Last year, Miami producer and DJ Ebaniez showed promise with his house track “Here For Me”, which I wrote about. He’s now back with an even tighter and catchier deep house song called “Tonight”. This one uses bass synths as highlights to accentuate its snappy vocal chorus. The song captures a dynamic setting of a neverending evening of fun in a warm climate. The production has nicely layered instrumentation that is neither understated nor goes over the top. Ebaniez is also a violinist by profession, so melody comes second nature. Add “Tonight” to your favourite house playlist for some slick nighttime entertainment.
It’s been a long January, particularly for those of us in lockdown or with stay-at-home orders, but we will all get through it, and thank goodness for the shortest month of the year, February! While some long-lasting favourites depart and will move down the chart in the coming weeks, there’s no shortage of great music to succeed them! Edition 606 has four new entries and lots of movement particularly in the Top 10.
“Give It Back” (above), the powerful house banger by The Disco Fries, Giiants and Allison Park obtains a third appearance (six weeks) at #1. Looking to replace it are either NOTD and Catello’s “Nobody” (steady at #2, below) or “Like Gold” (also below) by Loud Luxury, Frank Walker and Stephen Puth, which charges 11-4 and is the Fastest Riser on the chart. It’s also Loud Luxury’s fifth Top 5 on this chart, and Stephen’s second (“Sexual Vibe” peaked at #5 two years ago).
This is quite an amazing Top 10, with new peaks from Francesco Yates’ “Late Night Love” (5-3, his personal best on the chart), Jerome Price and Cally Rhodes’ deep house zinger “Chasing Feelings” (6-5), 2020 carryover “Chew On My Heart” by James Bay (9-6, above), and Why Don’t We’s “Fallin’ (Adrenaline) (8-7, below).
Karen Harding gets her second Top 10 with “Let’s Get Together”, this time in partnership with Scotland’s Illyus & Barrientos (12-8), following last year’s #1 “Undo My Heart”.
Soaring into the Top 10 for the first time is Japanese-British sensation Rina Sawayama with the heavily Lady Gaga inspired “Lucid” climbing 15-9.
Lastly, Oliver Heldens and Party Pupils both land in the Top 10 for the first time too with “Set Me Free” (14-10) featuring vocalist and one half of Party Pupils, MAX. It’s MAX’s 9th Top 10 on this chart, either as a solo or featured artist!
Three unique dance tracks by British artists make other waves on the chart as they move up.
“Synthesizer” has a cruel and droll sense of humour about it, but the riveting new song by dance phenoms Faithless and vocalist Nathan Ball climbs 16-11.
Another veteran dance producer, Hot Since 82, is going gangbusters on the chart with “Sinnerman” rising 20-14, featuring vocalist/songwriter Ed Graves.
Watch for “Tell Me” by producer Bobby Harvey and vocalist Danny Dearden to break out further in two weeks. For now, “Tell Me” moves up 27-21.
I, like the rest of the world, cannot resist the many charms of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License”. The heartfelt and beautifully produced ballad bows on the chart at #25.
L.A. based dance producer Mahalo has become a mainstay on the chart over the past few years, and I usually appreciate his darker, deep house tracks. One of those is “Not Watching Anymore”, which arrives at #28 and becomes his 9th chart entry.
I’ve written about a few Indian producers, or those of Indian descent over the years. The first one to be born in India to appear on this chart is DJ Shaan, with vocalist Londin Thompson, with the pop-flavoured dance track “By Heart”, which arrives at #29. Other producers of Indian descent to appear on the chart in the past include Spirix (born in the USA) and Panjabi MC (born in England).
At #30 is the new winner from SoCal producer Jay Bird, about whose music I’ve written these past few years. His songs haven’t appeared on the chart till now, and that has all changed with his new personal best for me called “Escape”, featuring an outstanding and soulful vocal by Chrxstal Sarah.
A reminder that the music from my chart and blog are featured regularly on the online radio station The New Radio GTA. You can hear their Big 20 on Wednesday evenings with ‘The Musicman’ James Rogers and listen for songs from the chart too 🙂 Scroll down the station’s main page to listen to lots of variety from across the decades! I’m the new music consultant for the station so you can expect even more in 2021 🙂 You can start by joining Radio GTA’s new interactiveFacebook group too!!
View the full BILLCS Top 30right here! Click on the hyperlink on the song titles to hear the songs or watch the videos!
Listen to the BILLCS Top 30 Songs on Spotify! Click on this link to take you there, and follow me on Spotify:BILLCS Top 30 Songs
The prolific Victor Perry offers his first solo release since last year’s EP Rewind with “Stories”. It’s a charming and hopeful ode to past relationships that weren’t meant to be. We can only think that those past friends and lovers that we will never see and who aren’t connected to anyone else we know will speak about us in our favour. It’s a cool observation and Victor conveys it with his always welcome earnestness and eloquence. Victor’s vast talents can traverse almost any style and genre, but his solo pop/R&B releases open another very inviting door which we otherwise don’t get to see through. Collaborating with German producers/songwriters Cal1 and l’essay has delivered a seamless execution. Like Victor’s songs on Rewind, particularly “What I Deserve”, “Stories” is one grower to soak in and let linger.
“Sugar” sparkles like all of the glitz and glamour we imagine when we think of the warm fantasyland that is Los Angeles. It’s a fun, teasing pop confection brought to you by Seattle producers Dance Yourself Clean and SoCal vocalist/songwriter Michael Medrano. We’ve heard Michael move from style to style pretty effortlessly over the past few years, and “Sugar” is a winner that would be played in clubs if they were open. The production draws from 70’s disco flavours and Michael’s falsetto gives it a huge lift.
Calica is a singer/songwriter/producer from Miami who has paired up with Chicago songwriter/producer/arranger Daniel Loumpouridis for “Don’t”, which is culled from their EP called Lens. It’s dreamy, almost low-key psychedelic and 80’s flavoured sophisticated pop for those who enjoy their music tastes outside of the mainstream. Calica is a graduate of the University of Miami Frost School of Music who broke out within the last year on Tik Tok when an excerpt of her song “Little Girl” went viral. She’s also recorded and collaborated with Grammy-nominated dance producers SMLE, whose music has graced these blog pages. At age 17, Daniel Loumpouridis co-produced and co-wrote Louis The Child’s breakout hit “It’s Strange” (featuring K-Flay) and received notice from Taylor Swift and Lorde, among others. He hasn’t looked back since, becoming a one-guy A&R, recruiting talent for the likes of Alex Da Kid. So with Calica’s well-honed vocal landscapes and Daniel’s layered electronic textures, it will be no surprise if this collaboration receives enough traction to quickly move them out of the indie scene, making it a good time for you to get to know them through “Don’t”.
Karen Harding mixes it up by following two heavier, sophisticated-sounding deep house bangers, “Undo My Heart” and “Let’s Get Together”, with the spry “Morning”, in collaboration with UK producer ShiftK3Y. The son of 80’s rock musician and dance producer Chas Jankel (“Glad To Know You”), Shift K3Y, like Karen, has had his taste of singles success with catchy gems like “I Know” in recent years. “Morning” is a fast-moving, uncomplicated pop/dance track which shows off both Karen’s vocal power and range. It contemplates letting loose and being so wrapped up with your partner and stuck in deep moments that you lose track of time and don’t even care if morning comes. I’d pitch “Morning” to fans of Katy Perry and Ariana Grande, as well as dance music contemporaries like Vassy and Becky Hill – it has loads of potential for either genre.
Australia’s Ben and Jeremy Beamish continue to prove that they, as The Beamish Brothers, are talents to keep your eyes and ears on with their latest alt.pop/rock single “Dollar At The Heart”. Once again using soul-flavoured melodies and provocative, well-thought lyrics as with their last release “Nature”, the brothers keep sounding better with each song – Jeremy’s vocal runs and Ben’s almost acapella solo in particular being highlights. “Dollar At The Heart” is timely because it focuses on corporate greed, something that doesn’t even let up for a second during a pandemic when so many people are living in recessions and when some are losing everything they have. As a counterpoint to the serious subject matter, the video for “Dollar At The Heart”, which appears to be set in the 80’s given the fashion, telephones, and computer work stations, is a hoot as office workers unite to bring down the big cheese. Ahhh, fantasy 😉
OMI and STUDIO KILLERS, “Party Like It’s Your Birthday”
Following up his fun Fall-but-should-have-been-Summer hit “Rollercoaster” is Jamaican singer/songwriter OMI who reworks Studio Killers’ 2018 release “Party Like It’s Your Birthday”. This is simply cool electronic dance music to keep you in a great mood, no more, no less. OMI’s cheery vocal and the video, which plays out a party on a yacht, lead the way set to Studio Killers’ music. Studio Killers of course are are the European/UK internet phenomenon created for animated characters, similar to Gorillaz but more focused on electronic dance pop. OMI’s version elevates the song, which you can expect to hear sometime in clubs whenever they resume.
RYAN SHEPHERD and CAITLYN SCARLETT, “Hello Sunday”
Give yourself one day a week to let go and enjoy yourself during these difficult times when many places are in lockdown or under many restrictions. “Hello Sunday” is your theme song where you can “focus on yourself” (check out the lyric video above). It’s brought to you by Toronto producer Ryan Shepherd, no stranger to these blog pages or my personal chart where his huge release with Loud Luxury, a rework of Craig David’s “Fill Me In”, reached #1 and now has over 36 million streams on Spotify alone. To help lift people up and gently persuade them to assist Toronto’s declining bar, restaurant and nightclub businesses, as well as local and national charities, Ryan had weekly “Hello Sunday” fundraiser shows on Twitch and Instagram last year, and his much-praised philanthropy has already raised over $20,000. The song is co-written with UK singer Caitlyn Scarlett (who has sung on tracks by Rudimental and Jack Wins), a real pick-me-up that will help and inspire people away from being down too often. Let’s hope Ryan’s goodwill continues to spread and that we’ll see more of the “Hello Sunday” shows this year.
“Push Up The Fader” has got a vibrant, contagious enthusiasm about it, as brought to you by the singer/songwriter who knows NYC dance music the best, SIRPAUL! It follows up last year’s retro-sounding “Out Of Our Minds”, which was his first song in four years, and will also appear on his upcoming album Escapist Behavior. And there’s good reason for the giddiness in “Fader”.
SIRPAUL says: “I heard all of this really loud noise happening outside. I realized it was 7 pm and that the sound was everyone cheering for the essential workers. After feeling so isolated during [lockdown], 7 pm had become a moment I looked forward to every night. It was one of the only times when I felt connected to the rest of the world during such a difficult time. I stopped recording and ran out to join in. It was unusually loud that night and some people were banging pots and pans together. Some of my neighbors must be musicians as well because they were playing some really dope beats! I grabbed my phone and started recording while we all were cheering. You can hear that moment in the breakdown of “Push Up The Fader“. It gives me the chills every time I hear it.”
Music is here for you to release and put your head (and feet) in another space. “Push Up The Fader” is guaranteed to do just that, and I look forward to what’s next from the upcoming album!
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