Chicago’s Steve Grand is now everyone’s All-American Boy and one of music’s hardest working new talents. His All-American Boy album, funded by you, is set for release on March 23, and I have, happily, my own advance copy to write about closer to that time. In the meantime, Steve’s new single “Whiskey Crime” dropped this week. It aptly prepares you more for the classic pop/rock influences that pervade the album, but also carries on the good-natured fun led by his initial singles “All-American Boy” and “Stay”, both of which also had significant Country music flavour. But really, with Steve, you’re going to have to learn to expect the unexpected. “Whiskey Crime” is as much about George Thorogood and Bruce Springsteen as it might be about George Strait or Garth Brooks. Steve’s got this winning, contagious, no-holds-barred delivery in this song that’s sure to make you smile whether or not you like the hard stuff or even an Appletini 🙂 Let your hair down, kick back, and pick up “Whiskey Crime” on iTunes. Watch the lyric video above.
UK quartet Lawson – they’re Andy, Ryan, Joel, and Adam – is back doing with what its fans love them the best – uptempo kick-ass pop/rock with an urgent and emotional vibe. “Roads” is a great song for a long summer drive from their forthcoming album, and it could be their biggest record yet. It actually reminds me of their single “Juliet” a bit with somewhat of an Caribbean island flavour leading it. “Roads” also has a great Andy Brown vocal! Lawson are touring once again in the UK, but let’s hope they can come back overseas again as the crowd reaction when I saw them twice in 2013 was outstanding. I don’t believe either of their Chapman Square albums saw release in North America; in Canada it was only the single “Learn To Love Again”. So I hope some well-deserved $$$ are reserved for these lads – they’re great guys and deserve every success. Watch the lyric video below and look for official release in May.
Spring is almost here and over 70% of the songs on my new personal chart are on the rise or holding, which means that competition to get to the top is pretty fierce! It also makes it difficult when I want to write about them all, but I’ll have to resist 😉
“Sleeve” by Brandyn Burnette is not letting go of #1 yet, as the L.A. based singer/songwriter is about to preview another new song called “Lottery”. Watch for it on Brandyn’s Soundcloud page!
Season 7 contestant on “The Voice”, pop/R&B singer Chris Jamison, moves up a notch to #2 with his slick song “Velvet”.
Having Kylie Minogue and Giorgio Moroder on a tour together would be an absolute dream, not to mention a huge dancefest! I’d love to hear Giorgio remix some of Kylie’s older songs *hint hint* but in the meantime “Right Here Right Now” advances 6-4. Pop radio should not be ignoring this one!
To get you through until Anton Ewald’s upcoming single “Higher” is released on April 7 is sexy R&B-influenced album track “Save The Last Dance” moving up 7-6.
Don’t understimate the power of “King” by Years & Years, as it became the new #1 song in the UK today! It’s the only new entry in my Top 10, and I predict some great things are in store for it on my chart too. Interscope releases it in the U.S., Polydor elsewhere. It climbs 12-10.
Movin’ On Up
All of the songs between #9 and 17 are on the rise!
If there’s room for Years & Years in the charts of the world, then fellow British performer Shift K3Y could also find himself there at some point! “I Know”, which climbs 15-11, did become a Top 30 hit in the UK last Fall but deserves international attention!
Suddenly, there seem to be Smashing Satellites fans all over North America, as the quartet heads to the U.S. to play some shows. Check out the Canadian band’s impressive video for “Waterfall”, which soars 18-13.
The fastest riser on the chart belongs to the singer who is also at #3 with “Pieces” – Jessie Ware. She will be headed back to North America very soon, supporting her new single “Champagne Kisses”, which vaults 23-14.
“Hurricane” by Lifehouse is a kick-ass rock song that has the now-trio back in fine form. The song moves up 22-17 – look for it to break open on the chart in two weeks.
Adam Tyler is a busy guy – wrapping a self-directed video for “Knew You Better” (from the Shattered Ice deluxe edition release), and featuring on both The Wookie’s “The Dreamers” and the song that lifts off 27-22, “Alive” by his label mate Mi Disguise.
One song that will creep up and grab your attention with its simple story and sunny melody is “Memories” by Samantha Gibb (daughter of late Bee Gee Maurice), which rises 28-24.
Three High Flying Debuts
It’s the best song on their album The Velvet Flame, and I’ve been waiting to put it on my chart, but “Reason” (which drops off) prevailed first. “Sacred” is Erasure at their classic best, and should fare even better in dance clubs than “Reason” as the third single release from the album. It bows at #18 – likely because I’ve had it on repeat since I downloaded the album!
At #19, and continuing to win me over with every listen, is “Chasing Stars”, the moving and contagious pop/hip hop song from Canada by Corey Niles featuring Ottawa native Alex Lacassewhich I wrote about recently. This is one radio-ready song worth fawning over!
Arriving at #20 is the dance floor rave-up (begging for remixes)which I also wrote about recently, “When It Rains, It Pours”, by BILLCS chart veterans, the duo DATABOY. Featuring producer/remixer Niko The Kid, “When It Rains” has a different sound for the guys, and it suits them to a ‘D’ 🙂
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. Go on, have a look and listen/watch 🙂
Listen for My New Music Pick Of The Week onD-Moos.com!
Every week I feature a New Music Pick of the Week on D-Moos, which is usually either on my chart or may soon be! Listen in amid the great variety of older music as I bring cutting edge new music to the rotation of over 20,000+ songs!!
R&B queen Jully Black has been a force like no other in her own country since she arrived on the scene back in 1999 with the still very timely and relevant independent release “Rally’n”. Since then she’s had several Top 40 hits, most notably the Top Tenner “Seven Day Fool”, has performed for Queen Elizabeth, and has served many times as a Canadian ambassador of music. “Fever” comes from her upcoming album Made In Canada, her first in a few years since Black Book, yet Jully has never been away from the music scene and has been a very visible presence on Canadian TV. Unlike past hits like “Sweat Of Your Brow”, “Fever” has a much sweeter and less forceful vocal, yet embraces both the delicate and sexy nature of the lyrics. Vocally you might put this song somewhere between Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, and Rebecca Ferguson, and place Jully on a bill with any of them in concert and you will have a showstopper and crowd-pleaser! “Fever” is co-written by and produced by YoungPete Alexander, and he and Jully have formed the Officials Music Group, which looks to be a very fine partnership indeed. Radio stations could easily embrace “Fever” and I look forward to hearing what the Made In Canada album will bring to us by Jully Black.
Ah the beautiful songs of UK duo Bim often leave me sighing in wonder how Becky and Tim can create them with such symmetry. Lo and behold, the video for “What You Wanted” finds the duo almost identically dressed with two chairs in an empty room. This is a fairly common scene with choreographed dance but not so much with a video, which allows for some creative editing – and Becky achieving a handstand! Aside from that, “What You Wanted” tells about the inner-workings of a relationship when you want each other so much but find shortcomings with your partner. Do you continue? Hide your feelings? Tell the truth? It’s a pensive, honest story to which so many of us can relate, and the duo gives a lovely performance. “What You Wanted” is from their new album Two, coming very soon!
It’s been a hot second since I was raving about Hannis’ debut single “Time Has Come”, the unique Europop-meets-dubstep tune that ended up as my #20 song of 2014. Sticking with the same innovative production team, but co-writing “Firebreak” herself, Hannis builds on the notoriety achieved by “Time Has Come” with a more pop radio friendly song. But whereas “Time Has Come” focused on the softer and more delicate tones of her voice, “Firebreak” shows what a powerhouse Hannis can be when interpreting the emotion of her song against a feverish melody. “Firebreak” is one crackerjack electronic pop song and should continue to attract worthy attention for Hannis. And while it wasn’t released until January of this year, you can get a glimpse of the singer at last by watching the video for “Time Has Come” below. Get both songs on iTunes.
UK singer James Poole hasn’t got his sultry on in a little while… well maybe a tad with his rework of “I Put A Spell On You”, but that was meant to be playfully evil 😛 But if you look back through his viral covers on You Tube, you will know what I mean. Singers like Michael Bublé and Matt Dusk can easily make company for James in the contemporary crooner category with his original “Anyone But You” (with its very classy artwork too I might add). I can picture many a fancy dance to this one, which shows how rich and sophisticated his voice can be. Like Lady Gaga with her Tony Bennett duets, James also introduces the power of vocal jazz to his many young fans. He’s already tackled classically-based songs of his own as well as straight-up pop songs. James Poole’s diverse ability to move from style to style seamlessly will continue to win over more fans until a release of his own – hopefully soon! – will allow us to purchase his music.
Swedish star Eric Saade is back in form with his new song “Sting”, which should by all rights be a worldwide smash. While he’s dropped the riveting dance rhythms and high arpeggios that graced his best music to date from his Saade Volumes 1 and 2 albums, “Sting” takes on a good timey, in-your-face pop attitude for the singer, and you can feel his personality oozing out more than ever. Performances like in the video below from Sweden’s Melodifestivalen contest should put Eric Saade more on the international map than ever, hopefully both on radio and on tour. Check your iTunes, “Sting” was released in some parts of the world on Sunday (but not yet in Canada 😦 ).
COREY NILES featuring ALEX LACASSE, “Chasing Stars”
Canadian hip hop singer/songwriter Corey Niles may have just outdone himself with “Chasing Stars”. As regular readers know, I definitely took a shine to Corey’s singles “Rollercoaster” (featuring Dru) and particularly the Top 10 “Get To Know You” (featuring Ish), both of which ended up in my Top 75 of 2014. “Chasing Stars” is something completely different and unexpected, and Corey continues to delight in this way with each release. My reference point for it both thematically and melodically is “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement featuring Ryan Tedder – these songs are a great pair! But whereas Ryan’s vocal really carried that song, “Chasing Stars” has a beautiful balance of emotions happening in both Corey’s gritty raps and truly ear-turning choruses by Ottawa native Alex Lacasse (who is currently working with another one of my favourites, “The Voice”‘s Chris Jamison!) which accentuate the glorious intangible destination of the song. Both performers complement each other and make the song sound effortless. Plus, like “Get To Know You”, “Chasing Stars” has some of the cleanest, tighest sounding production around. It should take no time for “Chasing Stars” to find its way around Canada and possibly beyond, so start spreading the word!
So very talented are the duo of Simon Curtis and Bad W0lfy (Ro Danishei) that they have continued last year’s electronica project Wrathschild, resulting in a seven song EP called Birds, which dropped this week on iTunes. Included are the effervescent “Fall Into Love” and wistful “Angeles” from last year, plus 5 new songs including “Cosmonaut”.
I’ve elected to focus on “Cosmonaut” because it is easily the most mesmerizing and enticing song that the pair have either recorded together or separately, starting with an operatic-sounding intro that throws back to Simon’s “Beat Drop”. “Cosmonaut” draws you in by including themes common in both Simon’s 8bit Heart mixtape and W0lfy’s album End Of The Rainbow – loneliness, needing to be loved, escape, fantasy, and being empowered to stick with it all – carefully reinvented to capture fans’ hearts all over again. W0lfy’s powerhouse vocal commands the proceedings while Simon uses both higher range and spoken voice to anchor key parts of the song, and then they harmonize gorgeously as always.
The production by Ray Reich on “Cosmonaut” is lush and subtle, full of WOW moments – like Simon’s introduction into the song after the minute mark that to me is a star-turning move – and will keep your ears mesmerized.
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