The video for “Love Me Lessons (Imma Be)”has taken me by as much surprise as when I first heard Chicago singer/songwriter Lucien Dante’s “Black Water” some months ago. The laid back, intriguing vibe of that song helped get it to #5 on the BILLCS Top 30, and I subsequently wrote ablog post about his album Our Of We.
While I mentioned “Love Me Lessons (Imma Be)” as a highlight in that post, I really didn’t come back to the song much. But the singer has nailed it with this video. You won’t be able to help but smile after watching it, and if you know anyone who’s feeling down about themselves they should watch it too. It’s messages are very simple. You’ve gotta love yourself for who you are, and enjoy life and have fun because it’s contagious. Just do it!!
What’s even more impressive is that the singer directed the video and co-edited, and I must say his vision and the flow of the video work so very well. Also, the hip hop flavour that Lu Reads gives to the song for some reason works a lot better in this visual context. So I’ll definitely be revisiting “Love Me Lessons (Imma Be)” thanks to the insight that the video has created. You can pick up the song as well as the Our Of We album on iTunes. Lucien Dante is a multi-talent to watch!
After last year’s successful and diverse Sonic Aluzion release, Toronto quartet Smashing Satellites rock out harder with new single “Gamblin’ Man”. If you’ve seen them in concert you know that this is where their heart is and this song is a signal for more great music to come. Salvatore Costa and band have crafted a song that to me is so much of a throwback to the late 90’s – I’m thinking of bands like Days Of The New, Smashing Pumpkins, The Tea Party, and especially Moist. There were many great popular rock songs that got replaced with faceless dance music. “Gamblin’ Man” like many other Smashing Satellites songs has a great story and a vocal that shifts and plays along with the lyrics to make it an interesting tale. Keep your ears peeled for more new Smashing Satellites songs! Get it on iTunes 🙂
The Knocks’ upcoming album 55 and their concert this coming week in Toronto are looking to be pretty special if new single “Kiss The Sky” featuring none other than Wyclef Jean is any indication. “Kiss The Sky” should by all rights be a massive pop hit, giving the wintery months for the western world a bright summery vibe. While forever busy, Wyclef, the former Fugees member, has been MIA from the pop charts since “Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)”, which was in 2007, so this is a timely return. The Knocks are one talented pair with great ears for both music and production. If you loved “I Wish (My Taylor Swift)” (with Matthew Koma), then you will be over the moon for “Kiss The Sky”. Pre-order 55 and get the song for free!
Sometimes songs just leave you smiling long after they’re over, and that usually means there’s some staying power behind them. Such is the case with “u suck” by Minnesota’s Karizma, whose music, as you may recall from an earlier post, I got acquainted with when he opened up for MAX (Schneider)’s show in Toronto. Behind the self-deprecating, sincere, and humourous personality, Karizma has some wicked smart talent in concocting his songs. Not only is there infectious, downright funny Eminem-styled patter in this big diss of a song, but there’s a heavy rock guitar backdrop, and most prominently of all there’s either a sample or an excerpt of a cover of a little song I know by Peggy Lee called “Why Don’t You Do Right”. I haven’t heard that song in years and to hear some of it used in “u suck” is a special and clever case of contrast which works perfectly. “u suck” comes from Karizma’s upcoming album called Loser. In Karizma’s eyes we’re all losers and he wants to get to know you, too, loser! Be sure to catch his show when it comes to your city.
Karizma plays The Garage, in Burnsville, MN for his Loser release party on Saturday January 30 – tickets are going fast!
NYC duo Sofi Tukker, aka Sophie and Tucker, continue their fascination with Brazilian poetry with “Matadora”. Like the addictive first single “Drinkee” (sitting pretty at #9 on the BILLCS Top 30), “Matadora” is sung entirely in Portuguese using poems by Chacal as its jump off point. The result is a percussive toe-tapper which like “Drinkee” will yank people out of their seats and onto the dance floor. They even use a rare string instrument called a charango to augment the unique sound of the song. Sofi Tukker now have an EP on the way called Soft Animals. Still can’t wait for the imminent dance craze.
Sofi Tukker opens for their label-meisters The Knocks in Toronto at the Mod Club on Friday, January 22 – see you there!
It’s a new year, beginning with a new #1 by a performer who holds both #1 and #2 spots, and six debuts make their presence known. Some recent EP’s and albums are causing multiple appearances by the same performers, after a year like last year where multiple entries by the same performers didn’t occur too often.
As I’ve been tweeting the past few days, if you missed Brandyn Burnette’s one-of-a-kind audition on American Idol last Thursday, you need to see it so go to the link right here. So while Brandyn got his golden ticket, he also starts off 2016 with a bang on this chart, with the alternative old soul of “Nothing At All” ascending to the top, while the song he performed in his audition, “Lost (Stripped)”, advances 5-2. 2016 shows every sign of being a great year for Brandyn, and he has one other entry further down on the chart, though his fourth from two weeks ago, “Life’s A Beach” drops off. A video for “Nothing At All” will arrive very soon!
“I Wish (My Taylor Swift)” by The Knocks and Matthew Koma stays put at #3, and a third New Yorker, Penguin Prison, has remixed the song in his own inimitable style, stripping away the SoCal vibe of the song and turning it into something more NYC club ready. Give a listen above. I’m very happy to be seeing The Knocks on January 22 in my city 🙂
I was beginning to feel lonely in my enjoyment of Mako’s “Smoke Filled Room”, but in fact the song soared into Billboard’s Dance Radio Airplay Top 5 over the holidays, so the cat is out of the bag. Members Alex and Logan have a standout beauty here with this song, particularly in the Elephante remix, and it climbs 6-4. A new video for the song is coming too!
MAX Schneider is working double-duty on the chart this week with songs from each of his recent EP’s. Not only does his collaboration with Jared Evan, “Ms Anonymous” (above) rise 7 to 6, but his new club-banger-in-waiting “Wrong” (below), featuring Lil Uzi Vert, is the fastest riser on the chart, zooming 22-13 and is set to close in on the upper reaches in a few weeks.
The only new entry to the Top 10 belongs to the crazy vibe and Portuguese lyrics of “Drinkee” by NYC duo Sofi Tukker, climbing 12-9. The duo will also be on that January 22 bill for The Knocks I mentioned above.
Movin’ On Up
There’s so much activity below the Top 10 besides MAX’s “Wrong” as the fastest riser that I won’t be able to write about all this week.
Suffice it to say, one’s feet can continue dancing past New Year’s Eve. The songs to do just that for you as they eye the Top 10 in two weeks? “The Shadows Of The Moon” (above) by the venerable veteran Rozalla along with producers/DJs House Of Virus, advancing 14-11, along with German DJ/producer Final DJS wisely working with Bright Light Bright Light on vocals for the free download of “Lost In Feelings” (below), which moves up 16-12.
My dream team of Brandyn Burnette and Molly Moore appropriately have songs side-by-side on the chart. Molly’s touching and incisive “Blood. Sweat. Tears.” (above) could be a Jessie Ware song in disguise from her EP Shadow Of The Sun and rises 25-20, while her beau Brandyn’s third song from his Made Of Dreams EP, “Down” (below), jumps 28-21.
Six Debuts!
I’ve had to save most of the space in this post for our six stunning debuts, one of which sneaked onto the chart after only being released on Thursday at midnight.
Wither “Hello”, slipping from 1 to 5 after 4 appearances (8 weeks) at #1, but certainly not forgetting about other songs from the knockout album that is 25. “All I Ask” (above) is almost equally as beautiful and touching, with another amazing vocal… can’t seem to find enough adjectives for this one! It bows at #17, while subsequent single “When We Were Young” (below) also has no trouble finding its way onto the chart at #25. Any performer signed to a major label with access to funds should aim to create as wonderful a record as this, style and genre notwithstanding. 25 is a once-in-a-long-time album experience for anyone.
Crashing onto all platforms on Thursday at midnight was the immense surprise that is Super 8bit Heart, the album redux of 2010’s 8bit Heart, one of my favourite releases of the decade by Simon Curtis (read my blog post from yesterday right here). It’s not at all the same as the original and has its own highlights, but I’m so glad that “8bit Heart” was remade with the same warm touches as the original. “8bit Heart” already reached #1 here in 2010 and remained on the chart for its maximum 10 appearances (20 weeks). But I’m treating this new recording as a brand new entry and I sincerely hope it becomes the focus song for promotion of the new album. So the redux of “8bit Heart” arrives at #19.
After listening to its initial singles, an album that I’ve grown to enjoy thoroughly over the holidays is South Africa-born, Australia-raised singer Troye Sivan’s Blue Neighbourhood. Not only are the songs compelling, but the boy-next-door performance with so much improved vocals by Troye make them so unique next to what’s on the radio. It’s no wonder listeners are flocking to his sold out shows and that people like Betty Who worked with him on the album. I’m currently wrapped up in both “Talk Me Down” (above) and “Wild” (below), so each arrives on the chart, at #23 and #26 respectively. Never did I think that Troye would grow so much after his You Tube performances. He is indeed a talent to watch!
The last debut is “Age Of Innocence” by L.A.-based DJ/producer Elephante featuring Trouze and Damon Sharpe, which I wrote about not long ago and lands on the chart at #27. Club DJ’s are totally on board with this one, currently in Billboard’s Dance Club Play Top 25. The song is actually still available as a free download on Soundcloud too (below). Elephante is one of those talented guys with great ears who we will see playing huge venues with superstar talent in the next year.
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 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
You can hear me online on http://www.planetradio.caevery Monday at 9:00 pm EST counting down a Toronto Top 10 chart from yesteryear, and then again every Tuesday in a rebroadcast at 7:00 a.m. EST on WROCK http://www.wlor.net!
No music could be more welcome in 2016 than the songs of the 2010 free download album 8bit Heart by L.A.-based singer/songwriter Simon Curtis. Before you read further you might want to check out my original post on 8bitHeart right here– some of my opinions have changed, obviously, as have some facts (no autotone – it’s all Simon!). Simon has essentially created a new album of these songs called Super 8bit Heart to set the stage for his upcoming series of Boy Robot books, to be published by Simon & Schuster starting in November, which are based on the songs from 8bit Heart.
I have some personal anecdotes about 8bit Heart before I comment on the new album. 8bit Heart arrived as I was going through probably the most difficult period of my life. The 3D songs revolving around the Boy Robot character with themes of loneliness, desire, humanity, hope, and sex, were the perfect distraction for me at the time, and the huge Twitter campaign behind the record was first massive social networking experience for me. So many people like me absolutely adore these songs and I’m glad Simon chose to go back to revisit them and launch his publishing career with their stories. Songs from 8bit Heart dominated the BILLCS Top 30 in 2010 – “Beat Drop” #1 of that year, plus #1’s for the title song, “Delusional”, and #3 for “Joystick”. I was fortunate enough to meet and see the singer himself in concert in NYC the following year. Subsequent releases from R∆ and his Wrathschild project with Bad W0lfy continue to be active in my iTunes playlist 🙂
Super 8bit Heart must be taken totally separately from 8bit Heart, which simply stands on its own. I expect the new album is essentially the electronic soundtrack to Simon’s Boy Robot books, and the edgy anger and pointed swearing in some of original songs are now muted for a wider audience. They will certainly fit in with current dance music in clubs and I would love to hear remixes.
The big emotion of “8bit Heart” (below) is the highlight, and the new music backdrop is highly complimentary. To me this is the song to focus on with its universal message. I kind of miss the lonely simple piano of the original but it’s easy to treat the two versions separately. As with the original songs, Simon’s far-reaching voice is stunning as ever. Other highlights include “Super Psycho Love”, “Delusional”, “The Dark”, “Diablo” (which has been lengthened), and “Brainwash”, which all benefit from more current arrangements which suit their powerful lyrics. On the other hand, I must stick with the originals of “Beat Drop” (also lengthened), “Joystick”, and “Don’t Wanna Be Alone” – the new arrangements for these songs take them in a different direction and don’t work for me.
Super 8bit Heart will never replace 8bit Heart for me, and the original is still available for free download from Simon’s website. But it’s your opportunity to get to know the songs in new renditions particularly if you hadn’t discovered the originals previously. These songs deserve more fans to help to continue and champion Simon’s many talents and of course to support his on-deck side career as an author. Welcome back to the songs of 8bit Heart and Simon Curtis 😀 Pick up Super 8bit Heart on iTunes.
15 year old Texas singer Chance Peña was a dark horse Top 20 contestant on the most recent season of “The Voice”, but you couldn’t help but root for him with his sincere performances that soared beyond his young years. He was too-harshly critiqued for his performance of Imagine Dragons’ “Demons” (below) on the show – I personally thought it was the best of that night, honest and vulnerable to the core, and it got better as it went along – which was his last until coach Adam Levine knew that Chance had more to offer and brought him back. And without that, we wouldn’t have got to see Chance’s take on The Civil Wars’ “Barton Hollow”, which stood out as thoroughly unique from the rest of the performances. Like season 8 winner Sawyer Fredericks, Chance simply cannot be placed in the same pop box as the rest of his fellow contestants. He is working on new original music, and he’s posted “1965” on Soundcloud above for you to hear. It’s low-fi but that adds to his touching story-telling charm; a song like this needs no busy arrangement. While he might be leaning towards folk and Americana as his key sub-genres, I still think Chance has a lot to offer as a diverse pop singer. Keep your ears out for more new music from Chance Peña.
With two recent EP’s under his belt (Stage Fright, Trip) after his experience on TV’s “The Voice”, likeable NYC-based R&B/pop singer Jake Barker is off to a fine start in 2016. He kicks off his new campaign with an original spin on Usher’s “You Make Me Wanna”, and has chosen to post new songs every two weeks each month along with some covers (which he explains after the song in the video above) . It’s only two minutes long but Jake’s unique vocal spin on “You Make Me Wanna” really deserves a full rendition. This was Usher’s first huge single (and remains my favourite by him) from late 1997, and isn’t heard as often as his later hits these days. But if you need to be convinced that Jake is someone to watch, this will do the trick. Continue to watch this blog for more of Jake Barker’s music in the months ahead!
01 BRANDYN BURNETTE I Wanna Be (Free) 02 YEARS & YEARS Shine 03 ADELE Hello 04 COREY NILES F/ ALEX LACASSE Chasing Stars 05 YEARS & YEARS King 06 RIVER TIBER Let You Go 07 BRANDYN BURNETTE Sleeve 08 RIVER TIBER No Talk 09 COLOR THEORY Headphones (Matt Mancid Retro Crossover Mix) 10 DAN TALEVSKI Guilty As Sin 11 DENIZ KOYU VS TWOLOUD Goin’ Down 12 THE CHAINSMOKERS F/ GREAT GOOD FINE OK Let You Go (Tiesto Remix) 13 REIGEN Come Back To Me 14 ERIK HASSLE No Words 15 DNCE Cake By The Ocean 16 NATHAN SYKES Kiss Me Quick 17 CHRIS JAMISON Velvet 18 BRANDYN BURNETTE Life’s A Beach 19 THE KNOCKS & MATTHEW KOMA I Wish (My Taylor Swift) 20 TRIBE SOCIETY F/ KIESZA Pain Told Love 21 JESSIE WARE Pieces 22 SMASHING SATELLITES Waterfall 23 ADAM LAMBERT Ghost Town 24 ERASURE Sacred 25 SANDER VAN DOORN, MARTIN GARRIX & DVBBS F/ ALEESIA Gold Skies 26 JESSIE WARE Champagne Kisses 27 ANTONIO GIACCA Sensation 28 PARRALOX Aeronaut 29 DAN TALEVSKI My Religion 30 PENGUIN PRISON Show Me The Way 31 ERIC SAADE Sting 32 GREAT GOOD FINE OK F/ ST. LUCIA Something To Believe In 33 ELI LIEB Lightning In A Bottle 34 BRANDON FLOWERS Can’t Deny My Love 35 CHIC F/ NILE RODGERS I’ll Be There 36 GRAHAM ALEXANDER She’S A Chameleon 37 BOJANA STAMENOV Beauty Never Lies 38 NERVO F/ KYLIE MINOGUE, JAKE SHEARS & NILE RODGERS The Other Boys 39 LUCIEN DANTE Black Water 40 FRANCESCO YATES Better To Be Loved 41 GIORGIO MORODER F/ SIA Deja Vu 42 ERASURE Reason 43 TYLER SHAW Dizzy 44 FALL OUT BOY Uma Thurman 45 YEARS & YEARS Desire 46 GIORGIO MORODER F/ KYLIE MINOGUE Right Here, Right Now 47 MIKKY EKKO Riot 48 CHARLIE PUTH F/ MEGHAN TRAINOR Marvin Gaye 49 LIFEHOUSE Hurricane 50 DATABOY F/ NIKO THE KID When It Rains, It Pours 51 SHIFT K3Y I Know 52 ANTONIO GIACCA Ignited 53 NEW ORDER Plastic 54 SAM SMITH Writing’s On The Wall 55 KRISTINE W. Love Come Home 56 MARTIN LUKE BROWN Take Out Of Me 57 ANTON EWALD Save The Last Dance 58 DISCLOSURE F/ SAM SMITH Omen 59 JULLY BLACK Fever 60 THE WEEKND I Can’T Feel My Face 61 SAM SMITH Lay Me Down 62 SMASHING SATELLITES What It’s All About 63 GIORGIO MORODER F/ FOXES Wildstar 64 STEVE GRAND Time 65 ELEVEN PAST ONE There’s Nothing Wrong 66 THE WEEKND Earned It 67 BOYCODE It’s A Mistake 68 JAMES BAY Hold Back The River 69 MATTHEW KOMA So F**Kin’ Romantic 70 ADAM LAMBERT The Light 71 LAWSON Roads 72 SAM SMITH Like I Can 73 DANIEL ROBINSON Moonmolt 74 TRISTAN THOMPSON Burn Again 75 MI DISGUISE East Side Bay
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