Matthew Koma – Page 4 – BILLCSMUSIC BLOG

Voices Carry: Betty Who, Sam Dickinson, Lawson, Simon Curtis, Bac2ssential with Charly Mae, plus My Favourites of the First Half of ’13

It’s summer and the best voices soar on a clear sunny day…

BETTY WHO “Somebody Loves You”

Australia has given us another divine new voice in the form of singer Betty Who, who dropped her EP The Distance amid oodles of praise. Add my endorsement – “Somebody Loves You” is a sparkling single that could weave its spell in the same way that Katy Perry’s best singles can overtake you. And while this single just glows, the EP, which is free for the downloading right here, shows much depth that will make her a keeper in the pop world.

SAM DICKINSON “How It Used To Be”

Sam Dickinson is a new British blue-eyed soul singer based out of Newcastle. Stop. “New British blue-eyed soul singer” is almost always a good sign for me with music, but even with that positive heads up, young Sam has a unique, powerhouse voice that will blow the roof off your local club. Take heavy doses of 80’s Simply Red and Style Council via contemporary dance tunes and add significant inspiration from the Atlantic/Stax era of the late 60’s, and you will hear where Sam Dickinson is coming from in “How It Used To Be”, from his forthcoming album The Stories That Occurred, which is due in two weeks. I will have the scoop on that album for you closer to that time.

LAWSON “Missing”

Just in advance of yesterday’s official UK and Australian release of “Brokenhearted” (featuring B.o.B.) (which I wrote about right here), promising UK quartet Lawson treated us to an acoustic performance of Everything But The Girl’s classic 1995 hit “Missing”. This is particularly impressive because the original version of “Missing”, from EBTG’s Amplified Heart album, was acoustic. But all eyes and ears are on singer Andy Brown, who embodies this cover with passion and desperation, very unlike the original. I hope they perform it in concert when I see them again in late August. In fact, the boys can take it as an official request – pretty please 🙂

SIMON CURTIS “Meteor”

Lately, one of our favourite American wunderkinds of this decade, Simon Curtis, has been chatting on Twitter about how one of his songs called “Meteor” was excerpted in a new TV show called “Twisted”. Yesterday, he let on that the song was available on the Internet to hear, for those that could find it! Always up to a challenge, I have indeed located this frenzied bit of arpeggio-laden Swedish-influenced pop, which according to the Soundcloud link was discreetly posted about 10 months ago. Even if it may not receive official release, it’s certainly way beyond a lot of the fluffy Europop that will grace your ears this summer. A very shiny sign of good things to come from Simon’s work-in-progress.

BAC2SSENTIAL featuring CHARLY MAE “Waiting For You”

Though I’m still digging her anthemic “Girls Go Hard”, UK singer Charly Mae has lent her big, big voice for the first time to a deep house club banger courtesy of Bac2ssential called “Waiting For You”. It’s got that familiar, infectious house bounce that is slayed by Charly Mae’s engaging vocal. Dance club DJ’s shouldn’t overlook this one.

MY FAVOURITES OF THE FIRST HALF OF 2013

Songs (in alphabetical order)

BEGGING Anton Ewald

BLUE ELECTRIC ROSES Travis Garland

CAPTAIN FrankMusik

THE CITY River Tiber

CLARITY Zedd featuring Foxes

GET LUCKY Daft Punk featuring Nile Rodgers & Pharrell Williams

LEARN TO LOVE AGAIN Lawson

LIFTED Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni

MAP FrankMusik

MY GIRL Willy Moon

1998 Matthew Koma

OUTTA MY MIND Matt Blue

PARACHUTE Matthew Koma

PLAY THE GIRL Tao Hypah

SAIL INTO THE SUN Gentlemen Hall

SOMEBODY TO LOVE ME Eli Escobar featuring Nomi Ruiz

VOCAL Pet Shop Boys

A WORLD APART Davis Redfield

YEAH YEAH Willy Moon

YOUR TOUCH Blake Lewis

Albums (alphabetical by performer)

MATT DUSK My Funny Valentine: The Chet Baker Songbook

FRANKMUSIK Between

TRAVIS GARLAND Fashionably Late II (EP)

MATTHEW KOMA Parachute (EP)

MIGUEL Kaleidoscope Dream

WILLY MOON Here’s Willy Moon

JARELL PERRY Simple Things (EP)

THE PRESETS Pacifica

RIVER TIBER Synapses

KIM SMITH Nova

ANDY SUZUKI & THE METHOD Born Out Of Mischief

Love Power from Armand Deluxe & SIRPAUL and Casey Stratton, Plus 3 Terrific Covers

A lot of thoughts came to my mind this week with the USA supreme court ruling concerning the magical and often elusive thing that is LOVE. Almost every person has their own definition of what it means to them, and how they behave in loving others and being loved by them. Too many people however allow labels and hatred to get in the way, when it’s really so easy to substitute kindness, peace and happiness in order to move forward.

Two songs also happened to truly resonate with me this week because of this, and while they have significantly different styles, the basis of each song is general enough to be far-reaching.

ARMAND DELUXE featuring SIRPAUL, “One Love”

“One Love” is one beauty of a summer dance anthem by producer/remixer/DJ Armand Deluxe and veteran NYC dance performer SIRPAUL. It really doesn’t say anything new – “one heart, one mind, one love”, asking us to stand up and join hands, and so forth. But these two artists get the message across with a joyful, positive and enthusiastic approach that simply makes you stop what you’re doing to get up and dance and celebrate love. “One Love” is worthy of worldwide attention and I’m hoping the two can create a video for the song. In tandem with this, Armand has started a Facebook page called The Global Love Project, where people can post their own stories. It’s an interesting idea and we’ll see where it goes. “One Love” and The Global Love Project can only do the world some good!!

CASEY STRATTON, “Love Is Love”

Prolific and very reliable Michigan-based singer Casey Stratton recently dropped his latest album Sea Into Sky. And as I was listening to the album this week, before any of the activity in the US started to come to a head, the second song on the album “Love Is Love” struck me perhaps as Casey’s best song in a while. It immediately stays in your head with its quiet and lyrical start which builds to a powerful and emotional crescendo after the three minute mark. Fans of Loreena McKennitt, Kate Bush, Tori Amos and others should flock to this, but for others like me Casey has written simple yet powerful lyrics that have arrived with fortuitous timing. As always, Casey’s elegant voice and musicianship is striking, making “Love Is Love” one complete package you need to hear that will warm your heart, soul and mind. You can buy “Love Is Love” and Sea Into Sky through Casey’s store.

Three splendid cover versions have caught my attention recently by some familiar names you know well from this blog 🙂

NICK, “Get Lucky”

It’s getting closer to that time when a single from Nick Hagelin’s upcoming Streamline/Interscope album is due for release. So with his cover of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”, we have a more produced effort but boy does it ever pack a punch. I love the song as is (currently #2 on my chart), but I love this version too!! Nick’s vocals positively rule this song, he changes up the approach with a gentle and sexy vocal that allows his falsetto to seep in. The guys look like they are having a blast, and I hope Nick’s album can show off a lot of these qualities that you often don’t find in major label releases.

ADAM TYLER, “The A Team”

Given all of the You Tube versions of Ed Sheeran’s worldwide hit, you’d think that one more might just get caught in the blur. But it doesn’t. LA-based singer Adam Tyler, currently on my chart with his EDM hit “Fade Into The Light”, strips the song down to basics as he has done before with other covers like “Torn” and ‘Turning Tables”, and sings a brilliantly heartfelt rendition that breaks loose the numbness after hearing the original so many times now. This bodes well for our Adam as he strides forward to create a follow up of originals to his winning 2011 album Shattered Ice.

MATTHEW KOMA, “Clarity”

Now that Zedd & Foxes’ original of “Clarity” looks like it will crack the Pop Top 10, it’s highly appropriate for Zedd’s pal Matthew Koma (who sang on the #1 dance hit of 2012 “Spectrum”) to interpret his friend’s huge hit. This is an acoustic version recorded live at the Cherrytree House where Matthew does not strive to copy Foxes’ vocal range and instead adapts the song beautifully to his lower register.

BILLCS Top 30 #407 – June 17/13

Travis Garland’s sweet and sexxy “Blue Electric Roses” holds on to #1 on my personal chart for a second appearance with ease, but that could change in two weeks!

Will it be Daft Punk’s huge hit featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers, “Get Lucky”, that gets to the top? The song advances 4-2. But another song is brewing below.
Will it be the spectacularly high debut for “Vocal” by Pet Shop Boys at #4 (above)? I still call it their best song in about 20 years, when you consider their classic heyday with songs like “It’s A Sin”, “What Have I Done To Deserve This”, “West End Girls”, their mashup “Where The Streets Have No Name/Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You”, “Can You Forgive Her”, “Heart” and lesser known gems like “Love Comes Quickly”. “Vocal”, however, is this year’s anthem for music lovers (particularly EDM/dance/disco/electronica).
Will it be the enticing “Somebody To Love Me” by Eli Escobar featuring Nomi Ruiz, which climbs 8-5? Only “Outta My Mind” by young Dutchman Matt Blue seems to have peaked at #3.

And here’s where some rising songs get stuck and others start to fall because of the incredible competition in the Top 5.

“This Is How It Feels Like” by Armin Van Buuren featuring Trevor Guthrie (above) inches up to #6 but should still get to the Top 5. It was a homecoming for Canadian Guthrie, performing at Canada’s Much Music Video Awards this past weekend.
“Your Touch” by Blake Lewis and “Pompeii” by Bastille are much played on my iPod Touch but tumble a few notches in the face of (gasp) stronger songs.
“One Night” by Matthew Koma from his upcoming album Arcadia slides into the Top 10 at #10. Watch Matthew perform Zedd’s “Clarity” below 🙂

You can view the full Top 30 using the link under ***BILL’S PERSONAL CHART*** to the right, or you can click right here. You can hear all of the songs on the chart or watch their videos by clicking on the pics on the chart page. Any free downloads that are identified are sanctioned by the performer. There’s always a tiny place at the bottom of the blog post with tags and the statement “Leave A Comment” – please feel free to do so

They move up 2 + 2 + 2 and closer to the Top 10, all very unique songs: “Too Young” (Penguin Prison remix) by Ghost Beach, Parralox & Ryan Adames with “Silent Morning”, and “On My Way” by Charlie Brown – 12, 13, and 14 respectively.
The fastest riser on the chart is rising megatalent from Sweden, Anton Ewald with the insanely catchy “Begging”, bounding 27-15 (below).
Right behind are JT’s “Let The Groove Get In” at #16, FrankMusik’s beautifully vocalized “Chasing Shadows” at #17, and “Fade Into The Light” by Adam Tyler at #18.
Continue to climb are Bongiovanni’s bass thumping deep house song “I Think I Love You” at #20, soulful Slow Knights with “Shame” at #21, and “Brokenhearted” by Lawson and B.o.B. at #22.

Aside from “Vocal” by Pet Shop Boys crashing the chart way up at #4, there are two other fine debuts:

He’s back!! Musical alchemist Dan Black teams with Kelis for “Hearts” at #23 (ab0ve). Mr. Black took over my chart back in 2009/10 with two #1’s, “Symphonies” and “Alone”, #2 “Pump My Pumps”, and #7 “U + Me”, all from his debut album UN, and then guested on Bag Raiders’ “Sunlight” (#7, 2011). Kelis is no stranger to the chart either, particularly with her 2010 #3 “Acapella”, which gives great voice to all us single folks.
I just raved about their album Born Out of Mischief, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to see my favourite song from that album bowing on the chart. NYC’s Andy Suzuki & The Method arrive with the impressive rocker “Dirty Floors” at #26 (below).

BILLCS Top 30 #405 – May 20/13

With so much new music arriving on the chart over the past month, there is considerable activity!

Amid it all, though, FrankMusik holds at #1 with “Map” (ab0ve), as the release date for Between as well as Frank’s US tour approach. But it’s being immediately challenged by “Blue Electric Roses” (6-2, below), my favourite song from Travis Garland’s magnetic free download Fashionably Late II EP. Travis’ song “Homewrecker” got a huge unexpected endorsement on Twitter this weekend by pop singer Richard Marx!! “Lifted” by Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni slips to #3 but seems very attached to the top portion of the chart 🙂 “Outta My Mind” the Europop dance hit by Dutch singer Matt Blue jumps 10-4, while Willy Moon’s “My Girl” hangs in at #5 as his album Here’s Willy Moon looks to be released in North America soon.

Songs 6 through 12 are all on the upswing, which of course means that no song within the Top 5 is truly safe. “Your Touch” by Blake Lewis is deservedly right at the heels of the Top 5, and it’s followed by the fastest riser on the chart, “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk, which climbs 16-7. Could “Get Lucky” be one of the songs of Summer ’13? Watch below, and check out the splendid alternate unreleased version with Sam Sparro on vocals.

Ariana Grande & Mac Miller’s “The Way” inches up to #8, while both Bastille’s “Pompeii” and “Aviation High” by Semi-Precious Weapons arrive at last in the Top 10. Almost there are the radio-cranker “This Is What It Feels Like” by Armin Van Buuren & former soulDecision singer Trevor Guthrie (18-11, below), and “One Night” by Matthew Koma (14-12), which arrives in new remixes tomorrow on iTunes. It’s from his upcoming album Arcadia. Cherrytree Records has posted them on their Soundcloud site.

Meanwhile, “Somebody To Love Me”, the dance club rave-up by Eli Escobar featuring Jessica 6’s Nomi Ruiz soars 23-15, and Jarell Perry’s pensive but uptempo “9 2 5” jumps 20-16. Ghost Town’s edgy “Too Young” in a definitive Penguin Prison remix rises 25-18, while both “On My Way” by Charlie Brown and “Kiss My Lipstick Off” by Georgia Haege (both below) land in the Top 20 finally. And our third debut of last week, “Silent Morning” by Parralox featuring Ryan Adames, a cover of Noel’s classic mid-80s dance hit, moves up 26-21, with new remixes in tow on iTunes (including that crunchy rock-oriented one by Cherry Cherry Boom Boom).

At least one of my three debuts might be of surprise to you. I’ve been fighting with myself about what song from Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience would succeed the #11 charting “Suit & Tie”. Initially I was wrapped up in the beautiful “Strawberry Bubblegum”, but with all of the dance music energy on the chart right now the rump shaker and 70’s R&B-inspired “Let The Groove Get In” has won out and bows at #24.

Absolutely no stranger to the chart over the past three years is Adam Tyler, whose new and creative “Fade Into The Light”, especially with the huge dub-steppy break in the extended version, lands on the chart at #27.

I also can’t get enough of the song “Shame” by Slow Knights, a project spearheaded by Scissor Sisters’ Del Marquis – again the powerful R&B vocal and groove get stuck in your head and make you move. It’s from the project’s Cosmos album and bows at #28.

BILLCS Top 30 #404 – May 6/13 – Mapping His Way to the Top Again!

This edition of my personal chart is full of ups and downs with only a handful of songs staying static.

That of course means a new #1 song. It’s very fitting that FrankMusik’s “Map” should grab the top spot (his third time, following “The Fear Inside” and “No ID”) with the imminent arrival of his album Between, and another of acoustic songs, Between Us. In a case of great timing, Vince posted his acoustic version of “Map” (below) on Soundcloud last night, and it’s a lot more raw and cutting (and I mean, ouch!) than the original version. The frenetic “Captain” also climbs to #4, and new single and video “Chasing Shadows” is on deck. There’s so much happening with FrankMusik that it seems absolutely crazy, but I’m happy to be along for the ride 🙂

This means that “Lifted by Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni surrenders to second place after 3 charts (6 weeks) at #1. Gentlemen Hall’s “Sail Into The Sun” holds steady at #3 – I hear some radio stations are now playing it, probably wise since it’s been all over TV for the last two months! I can’t wait to hear more new music from the Boston sextet. Willy Moon’s highly contagious “My Girl” (video below) soars to #5, and thank goodness it’s available as a single here since Universal Canada has not got around to releasing the Here’s Willy Moon album…

The Top 10 got turned inside out, with James William’s “Lay Your Love On Me” and “The Way” by Ariana Grande & Mac Miller each advancing one position. They had to contend with the soon-to-be unstoppable force that is Travis Garland, whose stunning and direct blue-eyed soul ballad “Blue Electric Roses” is the fastest riser again, this time vaulting 18 to 6. And right behind is “Your Touch”, whose song and groove are embedded in my head now, courtesy of Blake Lewis, climbing 16-7. Then there’s also the irresistible dance fest that is “Outta My Mind” by young Dutch singer Matt Blue (video below), already advancing to #10 in its second appearance.

Also on the rise and likely headed for the Top 10 are “Pompeii” by UK sensations Bastille, Semi-Precious Weapons’ “Aviation High”, “One Night” by current travelling man Matthew Koma, “Heart Attack” by Demi Lovato (loving the remixes, video and remix below), plus huge movers “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk (27-16), “This Is What It Feels Like” by Armin van Buuren & Trevor Guthrie (25-18) which has become a massive radio hit in Canada, and the thoughtful ode about being stuck in a “9 2 5” (28-20) world by the new R&B singer with the amazing voice, Jarell Perry.

While “On My Way” by Charlie Brown and “Kiss My Lipstick Off” by Georgia Haege may seem stuck below #20, they will still likely move up in two weeks and attempt to hang around amid fierce competition, which includes three new entries, about which I’ve already written.

I love how DJ/producers like Eli Escobar are re-inventing Disco in the NuDisco format, deep house music mixed with old school disco, techno and trance at times. His collaboration with Jessica 6’s Nomi Ruiz is a stunner, and “Somebody To Love Me” arrives at #23. It appears on Eli’s EP Feel It.

Like Eli Escobar and Nomi Ruiz, the guys (Josh Ocean and Eric “Doc” Mendelsohn) who comprise NYC duo Ghost Beach seem to mesh the past with the present with ease. To think they were in town a couple of weeks ago, when I had just found out about the Penguin Prison remix of “Too Young”, which bows at #25. What makes this record are the vocals which remind me of late 70’s Joe Jackson meeting Justin Tranter of Semi-Precious Weapons about halfway. Listen below and pick up the remix as part of the duo’s EP Modern Tongues Remixed.

Lastly, it’s been a big week for Aussie duo Parralox and rising US singer Ryan Adamés and their wonderful team. Parralox’s John Von Ahlen has unleashed an eye-popping animated lyric video (below) for their rendition of Noel’s seminal 1987 freestyle classic “Silent Morning”. And as I wrote about earlier in the week, Cherrytree Records prez and Interscope Records VP Martin Kierszenbaum, aka Cherry Cherry Boom Boom, remixed the song to give it a punchier alternate identity (also below). In either version, the song is a huge grower and I hope that dance clubs fawn all over it in the coming months. It debuts on my chart at #26.

BILLCS Top 30 #403 – April 22/13

And the new music keeps on coming, with four new entries (all but one of which I’ve written about), causing premature exits on my personal chart for some songs, but it looks like we are in for a grand summer given the quality of music on its way. And can the flavour of 1970’s disco make its comeback with the help of one of the new songs? Read on…

“Lifted” by Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni holds tight at the top for a third chart appearance (6th week), and the guys are busy with other projects, including Bongiovanni’s “I Think I Love You” rework which I wrote about earlier. Zedd & Foxes (video below) and Gentlemen Hall continue in the runner-up spots, with Lawson ranking 5th, while FrankMusik’s “Map” climbs to #4 and “Captain” rises to #6. FrankMusik is no stranger to my Top 5, with two previous #1’s (“The Fear Inside” and “No ID”) and three other Top 10’s, including “Fast As I Can”, which will also appear on his upcoming album Between in May. New single “Chasing Shadows” is on deck soon! If “Lifted” doesn’t hold at #1 in two weeks, I think a new #1 will be a surprise 🙂

Most of the chart is in a tight lock, as often happens when a lot of new songs arrive, so there is minimal upward movement. Nonetheless The Presets’ “A.O.” grabs #7, and “My Girl” by Willy Moon (whose album Here’s Willy Moon is still not out in Canada) rises to #8. James William’s supremely catchy “Lay Your Love On Me” (sing it – wo-oh-oh-wo-oh-oh – below) becomes a Top 10 hit in its own right and it’s still available as a free download. “The Way” by Ariana Grande & Mac Miller is becoming a deservedly huge pop hit and climbs to #10.

Songs by Matt & Kim, Semi-Precious Weapons, and Jerry Reid are still locked in below the Top 10, so there are bigger moves just below. You can find me jamming in my car to “Your Touch” by Blake Lewis pretty much every day, and the song jumps to #16. Matthew Koma’s glorious slice-of-life of “One Night” is right behind at #17. But it’s Travis Garland’s “Blue Electric Roses” (below) which is the fastest riser, moving 25-18. It’s a phenomenal song that gets better with each listen; the lyrics are pointed but thoughtful, and the vocals… well don’t get me started being overly partial to male R&B-sounding voices. Travis has it in spades with his recent EP Fashionably Late Part II which you must download from his website.

Locked into the chart #20 and below are the bluesy jamming in “Right Back Home” by Lifehouse featuring Peter Frampton and Charles Jones (live clip below), Demi Lovato’s “Heart Attack”, “On My Way” by Charlie Brown, and “Kiss My Lipstick Off” by Georgia Haege.

The newcomers to the chart are all pretty brilliant.

Dutch singer Matt Blue has already had two chart appearances in 2011, first with a collaboration with Bass Robbers called “Another Dimension” (#8), and then with his own feelgood jam “Can’t Help Myself (Keep Dancing)”, which got to the top of the chart in November 2011. The singer has returned as featured in Kontor’s massive Top of the Clubs series, with his single “Outta My Mind”, which is now available on iTunes everywhere and makes a huge splash at #19. There is no end to how great summery feelgood songs can be if they are done right, and I am looking forward to a full album from Mr. Blue one day that will show off his big, big vocal range.

Another Dutchman, Armin van Buuren, is back with a new album appropriately called Intense. I’m predicting incredible things to happen with the first single “This Is What It Feels Like”, which I wrote about last week, and it bows at #25. A major plus is the return of soulDecision singer Trevor Guthrie to the music scene, I just never expected it to be on a dance record. Wise choice – it’s a great song, and van Buuren has a 10 year pedigree for successful emotional dance pop.

The big news of the last week was the official release of “Get Lucky” (at the top of the post), French duo Daft Punk’s return with vocalist Pharrell Williams (who sounds tremendous) in tow along with music legend Nile Rodgers providing his distinct, recognizable sound. “Get Lucky” starts out at #27 but will undoubtedly take off in the coming weeks. I think it could be not only one of the best pop and dance records of the year, but its celebratory vibe could bring back the happy disco sound of the late 70’s. Young people have never experienced the glorious days of disco, and I think considering so many recent tragedies that the impetus is there for a joyous update. The older disco haters have long gone… now is the time!!

Lastly, it’s hard to cherry-pick songs from Jarell Perry’s debut free download album Simple Things. It’s ALL more than good and I will be a broken record about it over the next few months. I’m leaning heavily towards the day-in-a-snapshot as told in “9 2 5”, a big and emotional song which arrives at #28. Jarell Perry’s got way too much talent not to get a record deal, and if not, someone is missing out and he will succeed on his own terms. Listen for this fantastic singer.

BILLCS Top 30 #402 – April 8/13 – Six Songs Debut!

The newbies are taking over, sending some songs that should have peaked higher down or off the chart. And you’ll be more than a little bit surprised at some of the chart entries as I haven’t yet written about them 🙂

It’s a no brainer that “Lifted” by Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni reigns supreme for another chart… with nothing below it really challenging to take its place in two weeks. Good thing for our boys Danny and Victor, who are recording some follow up songs to this one 🙂 Right below, #1 Dance Club Hit (and now charting on the Billboard Hot 100 too) “Clarity” by Zedd & Foxes ascends to runner-up status, while the summertime smash-in-waiting “Sail Into The Sun” by Gentlemen Hall (above) climbs to #3. Lawson’s “Learn To Love Again” moves up to #5 as a fifth single “Gone” will be released from their UK gold record Chapman Square.

FrankMusik has a double headed for the Top 5, as “Map” and “Captain” (both above) are now back-to-back at #6 and #7 respectively, while Mr. Vince Turner finalizes his new album Between. The Presets are coming! The Presets are coming! Back to my city on their tour on May 10, with Dragonette opening! The otherworldly “A.O.” becomes their second Top Tenner on my chart at #9 following “If I Know You”, which got to #4. Willy Moon is on deck with Here’s Willy Moon arriving in most places around the world tomorrow, and “My Girl” follows “Yeah Yeah” into Top 10 status at #10.

And here’s where I have to choose what not to write about… a busy chart with six debuts. 3 of our last chart’s debuts make significant inroads. Semi-Precious Weapons soar with “Avaition High” at #15, while Jerry Reid’s mysterious rocker with great lyrics “Tell The Night” follows suit at #16. Bastille’s irresistible pop rocker “Pompeii” (above) is the chart’s fastest riser, moving 28-20.

But it’s those debuts that have my attention right now. 19 year old Ariana Grande’s “The Way” is one of the most instantly likeable songs out there right now, and the song (featuring rapper Mac Miller) bows at a spectacular #13. It’s from the Victorious star’s upcoming debut album Daydreamin’. That’s an interesting title. Ariana’s ultra sweet vocal on “The Way” immediately captured Mariah territory comparable to her 90’s work. Of course one of Mariah’s albums is called Daydream (not to mention one of my fave Aretha songs is “Day Dreaming”). I think the reason I enjoy this song the most is that it’s the teen version of Estelle & Kanye’s 2008 hit “American Boy”. But the gal has the built in goods in her voice, I have heard her sing live and she is the real deal.

Down further at #21 is one of the better known American Idol contestants, 31 year old Blake Lewis, with his latest single “Your Touch”. This song has grown on me immeasurably over the last month, and it’s chorus is loud flat out belt-worthy with such a feel good vibe. It’s from Blake’s upcoming third album Portrait Of A Chameleon, and it’s his first chart entry here since 2009’s classic “Heartbreak On Vinyl” got to #4.

I just wrote about it yesterday, but Matthew Koma’s “One Night” has wasted no time in debuting at #22. Let’s see how good a job it does in two weeks trying to take over the chart as his most recent #1, “1998”, leaves after the mandatory 10 appearances (20 weeks).

First Ariana Grande, and now… X Factor judge Demi Lovato makes her first chart appearance here with “Heart Attack” at #24. Her voice keeps getting better and better, so her new album, Demi, will be well worth hearing. She attacks the cutting and biting lyrics like there is no tomorrow, and that’s exactly what was required for the song. Bravo.

I’ve already been raving about Travis Garland’s Fashionably Late Part II EP being one of the best of 2013 so far. My favourite song from it is “Blue Electric Roses” at #25 – the kind of innovative song that I was expecting on Justin Timberlake’s latest album. But sometimes the innovation has to be left to others and I think Travis is on the right track for making the right kind of big splash soon. The EP is available for free download at Travis’ website.

The last debut at #27 belongs to Mr. Charlie Brown, whose “On My Way” got to #7 in the UK last week. He will be touring with Craig David in the UK soon, and I’m hoping his management has big things planned for a North American debut. This is soulful pop at its best from someone who should have broke out four years ago. Charlie is very big on interacting with fans on Twitter too @CharlieBrownLDN 🙂

“One Night” by Matthew Koma Looks Forward Into 2013 + First Quarter Review, plus Kaden’s “Black Light”

There is no question in my mind that New York-born singer Matthew Koma leads a promising pack of performers and songs into the rest of 2013 with his new single “One Night”.

MATTHEW KOMA “One Night”

The video for “One Night”, the upcoming single from Matthew Koma’s debut album Arcadia, takes its cue from (and could be the title song to one of the) coming-of-age movies that become signposts for a generation (well, despite a bit too much mugging later on). Four cute guys in a car meet four cute girls in an amusement park, and for once it’s not a horror movie. Flirtation and posturing happens, and then expect the unexpected. Matthew’s song itself is a well-produced pop jolt that’s quite different from the songs in his Parachute EP. It’s more direct and obvious, and designed to grab ears like the best records on the radio. I think it will succeed on its many strengths, including the vocal charm of the singer.

Here’s what you might have missed in the first part of 2013, alphabetically by performer (hyperlink indicates a free download).

FRANKMUSIK Far From Over (EP) including “Map” and “Captain”
GENTLEMEN HALL “Sail Into The Sun” appearing in Samsung and Target commercials
MATTHEW KOMA Parachute (EP) including the title song and “1998”
KWIK FIKS & BONGIOVANNI “Lifted”
LAWSON “Learn To Love Again”
WILLY MOON “Yeah Yeah” – his album Here’s Willy Moon drops April 8
DAVIS REDFIELD “A World Apart” – dance smash waiting to happen featuring a mystery female vocalist
RIVER TIBER Synapses – featuring “The City”, “What Are You Afraid Of”, and “Reverie”
TAO HYPAH “Play The Girl”
VARIOUS Kiss My Lipstick Off
CHRIS WALLACE “Time Bomb (Walk Away)” and “Keep Me Crazy”
ZEDD featuring FOXES “Clarity”

And before this page is finished, I’m going to light a bit of a fire about a song that I so want to see released!!

KADEN “Black Light”

Kaden James is an L.A. based singer and I think he has a smash-in-the-making with “Black Light”. It’s been a long time coming, but the official release of the song should arrive along with a full album. It’s one of those songs that has a perfect combination of a strong but boyish voice, scintillating rhythm, and truthful lyrics that anyone can claim as theirs. What the song also possesses is an innate sense of drama. Producer/remixer Stormby has a spectacularly effective remix of “Black Light” that is just waiting to lay conquer in clubs. I’m posting a link to a video made of the song last year. And if you ask me, it’s pretty darned nifty, but apparently a new one is in the works. Plus I’m posting a teaser to Stormby’s remix which will hopefully see the light of day when “Black Light” is officially released. Okay – fire is lit – now we wait 🙂

BILLCS Top 30 #399 – February 25/13

The belated appearance of my personal chart this week finds some recent arrivals zipping into the upper reaches. You can view the full Top 30 using the link under ***BILL’S PERSONAL CHART*** to the right, or you can click right here. You can hear all of the songs on the chart or watch their videos by clicking on the pics on the chart page. Any free downloads that are identified are sanctioned by the performer. There’s always a tiny place at the bottom of the blog post with tags and the statement “Leave A Comment” – please feel free to do so

Toronto group River Tiber score their second #1 on my chart with “The City”, which displaces Matthew Koma’s “1998” to #2 after Matthew’s 5 chart (10 week) lock on #1 with that song and “Parachute”. River Tiber keep getting more great local gigs in Toronto, at The Drake Hotel again (where they scored majorly on January 3) and tomorrow night at The Horseshoe Tavern. They’ll also be playing The Annex Live on March 23 during Canadian Music Fest (I’ll remind you again about that). Tommy Paxton-Beesley recently dropped a new River Tiber video for another song from their album Synapses (still available as a free download), this time for “The Star Falls”. Watch below.

Scoring another #1 Dance Club Play hit again is Zedd with British singer Foxes on “Clarity”, which moves up to #3. Another killer dance track that the rest of the world hasn’t really got to know yet is “A World Apart” by DJ/producer Davis Redfield, which climbs to #5. Sandwiched in-between is one of the coolest club tracks you will hear that I can’t stop talking about. With a deep house rework of Baby Bash’s “Suga Suga”, Canadians Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni climb 24-4 with “Lifted”. Download it for free and give a listen below.

The Wallflowers’ “Reboot The Mission” climbs to #8, becoming their first Top Tenner here since I began the chart in 1998. However “One Headlight” was my #1 song of 1997 so I’m well acquainted with the diverse styles of Jakob Dylan and his band. I’m particularly impressed by the production and vocal arrangement on this song. The song seems to be everywhere now (including “Glee”), but “Let Me Love You” by Ne-Yo rises to #9. Those Lawson lads managed another Top 20 placing in the UK with “Learn To Love Again”, arguably their best song to date. It climbs to #11 on the chart. Alas, no North American release in sight yet… Another huge mover on the chart is “Sail Into The Sun” by Gentlemen Hall, up 25-15 – a song you won’t be able to escape for the months to come thanks to impressive inclusion in a Samsung smart camera commercial. Hopefully this exposure will hasten the release of a new album. Great songs to be heard! Listen below and get it for free from the band’s website when you tweet about it.

Other songs still on the rise include those by Mika (and I got a ticket for his April 5 show here 🙂 ), Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z, River Tiber (“Reverie”), The Presets, Passion Pit (“Carried Away”, video below), AVAN LAVA, and Depeche Mode.

I’ve already written about our new arrivals recently. “Lay Your Love On Me” by UK singer James William is just darn near impossible to get out of your head with its crisp pop sound that may have more of an American bent than a British one. The song debuts at #28. You can get it for free through Tweet For A Track and you can hear it below. The other two debuts both belong to FrankMusik. You can read all about my musings on his EP Far From Over with its nifty Brink Magazine spread to great effect. First single “Map” bows at #19 and the rollicking “Captain” is sharp on deck at #24. Hear both songs below and download them for free from FrankMusik’s website.

BILLCS Top 30 #398 – February 11, 2013

The news on my latest chart is about all of the new songs that look like they will take over within the next few weeks, along with a few asides into songs not on the chart by FrankMusik and (a cover by) Neverest. Exciting! You can view the full Top 30 using the link under ***BILL’S PERSONAL CHART*** to the right, or you can click right here. You can hear all of the songs on the chart or watch their videos by clicking on the pics on the chart page. Any free downloads that are identified are sanctioned by the performer. There’s always a tiny place at the bottom of the blog post with tags and the statement “Leave A Comment” – please feel free to do so

If you watched the Grammy Awards last night, you will have seen a slim young gent sitting next to Carly Rae Jepsen, who alas didn’t win any of the categories in which she was nominated. That is indeed Matthew Koma, who still resides at the top of my chart with the crunchy rocker “1998”. The challenge in two weeks is to hold on to it against one of the most beautiful songs on release right now. That’s “The City” by Toronto’s River Tiber (below), edging up to #2 (they also have songs at #7 and #20!). “Time Bomb (Walk Away)” by Chris Wallace is up to #3 and you can see Chris again on TV in North America on the Kelly & Michael morning show on ABC in 9 days on Wednesday February 20. Rounding out the Top 5 is another top of the chart contender, “Clarity” by Zedd featuring Foxes.

Passion Pit comes to my city next weekend in a sold out show, and “Take A Walk” climbs to #6, while newest single from their Gossamer album, “Carried Away”, bows at #30. New to the Top 10 are the dance raveup “A World Apart” by Davis Redfield at #9, and “If I Lose Myself” by One Republic at #10 – still waiting for a video for the song as well as the Native album to arrive.

Holding at #8 and not on his upcoming EP Far From Over (due on February 14), but still available as a single on iTunes is “Fast As I Can” by FrankMusik. Far From Over looks to be one of the most riveting releases of 2013. FrankMusik has returned to the inventive electronica that won over so many fans with Complete Me in 2009, after heading in a more pop-oriented direction in 2011 with Do It In The AM. It appears to be about being lost in personal and professional turmoil, only to be rejuvenated and found again by returning to his humble beginnings, recording the EP entirely back in Croydon, England after being in L.A. for three years. The first single, “Map”, is as visceral as it is evocative of his earlier style – old becomes new again! I’ll be writing more about the EP after its release on Thursday. To whet your appetite, below is the artwork for Far From Over.

While the middle part of the chart sees songs on the rise from Ne-Yo, Conor Maynard featuring Ne-Yo, Chris Wallace (“Keep Me Crazy”), The Wallflowers featuring Mick Jones, Mika featuring Ariana Grande, Eric Saade, and Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z’s “Suit & Tie”), the fastest riser on the chart belongs to “Learn To Love Again” by UK foursome Lawson, who have found themselves in the UK Top 20 this week. I had the pleasure of seeing the lads in concert on February 2, and they performed a crisp, solid and generous 75 minute set which won over anyone who didn’t know what to expect – considering their album Chapman Square is still not on release over here (memo to Universal Canada: Make it happen!). First, here’s a snap of the band by yours truly.

A bonus to seeing Lawson for the first time in our country was to find out a week before the show that Toronto quartet Neverest would be opening. While they didn’t play for long (20-25 minutes), they sounded in fine voice and very tight musically after working on their new record. We got to hear their hits “About Us” and “Everything”, and even though I got burned on this song with all of its radio play, Neverest made Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” sound fresh and engaging again. Video below – looking forward to Neverest’s next release… and more shows!

So, it was time for a little house cleaning on the chart, and the five remaining debuts should definitely go places, not only on my chart, but in the music world. I simply can’t get enough of “Lifted” by Kwik Fiks & Bongiovanni, which I wrote about last week, so it arrives as the highest debut at #24. This is a chilled out, deep house version of “Suga Suga” by Baby Bash & Frankie J, which got to #11 on my chart back in 2003. It’s available as a free download right here. “Sail Into The Sun” by Gentlemen Hall has such a shiny, clear sound, you can hear it beckoning Spring to arrive. It premieres at #25 and you can get it as a free download or buy it on iTunes. It follows The Hall’s 2012 appearance on the chart with “All Our Love”, which peaked at #7. While “Youth In Trouble” disappears from the chart after peaking at #20, a much stronger song from The Presets’ Pacifica album is the positively epic “A.O.”, which bows at #26. This one sounds like Blade Runner met Star Wars in a discotheque, with triumphant vocals and a steady build up reminiscent of the duo’s earlier songs like “My People”. Watch the live clip below.

Rounding out the debuts, at #28 is “Heaven” by Depeche Mode, which I wrote about recently, becoming the venerable band’s third song to appear on the chart since its inception (the first being the #1 “Dream On” in 2001) and their most recent being 2005’s “Precious” (#3). AVAN LAVA is a Brooklyn, NY pop/dance band that arrived on the scene in 2008 and has steadily built a following. I don’t think I’m too late to the game by debuting “It’s Never Over” on the chart at #29 about a year after the release of their EP Flex Fantasy. The trio hovers between beautiful lush pop and gritty nu-disco funk – I’d describe “It’s Never Over” as somewhere between Prince and his proteges and early 90’s pop such as Tara Kemp’s “Hold You Tight”. Watch the video below and download the song for free right here. AVAN LAVA headlines a show on March 2 in Brooklyn at the Music Hall of Williamsburg along with Nomi Ruiz of Jessica 6. Get to that show if you can (simply because I can’t!!).