Before I get to today’s interesting iTouch shuffle mix, I want to remind readers that I have a Soundcloud drop box link on this page on the right. If recording artists want to send me their track to hear and possibly review, feel free to send it to my Soundcloud drop box right here.
I’ll have to admit, this morning’s shuffled short playlist (but still 35 minutes – some of the songs are long) was great 🙂
“Romeo & Juliet” Dire Straits
“Tears of Pearls” Savage Garden
“Roll Over Beethoven” Beatles
“Chainsaw” Daniel Merriweather featuring Skinnyman
Two songs that have been growing on me during the past week are DJ A-Trak’s electro take on “Money To Blow” by Birdman featuring Drake – yes, you read that right, electro – here called “Loonies To Blow” (hope you know your Canadian currency!), and Example’s low-key but catchy “Won’t Go Quietly”, both below. Enjoy 🙂
He finally did it! After reaching #3 with “We Are Golden”, then #2 with “Blame It On The Girls”, British vocalist Mika goes all the way with the joyous “Rain”. It should easily stay atop the chart into March while other songs make headway.
“Rain” knocks Simon Curtis’ “Delusional” to #2 after 4 charts (8 weeks) at the top. Once Simon’s mixtape 8Bit Heart is released though when he gets to 8,000 followers on Twitter – he’s now over 7,500 – watch for an influx of new Simon songs on the chart! The free download of “Delusional” is still available right here (as well as in a link in my chart).
Lifehouse’s “Halfway Gone” moves up to #3, while Pet Shop Boys have their biggest hit on this chart in its 11 1/2 year history – of course the chart would have been generously filled with PSB songs in the 80’s and 90’s – with their cover of “Viva La Vida” mixed with dashes of “Domino Dancing” at #4. Lady GaGa’s set to have her biggest hit on this chart with “Speechless” moving from 10-5, as “Bad Romance” tumbles to #7. Nelson Clemente’s slick and mysterious “90 Days” and Crystal Method/Emily Haines’ “Come Back Clean” each enter the Top 10 for the first time.
Despite mixed public reaction to the Fixin’ To Thrill CD, the blogverse is steadily promoting the CD as Canadian band Dragonette’s latest single “Pick Up The Phone” is picking up believers. The song is the Fastest Riser on the chart this week, up 23-15. Other songs bowing in the last few weeks are no slouches either, such as those by Lady GaGa (check out the bottom heavy King5kat remix of “Teeth”), Blake Lewis (check out the LA Riots radio edit of “Heartbreak on Vinyl”), Justin Timberlake/Matt Morris/Charlie Sexton, John Mayer (oh despite the self-induced bad publicity, his songs will get him through), and Jason Derulo.
I’m not going to re-blog about the many pleasures of Dan Black’s Weird Science mixtape – “Pass That Head Noize” charts at #23 – or Evan Taubenfeld’s “Starbucks Girl”(debuting at #25). After a six year absence from my chart, it’s great to have producer/songwriter extraordinaire BT back on the scene. After a few years of critical acclaim with more experimental offerings such as This Binary Universe, BT is back in 2010 in more accessible dance territory with songs from his latest CD These Hopeful Machines. His first single, including vocals by The Bleach Works singer Christian Burns (also ex-BBMak – you heard Christian a few years back on Tiesto’s “In The Dark”), is “Suddenly”. As much as we like to get caught up in fun, lightweight dance music of the moment, the immaculately detailed layers in BT’s production and the vibrancy of the melody make “Suddenly” more than worthy of your attention.
View the full chart using the link under ***BILL’S PERSONAL CHART*** to the right, or click right here.
Two months after his show at the Mod Club in Toronto, the first single from Justin Nozuka’s sophomore CD You I Wind Land And Sea is upon us! And the young man keeps it simple with the simply beautiful “My Heart Is Yours”, now also available on iTunes Canada.
It’s hard to say whether or not it takes its cue from a song like Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” but even if not it’s in great company. The key would be not to have it get lost in the shuffle – Mraz’s single broke the longevity record on Billboard’s Hot 100. “My Heart Is Yours” is a welcome international calling card for Justin Nozuka! A clip of his performance of the song from the Mod Club is below.
In 2009, we saw the cutting side of Baltimore-born Evan Taubenfeld – the second one of my 10 Performers to Watch in 2010 to release something new in the last week – in the intensity of “Cheater of the Year”, and then his playful side in the sing-along of “Boy Meets Girl”.
Now, to kick off 2010, some sentimentality and romance accompany a great cup of coffee in “Starbucks Girl” (and if you follow Evan on Twitter, he does like his coffee – Tim Hortons in Canada natch!).
If you’re gonna do a double take and go ‘Oh no, AUTOTUNE!” on your first listen, well you’ll just need to give it a few more spins and watch the cute, sincere video clip below (honestly, they don’t make ’em like this anymore!), and you may just listen past it. You might want to reference a catchy recent tune like Owl City’s “Fireflies” or look back a few years ago to the equally infectious helloGoodbye’s “Here (In Your Arms)” as companion pieces. And while “Fireflies” has yet to grab me, “Here” is on my iTouch, as soon will be “Starbucks Girl”. I do have one request though: An autotune-less version – maybe a live one – available for all of us that also enjoy Evan’s voice as is – please!
“Starbucks Girl” is the third glimpse of songs that will be part of Evan’s anxiously awaited Welcome To The Blacklist Club CD when it’s released later this year. Starbucks has definitely got to appreciate the free plug too!
As I anxiously await his Toronto debut on February 20, one of my 10 Performers to Watch in 2010, Dan Black, dropped his FREE all-things-unusual-and-wonderful mixtape “Weird Science”, in conjunction with the North American release of his debut CD ‘UN’.
Kate Bush? Bruce Springsteen? Bryan Ferry? Madonna? Missy Elliott? They’re all here in this very cool mashed up experiment, which will probably be amazingly hot in his club show.
Recommended track: “Pass That Head Noize”, which bounces and slams along till the break of dawn…
UPDATE: Unfortunately the link above is now offline. If a new one surfaces, I’ll post it here! You can hear “Pass That Head Noize on his my space site http://www.myspace.com/danblacksounds
As you all know, “Delusional” by Simon Curtis has been monopolizing my chart since before the holidays, and Simon continues a 4th consecutive appearance (that’s 8 weeks!) at the top this week (and just you wait till you hear his upcoming ‘mixtape’ 8Bit Heart!! – more surprises than a barrel of monkeys happy with lots of bananas!). But Mika’s glorious “Rain” moves to #2 and is about to become a worthy successor to “Delusional” in what looks to be a year of Pop Pop Glorious Pop! If Lady GaGa can open up the Grammy Awards telecast and have a duet with Sir Elton John in tow (image below), then 2010 looks to be an unforgettable year in Pop Pop Glorious Pop music!
Speaking of Ms G, “Bad Romance” isn’t budging from the Top 5 yet, while the magnificent “Speechless” hustles its way into the Top 10 and pulling “Teeth” seems no mean feat as the song ties as the Fastest Riser on the chart, moving 24-18.
Lifehouse is in Top 5 territory for the first time in almost 5 years as “Halfway Gone” inches up to – #5! Nelson Clemente’s entry for Microsoft’s Playlist 7 contest ties for Fastest Riser as the many moods of “90 Days” climb 17-11. The Crystal Method’s Grammy nominated CD has yielded the pairing with Metric’s Emily Haines on “Come Back Clean”, while Dragonette’s “Pick Up The Phone” and John Mayer’s “Heartbreak Warfare” are on the upswing.
Not to sound deliberately like Yoda 😉 , but 4 debuts have we this week.
I thought Blake Lewis’ first album Audio Day Dream was unique and showed a lot of promise, but it honestly didn’t grab me much beyond some initial curiosity. I thought the trend was continuing with just-okay songs like “Sad Song” and “How Many Words” arriving to promote sophomore effort Heartbreak On Vinyl. Then comes the title track – and I melt! Perhaps unknowingly, the song speaks volumes for my generation which is just in the process of losing midsize-to-small record stores across North America, allowing us to shed a few deserved tears as testament to the power they once had. This vital song debuts at a strong #21. Good on you, Blake!
Next up, and equally vital in obvious ways, is the stunning performance that is “Hallelujah” by Justin Timberlake and protege Tennman Records signee Matt Morris, along with veteran guitarist Charlie Sexton. The Internet came along too late to chart Jeff Buckley’s essential version of Leonard Cohen’s poetry for me – though I could have in retrospect if I wanted. But this new version fits the moment and shows the diversity that is now Justin Timberlake. I’ve heard some of Morris’ debut release but it’s understated in a Joshua Radin-kind of way, so I think I have to give its songs another few listens because I’m probably missing something I didn’t think of at the time. And Sexton is deservedly upfront after years of behind-the-scenes work – I still have his 1985 debut album, and you don’t have to look past the pop gloss to see the superstar guitarist in the making at age 17.
Then we have Norwegian singer Annie, who’s had some Scandinavian success during the past 10 years. At age 31, she reinvents herself for the world with the Pop Pop Glorious Pop of the danceable “Don’t Stop” (and yes, it rhymes) at #26. Lastly, Jason Derulo proves that autotune does not a sole hit make (there’s that Yoda again…). “Whatcha Say” is nice enough, but “In My Head” delivers the real goods, and this 20 year old bows at #27 on the chart.
And with images of the latter two below, don’t forget to view the entire chart right here or click on the link under ***BILL’S PERSONAL CHART*** to the right.
Back on January 23, British singer Sam Taylor – who is one of my10 Performers to Watch in 2010 – tweeted that “come 2000 followers my new song shall be posted”. Now it doesn’t say that it will be FREE now folks – though that may be the best way to go to raise Sam’s profile in the international Interweb music world.
But really, it’s been about a year now since “Run Away” (my #1 song of 2009) and “Sometimes I Need You” grabbed my undivided attention as a part of the soundtrack to the UK TV show “Beautiful People”. A few other fleeting songs on Sam’s MySpace page only whetted my appetite for more from this amazing new talent.
So the solution?
Follow Sam on Twitter @sammytaylor – currently he has 699 followers!!
You too can be part of the big plan when his new tunes begin to arrive. Sam describes his next group of songs to be a mix of ballads and uptempo tracks – think One Republic’s Ryan Tedder in one direction, and Justin Timberlake’s “LoveStoned” in the other – absolutely cannot wait!!
I’ll defer to this video by our blogger of the Grammys, Arjan Writes, who interviewed an extremely modest and low key Sam.
Sometimes it’s fortunate when you’re on a long drive home from work in bad traffic that iTouch shuffle actually cooperates and sends some good tunes your way. Here’s my hour long drive home today (an iTouch on the retro side 😉 ):
Heatwave “The Groove Line (Dance mix)” (1978)
Patrick Wolf “The Magic Position” (2008)
Desmond Dekker & The Aces “Israelites” (1969)
Johnny Hates Jazz “Shattered Dreams” (1988)
Dire Straits “Expresso Love” (1980)
Eurythmics “Who’s That Girl” (1984)
Janet Jackson “Weekend” (I think this was a free download a few years back)
Naomi Striemer “Let Me Go” (2005)
Alphaville “The Mysteries Of Love” (1986)
Marmalade “Reflections Of My Life” (1970)
Share your own shuffles and playlists if you wish 🙂
South Africa-based Australian pop/dance singer Nelson Clemente has had his song “90 Days (DJ Shpank remix)” chosen by Microsoft Windows 7 as a part of their Playlist 7 program, so congratulations Nelson 🙂
To celebrate, you can download a FREE copy of this remix right here. Me, I’ve already bought the “90 Days” EP on iTunes, which includes all of the remixes, such as my favourite the “SoundBaker mix”. But download the remix and you will assist Nelson with getting some studio time! Because Nelson’s a whiz in the studio, he’ll concoct something wonderful with all his hard work in no time. Follow Nelson on Twitter @thegt !
This is a song that was a long time coming, and it debuted at an impressive #17 on my personal chart, so look for it to make a good leap forward with the new chart coming this weekend!
Sorry if this blog has seemed to go quiet within the last week. There is a lot currently going on in my life and it’s difficult to write about something that you love when things are not going well. I’ve heard some great music by people like Annie, The Editors, Jason Derulo, and it’s weird how something like a Timbaland/Miley Cyrus combination is one of the best tracks on Shock Value II. My ears are still all on songs by Simon Curtis, Lady GaGa, and Mika… they give me much-needed energy. And my real job – which I don’t really talk about here – will be going more than full-tilt in February.
BILLCSMUSIC BLOG 
You must be logged in to post a comment.