
Speaking of Kat Krazy, the British duo end up with two new Top 10 entries, the second being their collaboration with American vocalist Johnny Stimson on “Run Run”, which jumps 14-9. That piano riff will get you every time!
Movin’ On Up
Tony Moran and Jason Walker are making many joyful waves together on the chart with “So Happy”, as the #1 Billboard Club Chart hit soars 18-12.
The fastest riser on the chart is one of the most decidedly different, a heartbreaking EDM song that has a refrain that you’ll either find haunting or daft. Nonetheless young producers/remixers LZRD and Spirix have got a great thing going on with “Take Me Apart”, featuring a beautiful vocal by singer Remmi, and it vaults 23-14, heading in no time to the Top 10! Spirix is already up top with his co-remix of “So Bad”; more to come from this talented young man – like tomorrow!
There’s been renewed interest on the music website Hype Machine this past weekend for Bryce Fox’s fine “Burn Fast” in its Koni remix, which continues to rise 17-15.
Rain Man is all over the Billboard Dance Radio charts with his reflective “Bring Back The Summer”, featuring powerful vocalist Oly in its INSTRUM remix. It moves up 20-16.
The exuberant deep house sound of Chicago’s Megaphonix is on display with “Open Your Mind”, which climbs 25-20.
I really enjoy the softer progressive soul sound that Brandyn Burnette has used in his song “Worship” from the State I’m In EP. It advances 28-21 – only the humble beginning 🙂
Four Debuts
There was no way that I could miss adding “Her And Him” by Mi Disguise and Rouse to the chart, from their soulful and danceable mixtape NGHT LFE. It’s a romantic saga for the club world 🙂 “Her And Him” bows at #23.
It’s been in the wings for a while, but L.A.-based singer/songwriter Cobi, formerly of Gentlemen Hall and more recently a featured vocalist on the Above & Beyond acoustic tour, arrives on the chart with “Don’t You Cry For Me”. The song was originally titled “Darker Than Dawn” when I wrote about it a while back. Newly christened, this compellingly old-school bluesy pop song debuts at #24. It follows up last year’s “Walking Through The Fire”, which reached #12.
Following #21 “Worship” is the title track from Brandyn Burnette’s State I’m In EP. It’s such a timely song given recent current events, and everyone should think twice about how they really feel and how it affects the world around them. “State I’m In” premieres at #26, making it three songs on the chart for Brandyn, including “Made Of Dreams”, which peaked at #5.
Another one that’s been waiting to make its move, and is a perfect companion piece to both #19 “Stronger” by Nik Ernst and “Open Your Mind” by Megaphonix at #20 is the British house sound of “Limits” by Australia-based Brit Latchmere featuring singer Andreas Liberos. It debuts at #27 and is a free download.
Listen to the songs or watch the videos using the links on the pictures on the pretty and detailedweb edition of my chart. Go on, have a look and listen/watch
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
http://www.planetradio.cais back! Listen for my Pick of the Week at 2:20/6:20/10:20 AM/PM EST most days Monday through Sunday, and my flashbacks to a Toronto Top 10 of yesteryear return this Tuesday evening at 9pm EST
WRLD featuring FATHER DUDE, “Galaxies” (DROELOE remix)
Following up his busy and fun remix of Lights’ “Slow Down”, Dutch teen producer/remixer WLRD continues to kill it big time with “Galaxies” featuring a vocal by NYC’s Father Dude that really anchors the song. What is a creative and above average dance track gets taken to another level by fellow Dutchmen DROELOE once the first minute kicks in. The falsettos get isolated and reshaped, and before you know it the song has launched into a free spirited futuristic bounce that will keep you going till its subtle ending. DROELOE’s fun foray is a preview of the upcoming multi-mix EP of “Galaxies”. You can pick it up in advance of the full release on iTunes.
From the first few bars of “Rainbows”, you just know that you are going to hear something special, and this time it comes from new Atlanta-based R&B/pop singer/songwriter Victor Perry. Though there’s not a bad song at all on his EP 4 A.M. Nostalgia, the record really is all about his inspiring voice, and a sweet style that recalls singers like Toni Braxton and Smokey Robinson. “Rainbows” probably has the most committed vocal to the sad story where there are still glorious rainbows ‘without colouring’. Victor has brilliant control and resonance like Mikky Ekko and Alex Newell (when he’s not belting out powerhouse dance tunes). This is all going to take him very far and 4 A.M. Nostalgia is a fine start. You can pick it up on iTunes.
For every dance track that’s full of effects with big drops, there’s a song like “Lost Yourself” by NYC duo The Golden Pony featuring New Jersey singer JT Mak. This one stands out because it’s slick in all the right ways. Unlike a lot of dance records, there’s incredible balance here in the production which marries contemporary deep house with Nile Rodgers-like disco riffs. The Golden Pony know how to bring it up to new heights with JT Mak’s falsetto and bring it back down quieter when he sings in his tenor range. Plus there’s a pause that will keep you hanging! For now, you can pick up “Lost Yourself” for free at the above link.
If you like your Gwen Stefani, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande when those singers are high on a dance tip, then new French singer Cocovan (yup, she’s from Paris) will definitely grab your ears with “Chic (Someone To Love)”. It’s so easy to try and be ‘the next’ of any of those singers I mention, but the songwriting is top notch and her vocal is expressive and endearing, which only make you want to hear more from the singer. So don’t go looking for busy production or anything outrageous. “Chic (Someone To Love)” is straight-forward dance/pop that is effusive and believable with its emotion. Download the song for free at the link above. The singer has also directed her own video for the song which you can find on You Tube.
“Free Spirit” is the new song from Molly Moore’s upcoming second EP, following Shadow Of The Sun. It’s nothing like what you heard on that record. As produced by Craig Dodds of Massive Attack, it definitely recalls the 90’s experimental electronica that made Massive Attack’s early records (particularly Protection) so timeless and memorable. The same principle is applied on “Free Spirit” where Molly’s voice is shaken and shifted amid a unique soundscap, and in this co-write with beau Brandyn Burnette, there is a distinct progressive soul backdrop similar to some songs in his own latest EP State I’m In. But “Free Spirit” is unmistakably Molly doing her own great things with music, and should call attention to fans of Banks, Halsey and Grimes. Pick it up on iTunes.
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