“No Words” is a refreshing, upbeat and positive entry by Keek, a Canadian duo hailing from Ottawa, who are Conor Whitehead and Nathan Pearce. I happened to see Keek perform as an opening act at Mike Tompkins’ show in Toronto at Coda last August. While they did a great job at energizing the crowd, I really wasn’t feeling their songs at the time. Hearing and watching the video for “No Words” though signals an immense amount of growth and a bit of a revamp for Keek since that time. “No Words” is a radio-friendly slice of life that will send great vibes through the Spring and into the Summer. I like this engaging sound, keep up the great work, Keek! 🙂
The top of the new chart stays steady, while the rest is formed of a diversity of so many pop music genres… I like to think my tastes are well-rounded 🙂
The names are Brandyn, Reigen, and Chris, and they have a lock on the Top 3! Brandyn Burnette’s heartwarming (and yet to be officially released) “Sleeve” will continue to have you tugging at it as it stays at #1, while “Come Back To Me” by Reigen holds steady at #2, and “Velvet” by Chris Jamison rests contentedly at #3. So what songs below could shake the Top 3 loose perhaps even in two weeks?
Jessie Ware is always a good bet, as the gorgeous album track “Pieces” slips into the #4 ranking, while rocker Graham Alexander is right behind with his energetic blast called “She’s A Chameleon” up 8-5.
The fastest riser on the chart is accompanied by news that Giorgio Moroder will in fact be touring with Kylie Minogue this year! Undoubtedly somewhere in the show “Right Here, Right Now” will be performed, as the first single from Giorgio’s upcoming album 24 Is The New 74 is the fastest riser for a second week, advancing 14-6!
Also new to the Top 10 is the song produced by John Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls for Canadian quintet Eleven Past One. It’s not a single but it’s the gem from their EP The World Is Ours called “There’s Nothing Wrong”, moving up 13-10! Here it at the Amazon link right here or on other sources like Spotify.
Movin’ On Up
Sam Smith’s last entry “Restart” topped out at #11, so let’s see if “Like I Can” will become the 4-time Grammy winner’s 6th Top Tenner on my chart, as the lovely “Lay Me Down” becomes his latest single. In The Lonely Hour is the album that keeps on giving 🙂
Years & Years are the band to watch in 2015, and with good reason – catchy, well-performed songs like “King” from their self-titled EP! The song climbs 19-12 on the chart.
Daniel Robinson’s breezy take on EDM pop, the mysterious “Moonmolt”, moves up 17-13 as the singer announced the imminent arrival of an EP called I Don’t Know How It Is, in advance of his album called Truant.
UK’s Shift K3Y definitely is getting around, remixing songs such as “You & I (Forever)” by Jessie Ware! The singer rises 21-15 with the single “I Know”
Canadian quartet Smashing Satellites, led by striking ex-My Darkest Days singer Salvatore Costa, has one of the hardest hitting videos of 2015 so far created for their song “Waterfall”, which climbs 25-18. Look for the band playing regularly around North America – with side trips elsewhere, who knows? – throughout the year.
Another hard hitting song, and a standout from his debut album, is “Riot” by Mikky Ekko, performed on TV’s David Letterman show last week. It moves up 26-19.
Matt McAndrew’s “Wasted Love” has a wonderful singalong chorus, and the runner-up contestant on Season 7 of “The Voice” climbs 27-21. Look for Season 8 of “The Voice” starting Monday February 23 (recent Grammy winner Christina Aguilera returns).
Lifehouse’s “Hurricane” climbs 28-22 but I think the song will let loose everywhere in the coming weeks. Watch out!
4 Debuts
Why it’s Jessie Ware again! And while the video is a tad, urhm, unconventional, the song is brilliant. “Champagne Kisses” is one of my faves from Tough Love and bows at #23, likely to join “Pieces” in the Top 10 at some point.
It’s taken a little while longer than usual to hear what a brillo song that 19 year old DJ/producer Mi Disguise (aka Louie Garcia) and BILLCS chart fave Adam Tyler have created with “Alive”. I did write about it a while back in September, but it’s finally debuted on the chart at #27.
Samantha Gibb, she of the famous last name as daughter of The Bee Gees’ Maurice, premieres on the chart with her sunny and reflective “Memories” at #28.
It’s kind of strange how my fellow Torontonian The Weeknd (aka 25 year old Abel Tesfaye) had yet to appear on my chart until now, but his song from “50 Shades Of Grey” called “Earned It” is a dramatic stunner with a compelling vocal that I bet will land him a Grammy nomination. The song is already a Top 5 UK hit (a good sign), and arrives on my chart at #29. Fellow “50 Shades” performer Ellie Goulding did appear on my chart in 2012 with her free download cover of The Weeknd’s “High For This”, the original of which you can find on his House Of Balloons album.
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!!
DATABOY featuring NIKO THE KID, “When It Rains, It Pours”
Hot off the presses is the latest single from Austin-via-Los Angeles EDM duo DATABOY, featuring producer/remixer Niko The Kid, on “When It Rains, It Pours”. The song joins a fabulous series of dance songs about the rain – “I Can’t Stand The Rain”, “It’s Raining Men”, “When The Rain Begins To Fall”, and more of course – and will definitely create one whirlwind of a flood on the dance floor. The lads (being Cam and Adam) have created a striking but different and often deeper vocal arrangement in this song which will serve them well as they prepare more new songs, which I hope will lead to album #2 (after a true favourite of mine, 2012’s Dreams Are Gold). With past pairings with the likes of Rune RK and Kid Massive, DATABOY have great creative instincts which leads to some of the most listenable dance music around. I’m hoping for some big, original remixes this time – “When It Rains, It Pours” is most deserving of international dance club play. DATABOY continue their evolution and have come a long way since I saw them perform in NYC in 2011!! Listen below and get it now on iTunes.
As faithful readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of British Columbia singer Tristan Thompson thanks to a stellar set of songs and performances on his debut album Here For You, with his song “Tidal Wave” reaching #1 on my personal chart last year. The title song has been culled as a third single, a logical follow up to “Burn Again” (which peaked at #10 on my chart), which received a large amount of national radio airplay in Canada. The video, with the song now in an Alex Greggs mix, is a heart-wrenching watch as a girl comes to grips with a recent loss. The song acts as a tender backdrop which provides a fine showcase for the 16 year old singer, who is bound to win more fans with this one. Listen for “Here For You” on the radio stations that played “Burn Again”. Tristan Thompson continues to grow and attract more attention with each release and recent live concert performances on the west coast.
One of my very favourite underdog contestants from Season 6 of “The Voice”, NYC’s Jake Barker, reminds us of how very good he is and why he ended up on Adam Levine’s team, with his recent cover of Maroon 5’s “Sugar”. This is not a song that I’m entirely crazy about, even after Chris Jamison gave a credible go at it on “The Voice” last season. But Jake’s warm vocal – with the triple fun harmonies as you will see and hear – reminded me when he performed Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved” on the show. Neither of these songs are at all easy to cover because of Adam Levine’s unique vocal style, but “Sugar” will assure you of his own style and Jake sends this one home just as well. I’m anxiously awaiting more original Jake Barker songs after last year’s Stage Fright EP. Watch the video above.
Seizing that moment where there was probably just too much Kanye on TV and in the media during the past week (except of course to his countless fans), pop duo Deluded has unleashed the enjoyable and funny “Hey Hey Kanye” (lyric video above). It’s a quick 2 minute romp through the reasons why we love Kanye and why we don’t, with a simple 70’s melodic vibe to counter its mischievous lyrics. Leave it to Canadian singer/songwriter James Collins (creator of songs as diverse as the Quebec #1 “Cyndi Lauper Said No” and the new wedding song “Frozen In Time”) and reknown producer/remixer Alex Greggs (Michael Jackson, *N Sync, Britney Spears) to ensure that it’s well worth your listen. Word of mouth should get out about “Hey Hey Kanye”, and the Deluded pair will have more songs for you in the near future 🙂
After taking a break from covers with the enjoyable original “Play For Me” (which got to #10 on my chart last year), Chromatone is back with a truly deluxe edition to tackle, his medley of Beyoncé songs. And listen to find out how many – count ’em – are chosen so very well (even some Destiny’s Child in there) and put together in such a sensible way that it flows like an original song. So not only is their production kudos here, but there’s terrific interplay with the duet with Leanne, and splendid support with real instruments, kids! This is the way to do this! Queen Bey should be so very flattered by it all, it may inspire her to release another surprise album 😛 2015 looks to be a great year ahead for Chromatone if the “Beyoncé Medley” is only the start. Watch the video above and download the medley for free at the Soundcloud link below.
A grand time (pun intended) will be had by one and all in 2015 with the return of Matt and Kim with their fifth album New Glow. Which means more concerts, and expecting the unexpected (I think with the last tour they used up a city’s worth of balloons!). Amid the unexpected is what you would expect: Short, unique and energetic songs, with New Glow initiated by “Get It” and “Hey Now”. The video for “Hey Now” (above – and Kim has already commented on Facebook on where the ‘play’ icon is 😛 ) on their Brooklyn turf just shows what a blast these two have together even without their keyboard and drums, and the song’s affectionate lyrics will make you smile. And if you’ve never experienced a Matt and Kim concert then the lyric video for “Get It” (below) should be an easy sell for you. Catch them on their upcoming tour before it sells out.
Matt and Kim play the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on Monday, May 18, and I will be there, again!
The legendary Gibb family (Barry, Robin, Maurice, Andy) continues with an entirely different sound courtesy of Maurice’s daughter Samantha with “Memories”. Late last year I brought to your attentionher promising song “Wild At Heart”, and keeping on the same folk-flavoured pop tip is “Memories”, with its simple and joyous message about making sure you create the memories to document and hold dear in the succeeding years. Lord knows Samantha must have fantastic memories, though she arrived after The Bee Gees’ huge impact on the 1970’s had already occurred. Nevertheless, that allows her to develop her own music uniquely, and even though I mentioned a similar comparison in my post about “Wild At Heart”, there’s no denying that “Memories” has the same flow and spirit of Sheryl Crow’s 2002 hit “Soak Up The Sun”. And while the 90’s may be coming into fashion now, there’s no denying that music of the current millennium is already influencing singers age 25+, making it all sound fresh again, not uncommon with revivals of sorts. Watch the light-hearted video above and pick up Samantha Gibb’s “Memories” on iTunes.
It is perhaps one of the most unique collaborations you will hear in this or any year. Sour Soul is the short album brought to you by Toronto rock/hip hop instrumentalists BADBADNOTGOOD (BBNG) and former Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah, who has gone on to be a respected and sought-after soloist in his own right these last two decades. Sour Soul (due for release February 23) is BBNG’s fourth album in so many years, and their love for hip hop music through their live performances has won them the admiration of the rock and R&B/hip hop communities. So while an album with someone like Ghostface Killah might seem a no brainer, it’s still quite exciting to see that it all came together so successfully. It actually takes rap and hip hop back before the mid-1990’s, before all of the ubiquitous ‘featuring [insert rapper]’ billings took place. Run-DMC re-recorded “Walk This Way” with Aerosmith, The Beastie Boys brought punk sensabilities to their rap/hip hop style, Public Enemy re-recorded “Bring The Noise” with Anthrax, and LL Cool J rocked out with “Mama Said Knock You Out”. It makes you wonder what would have happened if a well-known rapper, say like LL Cool J, had worked with a band like BBNG, who specialize in larger-than-life cinemascopes in their instrumentals, and how the storytelling might have made a different impact. In 2015, BBNG and Ghostface Killah are preaching to the converted who are starving for this kind of powerful originality. It’s hard to pick out a standout song, because they all flow so well, but start with “Ray Gun” (above), “Six Degrees”, “Gunshowers”, and “Street Knowledge”. Look for Sour Soul to be much imitated and revered in the coming years.
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