Somehow like others I’ve missed Melanie Martinez’s major label debut arriving on the scene. I suspect with the success of Lorde, Lana Del Rey, and Charli XCX that Melanie’s release has been overshadowed. But that’s no reason not to notice now. Her EP The Dollhouse arrived in May on Atlantic Records, and she’s one of the few contestants from “The Voice” to land on a major label. You will remember her inspired and original takes on Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” from two years back. “Dollhouse” captures her unique style and chameleon appearance perfectly, and it’s a pretty creepy visit inside of the outwardly perfect family only to find things are hardly perfect on the inside. The video has some striking images which would work just fine at Hallowe’en. Take a look and listen, and get it on iTunes.
Following 2012’s album Pacifica and the single “Goodbye Future” from earlier this year, “No Fun” could be one of the best and most anthemic songs yet from Australian electronic music duo The Presets. The single was launched by a “cube” video – six videos all in one directed by Barnaby Roper, which you can purchase on Google Play. I have not yet seen the cube project, but it was quickly followed by a video surrounding two protagonists, stories of which are apparently part of the cube. So we have a dancer venting in the streets of L.A. while a young woman has a trippy bath, and somehow the images of the two merge. The song itself is a funk-laced club banger, an anthem that Presets fans all over the world will have vocalize at the band’s intense live shows. Let’s hope there’s more to come like this from Jules and Kim – because “No Fun” quite frankly is a whole lot of fun in my books!
I was pleased to see another video surface by the talented River Tiber (aka masterful multi-instrumentalist and videographer Tommy Paxton-Beesley). “Prophets” was initially heard on the now-unavailable free download album Synapses, one of my favourites from last year, and I’ve heard it a few times in concert too. As EP’s and singles slowly resurface of songs from that album, I think we will see it reissued or reshaped for release later in the year. In any case, the video for “Prophets” is definitely a weird dreamscape of images which could all be connected to each other, or mean something important, as the title characters of the song might imply. The repeated images glide along with the variety of electronic movements within the song, and though the video gets to be a bit much towards the end of “Prophets”, it’s certainly memorable. Get it on iTunes (I’ve also read that a 7″ vinyl might be forthcoming).
Here For You is the debut album (yes that’s the CD of it above) by 16 year old British Columbia native Tristan Thompson, whose first single “Tidal Wave” has scored #1 on my latest personal chart, and is a first class effort that distances itself from the run of the mill teen pop of the day. All of the songs were written or co-written by Tylor Johnson, and they aren’t predetermined for a particular age group, allowing Tristan to provide more classic pop kind of interpretations. And besides “Tidal Wave”, there are at least two other golden radio-worthy songs for your attention.
“Mistaken” is the opening song and should be the successor to “Tidal Wave” with a zinger of a hook and a really good story to boot. Like other songs on Here For You, “Lifetime Guarantee” slows things down a bit, again a strong song perfectly suited for Tristan’s voice. “Leaving You Behind” is another uptempo number, while other songs like “Siren” help mix up the set with variety. Here For You is a great showcase that lets Tristan’s vocal influences show their true colours, from Michael Jackson to Backstreet Boys to Jesse McCartney. So – it’s about as far away from Bieber and Cyrus and Gomez and others that you can get! Truly it’s an album that will appeal to all ages.
Tristan Thompson has a bright future ahead and I think Here For You, with top notch production by Adam Tune, will have long legs to take him into next year and beyond.
Listen to the Boomtang Mix radio edit of “Tidal Wave” below.
The new chart has four debuts and the Top 10 is all shaken and stirred…
The New #1
He did it! It’s not easy to trounce Sam Smith from his 7th week at #1 this year (albeit with three songs), but 16 year old British Columbian Tristan Thompson has done just that. The 70’s through 2000’s retro appeal of “Tidal Wave”, plus the fact that young Tristan has already got a great voice, have it leading the pack, at least for the next two weeks, because there’s a bit of a dance club storm brewing underneath. I’ll have my thoughts on Tristan’s full album Here For You in the week, in the mean time check out his video for “Tidal Wave” above 🙂
The Rest of the Top 5… Changing Places
The rest of the Top 5 is the same as two weeks ago, but all of the songs have changed places. Imminent challengers for #1 are “Electrify The Night”, the hard-to-find Europop gem from House Rockerz, Davis Redfield and vocalist Carl Man, which plugs into #2, and Jason Walker & Bimbo Jones’ brillo Hi-NRG-inspired take on Taylor Dayne’s “Tell It To My Heart” at #3. Sam Smith slides to #4 with “Stay With Me” while Martin Garrix’s “Proxy” slowly tumbles to #5.
New To The Top 10
That whirling dervish of a remix by Steve Smart & Westfunk of Little Mix’s “Little Me” soars to #6, while Andy Grammer’s “Back Home” (below) continues to find new fans and could take the song through the entire summer, and it’s up to #10. There’s also a chart debut in the Top 10…
Shakin’ Up The Chart
Is it everywhere yet? “Boom Clap” by Charli XCX vaults up the chart 18-11.
Those 4 Kongos lads make a great case for infectious rock songs on their album Lunatic. “Hey I Don’t Know” climbs 15-12.
It’s following a bit of a pattern set by Martin Garrix and Convulsic already, but Finnish singer Hannis has a strange gem of a Europop/Dubstep single with “Time Has Come” charging up the chart as the fastest riser, 23-13! I’d LOVE dance clubs to make this one their own!!
“Miracle” by the UK’s E-Mute is not slowing down as this memorable slice of alt.rock moves up 17-14.
Last week’s new entries, “Knew You Better” by Adam Tyler and Sam Dickinson’s “When You Left Me” both make impressive gains, rising 25-18 and 27-19 respectively!
Chart Debuts
Could Anton Ewald outdo last year’s “Begging” (#2) and “Can’t Hold Back” (#3)? The talented young Swedish singer met his match with Danish star Medina, and all parties connected and co-write and recorded “This Could Be Something” from Anton’s new EP On My Way. All I can say is that Katy Perry would probably kill for this song! It’s a strong and summery pure pop record with an engaging video that bows on this chart at #9!!
Watch the video here!For some reason the Internet powers that be are really fussy about You Tube/Vimeo links for videos by Swedish pop stars! 😮
Yes, it’s time for another Bright Light Bright Light song on the chart! Rod Thomas has just released his sophomore album Life Is Easy, which has debuted well on the UK charts, and from it is the follow-up single to his Elton John duet “I Wish We Were Leaving”, but like “Love Part II” from his first album it’s a smashing and breathtakingly upbeat take on the power of love. “I Believe” starts out at #27.
Why look, it’s Davis Redfield and Carl Man, together again (along with some of , if not all of, those same spot-on songwriters)! ActuallyI wrote about “Music Gods”a while back but like any good song, you keep coming back to it. Besides, I’ve always liked the Music Gods myself 😀 “Music Gods” arrives at #28.
More Neon Trees? Yes please, especially after their engaging July 3 concert here in Toronto (and yes, Tyler did crowd surf us 😀 )! I’m not sure if it will be the next official single or not, but “Love In The 21st Century” joins “Teenager In Love” (#17) on this chart at #29.
The full chart can be found further down the page…
Listen for My New Music Pick Of The Week onD-Moos.com!
As many of you are already aware, after many years away from the microphone, I am now pleased to be back as a voice onhttp://www.d-moos.com Canada’s National Internet Radio Station, which mainly plays a selection of oldies, mostly from the 50’s to the 90’s, with soon to be more intrusions from the 2000’s and other new music.
I was asked to do a pre-recorded weekly New Music Pick of The Week, and a number of the songs on this chart – specifically those by Tristan Thompson, Adam Tyler, Zorro Blakk & Deniz Olivieri, Sam Dickinson, and Anton Ewald – have all recently graced the station, every three hours for a week beginning Mondays at 2:05 a.m. EST.
Do listen in for the Pick of the Week onD-Moos.com, and while the station is only live in the evenings from 9:00 pm to midnight (with my long-time musical partner in crime “The Musicman” James Rogers), you can hear my voice at other odd times, particularly if you’re an oldies loving night owl on the weekend overnights 🙂
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.
02 01 TIDAL WAVE Tristan Thompson 05 02 ELECTRIFY THE NIGHT House Rockerz featuring Davis Redfield & Carl Man 04 03 TELL IT TO MY HEART Jason Walker featuring Bimbo Jones 01 04 STAY WITH ME Sam Smith 03 05 PROXY Martin Garrix 11 06 LITTLE ME (Steve Smart & Wildfunk Radio Edit) Little Mix 07 07 THE DAY YOU LEFT Convulsic 10 08 GOOD NEWS (FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BAD NEWS) Zorro Blakk featuring Deniz Olivieri New 09 THIS COULD BE SOMETHING Anton Ewald featuring Medina 12 10 BACK HOME Andy Grammer 18 11 BOOM CLAP Charli XCX 15 12 HEY I DON’T KNOW Kongos 23 13 TIME HAS COME Hannis 17 14 MIRACLE E-Mute 06 15 NOT IN THAT WAY Sam Smith 09 16 THIS IS DIRTY DVBBS & MOTi 20 17 TEENAGER IN LOVE Neon Trees 25 18 KNEW YOU BETTER Adam Tyler 27 19 WHEN YOU LEFT ME Sam Dickinson 21 20 YOUR LOVE FADES AWAY Simone Denny 22 21 TRUST IT Nick Hagelin 08 22 ME AND MY BROKEN HEART Rixton 26 23 BIG CITY GIRLS (DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH SMALL TOWN BOYS) Zorro Blakk 16 24 BLACK LEATHER SIRPAUL 13 25 LOVE SPACE Convulsic 14 26 SHE LOOKS SO PERFECT 5 Seconds Of Summer New 27 I BELIEVE Bright Light Bright Light New 28 MUSIC GODS Davis Redfield featuring Carl Man New 29 LOVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY Neon Trees 19 30 DEAR NICOLE FrankMusik
Canadian-born L.A.-based singer/songwriter Mike Tompkins is quickly gaining more and more fans with his fun, expressive style, and of course the fact that all of his music is entirely acappella. That’s led to opening for the Jonas Brothers, co-producing/writing Jennifer Hudson’s latest single with Timbaland, and being featured on a #1 Russian single by the re-formed t.A.T.u. No genre is going to define this young man. And while I thought it was a tad obvious to create a song with social media-created expressions like ‘sorry not sorry’ and ‘YOLO’, Mike’s engaging performance pulls you in to join the party. He’s also made a winning connection with fans by featuring some of their submitted videos in the video for “Sorry Not Sorry (YOLO)”, even billing the video as ‘featuring YOU’. I’m really surprised why a major label hasn’t signed Mike to a large contract (and I’m sure he’s been courted) but sometimes that’s just not the name of the game, is it? “Sorry Not Sorry (YOLO)” sings ‘summer party’ and everyone is welcome, even if you never wanted to be there in the first place 😀
Mike Tompkins brings his many voices to Coda, 794 Bathurst Street, Toronto, on Sunday August 10
After winning a Grammy with Zedd last year for the stunning “Clarity” (which got to #2 on my chart and was my #10 song of 2013), London singer Louisa Rose Allen (aka Foxes) released her debut album Glorious, which has already been preceded by UK hit singles “Youth” and “Let’s Go For Tonight”. While those two songs also became club hits worldwide, it looks like the title song from Foxes’ album is the crackerjack hit to send her back on to the worldwide pop charts by end of summer. It’s a big and bittersweet offering, with an instantly recognizable vocal thanks to “Clarity”. The video augments the sadness of the song by surrounding the singer with a country club setting full of beautiful people – leaving a hollow sense of heartache. Watch the video below. The single is officially released in August.
I introduced you to new UK singer Eurielle at the end of last year, when she released her debut EP The Incarnation. The new age/pop inspirations for the songs from the EP seemed to come from sources as diverse as Kate Bush and Ellie Goulding, and recalled other fantastic vocalists of the past like Enya, Kirsty MacColl, and Annie Haslam. I was privileged to view the short film for “Carry Me” earlier in the year, and it finally was posted officially in May, with the single released to iTunes last week. It’s a beautifully filmed, artful effort showcasing a classic medieval tale of a young woman who is pretty much held captive by her overprotective father. Innocent infatuation occurs and life will never be the same for her. The song itself hangs on slight instrumentation and a gorgeous, ethereal and affecting vocal by Eurielle. While “Carry Me” isn’t the kind of song you’ll hear on the radio, it’s quality trumping quantity and should bring further attention for this new singer, who has already attracted major label interest. “Carry Me” is a logical continuation for Eurielle and I await her next song choice with bated breath! An album is on deck for this Fall.
I can’t wait until new UK singer Harriet releases more new music to purchase. Her partnership with reknown producer Steve Anderson showcases her far-from-modest vocal talents, this time in her cover of Michael Bublé’s “Home”. It’s an interesting choice because Michael is so known as an interpreter and this was his first hit as an original co-write. Harriet in turn puts a pristine but earthy spin on the song. Her voice is still bereft with Karen Carpenter comparisons (including from me), but I would throw in a big dash of Rita Coolidge on “Home”. It conveys the longing to be home in an assured manner without being bigger or louder like the original, and without being too subtle which would have made it unmemorable. Bravo to Harriet and Steve – please keep these gems coming 🙂
THE GRISWOLDS, “Beware The Dog” and “Down And Out”
Sydney, Australia quartet The Griswolds are looking to make a similar splash in North America and the rest of the world as they have done in their native land and The Netherlands with their upcoming EP Be Impressive. The group makes anthemic, memorable, and fun sing-a-longs that definitely go hand-in-hand of the tastes of fans of bands like Passion Pit or Smallpools. “Beware The Dog” in particular has a bright, energetic melody and harmonies that make you want to sing to the crazy chorus 🙂 New single “Down And Out” seems radio-ready with a well-produced summery sound that will take you away to another place on those dreary low days. The Griswolds have also lined up an ambitious summer tour that will take them seemingly everywhere in North America with Miniature Tigers, so they will be hard to miss. Be Impressive is due for release at the end of August, so do check out “Beware The Dog” and “Down And Out” below.
The Griswolds play the Hard Luck Bar in Toronto on July 13.
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