After hearing SIRPAUL’s music over these past few years and following his enthusiastic tweets, I like to consider him as a disco ambassador of love… and lust. His new album Seventh Star certainly contains enough positive, timeless energy to spill over into three albums of music, and is a fine follow up to songs that appear on the two This Beat Is…Poptronik! compilations, his recent collaborations with Armand Deluxe, and of course his last album The Horse. It’s a slick blend of pop and club-oriented dance tracks whose topics frequently lead to bed… never a bad thing of course! Collaborating producers include Armand Deluxe, Kevin Maroda, Baron, AKB, and Human Body.
Lead single “Every Single Moment” is hands down the best song, (already performing well on my chart at #24, video to come soon!), simply fresh and wondrous danceable pop. Similarly suited to bridge pop and dance is “He’s So Unusual”, which I honestly didn’t like at first, but it has an early 90’s dance vibe with lyrical reflections from past eras, and I think a lot of guys will relate. The album doesn’t waste time to have SIRPAUL get his major sexy on with a menage-a-trois of club bangers right in the middle: “Turning Me On”, “Black Leather”, and a standout, “Your Bedroom”, featuring producer/rapper Baron. The latter is late night, get-your-groove-on, pulsating and thrusting… whatever you desire! “Side By Side” is also a high point, propulsive eurodance that will keep you moving. Only the closing song “The Centenary Diamond” really to me doesn’t fit on this highly engaging album.
SIRPAUL continues to have a unique pop/dance approach and Seventh Star is now available on iTunes worldwide. Next up…. remixes!!
Not to discount some of the significant activity on this edition of my personal chart, but do consult it below to find out to what positions songs by Pet Shop Boys, Parralox, Osvaldo Supino, DATABOY, FrankMusik, Ryan Star, Zendaya, and Jarell Perry, some of whom could make great gains in the coming weeks 🙂
The Top 5:
Selfishly, Miguel & Jessie Ware advance to #1 with the year old “Adorn”. It’s one of my favourite songs of the year which I didn’t pick up on till months later, and the stunning duet is my way of making restitution! And it’s too bad that the two haven’t sung it together in performance – at least I can’t find anything (if you know, please let me know!).
ARTPOP is due next week, which is when I hope to hear the high quality releases. After “Do What U Want” and “Venus”, I have avoided the other new songs. In the meantime, Lady GaGa has fired her longtime manager, and taken out some sort of space insurance. But still “Applause” climbs to #2.
It’s one of the most pleasurable and positive songs of the year, and “Somebody Loves You” by Betty Who advances to #3!
East coast Canadians will find Toronto quartet Neverest opening for Shawn Desman on an upcoming tour. They have other plans in store for the rest of us! After two weeks at the top, “Rewind” drops to #4.
Selfishly, and it’s not the first time I’ve done it, I charted “What’s Going On” by Monsieur Adi & A*M*E (which takes on Soul II Soul’s “Back To Life” – and wins) months prematurely, and it exited the chart quietly a month ago – otherwise it may have disappeared from my chart before it was available for sale. Its official release date has been moved up to next Sunday, so it has returned for another 10 chart run. And what a return – #5 – a number one contender, I think? 🙂 Watch the très stylish video below.
Fast Risers:
It’s no surprise to regular readers that last week’s two debuts by Simon Curtis are high flying this week, though the Internet buzz on his free mixtape WWW has gone somewhat quiet. Nonetheless, “Do I Have To Dance” (19-11) and “Berlin Wall” (28-19, cute lyrics below) are still smashing Simon songs, certainly enough to whet our ears for his upcoming video and album.
The Nordic countries are lucky to have Anton Ewald and his infectious style of pop that I will continue to associate with his friend Eric Saade. This is more of Anton’s year though, his EP “A” is stellar, and “Can’t Hold Back” climbs 21-12. Too bad more of his (and other Swedish pop star) videos and songs are blocked from view over here. Does not make sense if their releases are available for purchase!
Lawson have created quite a tempest (no pun intended) with “Juliet” and their latest record store signings and opening gigs for Jessie J in the UK. One day we will be able to purchase more than “Learn To Love Again” over here. In any case, “Juliet” soars 23-17.
Travis Garland’s fourth run up my chart is with the album track “Easy” (26-18) from his self-titled release. It’s Latin-flavoured rhythm mixed with more than a smattering of disco will simply give you happy feet. Travis plays in Toronto at The Garrison tomorrow night (Thursday November 7) – alas I am unable to attend due to illness, but there will be a next time!
“Every Single Moment” by SIRPAUL defines ‘popervescence’ and dances the night away from 30-24. His new album Seventh Star is out tomorrow… more to follow!
Debut:
Yes, one debut. But it’s well-deserved as the band’s “Dirty Floors” exits the chart after a maximum 10 chart (20 week) run. Andy Suzuki & The Method continue their uninterrupted chart run with “Keep Me Running”,whose video I wrote about a while back. Like “Dirty Floors”, it’s from their winning album Born Out Of Mischief. Lots of great things in store for this trio!
Special Feature:
You already know UK singer Sam Dickinson from “Learn To Wait”, which peaked at #8 two weeks ago from his album The Stories That Occurred. Another one of those stories is “Lift Your Head”, which is dedicated to cancer awareness. It’s a simple, lovely video which allowed some local British folks to commemorate their losses as Sam sings the song, which is his new single. A great way for a new performer with a dynamite voice like Sam to connect with, well, just about everyone. Watch below – tissues mandatory.
Listen to the songs or watch the videos using the links on the pictures on the pretty and detailsweb edition of my chart.
Here’s the full BILLCS Top 30
04 01 ADORN Miguel F/ Jessie Ware 03 02 APPLAUSE Lady Gaga 06 03 SOMEBODY LOVES YOU Betty Who 01 04 REWIND Neverest RE-ENTRY 05 WHAT’S GOING ON Monsieur Adi F/ A*M*E 02 06 AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME Ryan Adamés 09 07 LOVE IS A BOURGEOIS CONSTRUCT Pet Shop Boys 10 08 HEADHUNTER Parralox 11 09 I HAVE A NAME Osvaldo Supino 12 10 WE CAN’T STOP SUMMERTIME SADNESS DATABOY 19 11 DO I HAVE TO DANCE Simon Curtis 21 12 CAN’T HOLD BACK Anton Ewald 05 13 BLACK LIGHT (Stormby remix) Kaden 15 14 MA RADIO Osvaldo Supino 17 15 HYMN FrankMusik 08 16 LEARN TO WAIT Sam Dickinson 23 17 JULIET Lawson 26 18 EASY Travis Garland 28 19 BERLIN WALL Simon Curtis 22 20 IMPOSSIBLE Ryan Star 24 21 REPLAY Zendaya 25 22 4TH OF JULY Jarell Perry 07 23 TAKE BACK THE NIGHT Justin Timberlake 30 24 EVERY SINGLE MOMENT SIRPAUL 13 25 ROYALS Lorde 14 26 I REMEMBER Nick Pes 16 27 SKIRT Kylie Minogue 18 28 HOMEWRECKER Travis Garland New 29 KEEP ME RUNNING Andy Suzuki & The Method 20 30 PROBLEM (Kat Krazy remix) Natalia Kills
Call me a newbie here to Cage The Elephant, but the song and video by the Kentucky quintet led by singer Matthew Shultz have caught my ears and eyes this time around. I think it’s because the sound of “Come A Little Closer” has Cage The Elephant filling a most notable void in alt.rock left by bands that are no longer, such as R.E.M., but with a soulful edge. “Come A Little Closer” sounds like one of those rare alt.rock songs that will turn pop radio ears. The tour video is an intriguing showcase and very reminiscent of the 90’s, leaving one to wonder what the band is like in live performance. It’s from the band’s recent album Melophobia.
“Town Hall Crypt” arrived just in time for Hallowe’en by Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s quartet Yellow Creatures, who seem to use 80’s early new wave/post punk bands – Bauhaus, New Order, Echo & The Bunnymen – as a jumping off point. Whether it’s scary or not is another thing, but I do enjoy the sense of humour. It’s pretty creative and tidy (2:11!) alt.rock with vocals that will quickly capture your attention. Watch for more from these guys! Listen below.
To celebrate 30 years in the music biz, Montreal’s Corey Hart is back and for the first time ever he’s permitted an interpolation of his Top 10 1984 hit “Sunglasses At Night” into another recording, by American DJ’s Papercha$er called “Night Visions (Sunglasses)”. And while there might be a smattering of the original, it sounds pretty spiffy, new and fresh to me. This could do well if it makes the right connections, the original is still a favourite of mine after all these years. Corey Hart will be playing three nights in May 2014 in Montreal as part of this celebration. I also recently recorded a profile of Corey, and you can hear it on D-Moos Tourism Radio. Get “Night Visions (Sunglasses)” on iTunes and watch the video below.
With the instantly memorable “Talking To The Walls”, New York independent singer Své has instantly become part of that talented cadre of female vocalists this year that includes Sia, Foxes, and Jessie Ware. It’s a spectacular introduction that will not go unnoticed. She’s got her own style, a voice that is far-reaching, and production by Kyle Patrick (last year’s “Go For Gold” and ex-Click Five) to make it all happen. Loving it!
Toronto’s Fefe Dobson continues to create her own “Legacy” after debuting a decade ago as a teenager with solid pop/rock songs that belied her young years. Whenever she has released music, it yielded hits, most recently with 2010’s Joy, which brought us “Ghost” and “Stuttering” among others. “Legacy” is much more sophisticated rock to appease her regular listeners as well as draw in new ones, younger and older. The video(link is right here) sees her in various stages of costume obviously in tribute to some of her musician and media heroes. It’s an eye-catching, energetic romp and should help grow listeners for the song. Look for her fourth solo album next year called Firebird.
In a powerful Top 5 last week, I was uncertain who would emerge at #1 on the new chart. But it’s Neverest whose latest single “Rewind” moves 3-1 this week. Neverest is in good company with River Tiber and Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni as Canadian performers with #1’s on my chart this year. The quartet is also on a triple bill with Shawn Desman and Tyler Shaw at The Mod Club on November 16 in Toronto. Do catch their show if you haven’t! Always full of surprises and positive energy. PLUS near the bottom of this post (but before you look at the full chart) I am featuring a new song by the writer of “Rewind”!
The Rest Of The Top 10:
Ryan Adamés has a 3rd appearance at #2 with his warm and fuzzy cover of Justin Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me”. That song is suddenly emerging on many TV talent shows but none of the covers that I’ve heard have the unique appeal of this rendition. It’s available for free if you go and like Ryan’s Facebook page 🙂
ARTPOP and new single(s) approach in the coming weeks, but Lady GaGa’s “Applause” is still climbing my chart at #3.
It looks like Miguel & Jessie Ware’s duet of “Adorn” is eye-ing #1 in two weeks. My excuse for being a latehead on the song earlier this year 😛 It climbs 8-4.
Kaden’s “Black Light” falls to #5, but he has another song, the title track from the compilation Fuel For The Machine on deck! You can listen to a preview of itright here.
Betty Who’s “Somebody Loves You” is one of the most joyous songs you’ll hear this year, and the Aussie-born New York-based singer climbs 10-6.
While we await what sounds like will be a compelling video for his song “Lift Your Head”, Sam Dickinson’s soulful and energetic “Learn To Wait” climbs another notch to #8.
Pet Shop Boys score their second Top Tenner from Electric with the sublime “Love Is A Bourgeois Construct” at #9.
Australians Parralox created one of the most interesting album of cover versions this year with Recovery. Excellent choices include Front 242’s memorable industrial club hit “Headhunter”, here given a full blown electronica dance treatment. It lands at #10 on the chart 🙂
Fast Risers:
The more I listen to Osvaldo Supino’s “I Have A Name”, the more I appreciate the honest beauty of the lyrics and the arrangement. It’s the fastest riser on the chart, soaring 21-11, while Osvaldo-with-a-boombox creates fun and havoc with “Ma Radio” further down at #15.
I can’t wait for more new music proper from DATABOY, but in the meantime their stellar mashup “We Can’t Stop Summertime Sadness” is doing the trick just fine thank you, and moves up to #12.
FrankMusik’s gorgeous “Hymn” from his acoustic piano album Between Us rises to #17. He’s playing two shows in NYC this week, on Thursday October 24 at Rockwood (which I will miss, dammit, because I arrive in NYC the next evening 😦 ) and Saturday October 26 for a Hallowe’en DJ set at Fox & Jane. More stops in Washington DC and Philadelphia afterwards for you fans!
“Can’t Hold Back” by Anton Ewald is the last fast riser, moving 28-21. I’m thoroughly impressed with his EP, called A. It’s really contemporary and diverse pop, and only the Swedes can seem to get this right!!
New to the Chart:
As older songs reach their maximum amount of appearances (10 = 20 weeks) and drop off, it helps make way for lots of fresh new tunes to dazzle you.
It’s no surprise to regular readers of this blog that two new songs by Simon Curtis make their debuts. Last week Simon unleashed a free mixtape called WWWwhich I wrote about. Forever our boy robot, Simon continues to impress – and this is the music that didn’t make the cut for his upcoming album, but were songs instead written for others. Fans are so glad these are available for download through theMuuMuse website. First at #19 we have the unexpected, hypnotic, and stunning dance epic “Do I Have To Dance”. Further down it’s a call to arms once again for the raucous, energetic “Berlin Wall” at #28.
I actuallywrote about this next debut quite a while back, but the more I hear it, the more it resonates with me. It’s also one of the rare songs that leaves a big lump in my throat at the end every time after “I want it more than ever”, followed by the saddest firework sounds you’ll ever hear. Beautifully sung by LA-based singer Jarell Perry, “4th of July” debuts at #25. And it’s also afree download right here.
Travis Garland is on tour and is coming to my town on November 7! Ticket bought! His Spanish-flavoured, seductive disco in the form of “Easy” is a departure for him in the songs on his self-titled album, but it works beautifully and bows at #26.
The final debut at #30 comes from a NYC dance troubadour whose songs are most often about fun and sex, and fun and sex 🙂 Nothing wrong with that. His new album is on deck for a November release called Seventh Star, and I’m talking about SIRPAUL with his single “Every Single Moment”,which I wrote about recently. You can buy it on iTunes. Two of SIRPAUL’s songs are also available on both volumes of This Beat Is…Poptronik 🙂
Bonus Feature:
The writer of Neverest’s “Rewind” is former basketball player and Toronto singer Corey Niles. Having a mentor in fellow Canadian singer Dru (noted for his own hits “She Can Ride” as well as his appearance on Doman & Gooding’s dance smash “Runnin'”, which got to #15 on this chart in 2009) who is featured in Corey’s song “Rollercoaster” is a huge plus. Don’t underestimate the presence of this song. It’s going to lend a fresh urban sound to radio here in Canada that you don’t get to hear much by Canadians beyond songs by Drake. “Rollercoaster” does not let up, it slams pretty hard in a sizzling blend of contemporary R&B styles, and gives a great introduction to the solo Corey Niles. Watch for what sounds to be an intriguing video debuting this week on MuchMusic. Listen and watch the lyric video below. BOOOM!
Listen to the songs or watch the videos using the links on the pictures on the pretty and detailsweb edition of my chart.
Here’s the full BILLCS Top 30
03 01 REWIND Neverest 02 02 AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME Ryan Adamés 04 03 APPLAUSE Lady Gaga 08 04 ADORN Miguel F/ Jessie Ware 01 05 BLACK LIGHT (Stormby remix) Kaden 10 06 SOMEBODY LOVES YOU Betty Who 07 07 TAKE BACK THE NIGHT Justin Timberlake 09 08 LEARN TO WAIT Sam Dickinson 12 09 LOVE IS A BOURGEOIS CONSTRUCT Pet Shop Boys 15 10 HEADHUNTER Parralox 21 11 I HAVE A NAME Osvaldo Supino 18 12 WE CAN’T STOP SUMMERTIME SADNESS DATABOY 11 13 ROYALS Lorde 16 14 I REMEMBER Nick Pes 17 15 MA RADIO Osvaldo Supino 05 16 SKIRT Kylie Minogue 20 17 HYMN FrankMusik 06 18 HOMEWRECKER Travis Garland New 19 DO I HAVE TO DANCE Simon Curtis 14 20 PROBLEM (Kat Krazy remix) Natalia Kills 28 21 CAN’T HOLD BACK Anton Ewald 24 22 IMPOSSIBLE Ryan Star 26 23 JULIET Lawson 27 24 REPLAY Zendaya New 25 4TH OF JULY Jarell Perry New 26 EASY Travis Garland 13 27 VOCAL Pet Shop Boys New 28 BERLIN WALL Simon Curtis 19 29 DIRTY FLOORS Andy Suzuki & The Method New 30 EVERY SINGLE MOMENT SIRPAUL
Enrique Iglesias has had almost a 20 year career already starting with songs in Spanish to solidify his Latin fanbase well before moving into the English language market with his first hit “Bailamos” in 1999. Since then, with a few gaps in-between, the hits have been steady, most recently with no-brainers like “I Like It” and “Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You)”, which were also significant dance club bangers and continued this year with “Turn The Night Up”. And although my Spanish is way too rusty to understand the lyrics of “Loco”, I love the low key and sensual melody in this bachata track, which drives the video (below) where we find Enrique and buddy Romeo Santos drowning their sorrows while watching a sultry lady in red strut her stuff. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in that room 🙂 The pair are a perfect match vocally, and the song has mass appeal which is testament to Enrique’s songs appealing often to both genders. Watch for Enrique’s new album, due in November.
New Buffalo, NY based electropop singer 19 year old Daniel Robinson must have one heckuva thought process when writing his lyrics. At times they seem highly random when strung together, and that’s not a bad thing at all because it helps the listener think outside of the box. “Not Your Boy” also happens to be blessed with a thoroughly infectious melody which will get you singing those unique lyrics, punctuated before the 3 minute mark by a dubsteppy break that will leave you waiting for it on subsequent listens. Daniel’s enthusiasm for it all comes out in a really bright-sounding vocal. Daniel’s second EP Guesswork includes “Not Your Boy” and is available on iTunes. Watch the lyric video above for all those words that somehow fit!
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