Musical Monday: CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, where every American, no matter where they are, where they're from, what they believe, or what they look like can gather together in a spirit of goodwill and gratitude and eat wonderful food with family. I love the time spent gathering together, preparing the meal, and sharing stories (some for the first time some for the five-hundredth) over a meal together.

Thanksgiving also means that you can start listening to Christmas music!! Or at least start listening to it publicly =)

Unfortunately, while Christmas classics are wonderful, it can be way too easy to overload on the same 12 songs the radio plays ad nauseum in the next month or so, but that's why we have Musical Monday! (so we're not trapped by iHeartRadio's attempt to indoctrinate our tastes to a formulaic algorithm that makes it easier for them to make money off of artists)

Luckily, there's YouTube, Spotify and tons of other ways to create your own Christmas playlist. There are also independent media outlets like KEXP or RELEVANT Magazine that put out  Christmas music you can freely stream. RELEVANT even allows you to freely download the entire two-volume album of Christmas songs!

Check it out here:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/the-drop/very-relevant-christmas-vol-5-part-one

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/the-drop/very-relevant-christmas-vol-5-part-two

This album is full of amazing new songs and wonderful reinterpretations of holiday standards. Volume one is a little more upbeat while volume two is a bit smoother and slower to allow for introspection. I've already downloaded and played these all several times and have some new favorites for Christmas seasons to come.

What are some of your favorite Christmas songs?

Need even more Christmas music in your life? Check out this Christmas-themed Musical Monday from the ghost of Christmas Past

Musical Monday: je suis triste

So the Paris attacks shook a lot of us this past Friday. Waking up to news of the Beirut bombing just that morning, and watching the news about Paris unfold from the office and the number jumping to over 100 by the time I got home lent some moments of not quite despair but certainly some anger, uncertainty, sadness, compassion, and other complicated emotions. They're still roiling in my stomach somewhere and I haven't quite figured them out all the way yet.

Personally, I don't think I can write anything better than my immediate reaction on social media: "So many terrible things in the world. Be humble, do good. Spread love and kindness. Pray for one another. Be patient. Give joyfully of your time and self to others."

But somehow I feel like that's not enough to encompass it all.

Since music and poetry can help express feelings, and since there are some very talented songwriters out there, I discovered this song their weekend and it has stuck with me, resonating in my thoughts. The slow crescendo and build through each chorus, the lonely bellow in the background, the soft twinkling, the pauses between phrases to allow the words to sink in.... it's all so well done.

No Hell is the first single off of Cloud Cult's upcoming album, and I discovered it on KEXP's Music That Matters podcast.

Cloud Cult: No Hell

Lyrics:

Mama said the stars are the universe's eyes
I can feel them watching over me most of the time

We grew up believing we could learn how to fly
We came from the Earth, but we belong to the sky

I saw your soul without the skin attached
You've got the guts of a coyote pack

We've been kissed, we've been cut
But we do what needs the doing
We're just rainbows dreaming we're human
Please excuse the lights shooting out of my head
I keep 'em in a cage but they come out when they see a friend
You must be a friend

You're never really going to have control of it all
So you best get cool with where your chips are gonna fall

We are the sun
And mother's milk
And cusswords
And poetry

There's no use in running unless you run like heck
The best things we've learned, we learned from the wreck

Jesus coming back as a woman this time
Handing out hugs in the clinic line

And someone tell the devil we don't need no Hell
We're all pretty good at beating up ourselves

As kids we believed that the angels talked
Everything is magic until you think it's not

It's easy to be thankful for the things you've got
It takes guts to give thanks for the things you've lost

And we grew up believing good wins over bad
So you gave away your heart but the wolves attacked
But then a bigger heart grew back

Please excuse the words coming out of my mouth
I'm a happy man but there's some things that I need to get out
I need to get out...

There's no use in running unless you run like heck
The best things we've learned, we learned from the wreck

Jesus coming back as a woman this time
Handing out hugs in the clinic line

And someone tell the devil we don't need no Hell
We're all pretty good at beating up ourselves

Musical Monday: Fall For These

St. Kilda: September
So I was supposed to blog about this last month I'm sure, but it took me awhile tog et back to blogging. The beautiful almost ethereal atmospheric guitar and other instruments hint at optimism while the lyrics are steeped in pessimism, love me a good contradiction (warning, if you play it at work, they drop one curse word a few times)

El Vy: Return to the Moon
So stoked that Matt of The National and Brent of Ramona Falls combined the best parts of what they do to form El Vy.
How stoked? Well, I used 40% of my family's data plan last month streaming the video throughout my commute to work (...oops)
Taylor Swift even recently included it in her list of "Songs to make your life more awesome" instagram post (further proof that we are essentially twins, but I's like to go n record to say I like it first!

Also, I had been waiting for this since March (I know, super hipster of me to say I liked a song before it even came out but here's proof that I knew it's be awesome):

1. jules bitz ‏@itzbizr  Mar 30

   @ramonafalls Spore & Archimedes Plutonium still get me every time. Prophet remains one of my favorite albums of the last 5 years

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2. Ramona Falls ‏@ramonafalls  Mar 31

   @itzbizr aw, this arrives at precisely the moment I need some encouragement to keep going. Thank you so much for listening and caring.

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3. jules bitz ‏@itzbizr  Mar 31

   @ramonafalls yay, so glad to encourage! Your music is amazing, thank you for sharing your talent & I look forward to any new tunes!

   • FAVORITE1
   • 

   10:29 AM - 31 Mar 2015

Musical Monday: Monday

So it's been awhile... 

But keeping with the theme, today's Musical Monday comes from an artist who's taken two years since his last song and has never given the clamoring masses what we've wanted, a full-length album, in the eight years since being a finalist in Australian Idol. I've talked about Matt Corby here before and this certainly won't be the last time, considering he'll be bringing us more songs this year (YAY!).

Musically, his sound has matured and progressed. He spent time trying to learn proficiency in all the instruments he plays on this album, which should be easy on this first song as all it is, is some snaps and stomps and his vocals. 

Well, it may be a bit more complicated than that, and what he accomplishes is beautiful but the lyrics are about losing his faith and, while he's never been an artist to shy away from deep stuff, this song makes me sad for Matt Corby the person. 

This song is filled with such beauty and melancholy intermixed with almost apathetic introspection. When it ends, it leaves you bereft and with an itchy pointer-finger over the replay icon.

Here it is, 

Matt Corby: Monday

Musical Monday: Angus & Julia Stone Album Review

Rocking mellow with an edge.
That's how I'd describe the latest album from sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone. The self-titled album, which came out Friday August 1, is their third release together after taking a hiatus to pursue solo careers following their sophomore Down the Way.  While they are both solid artists in their own right, when they combine their sibling powers, their music goes to a whole-nother level.

So you can get a feel for it, here's the album preview on Soundcloud:



In this album, they take what's always been their strengths: dual-vocals singing emotionally charged lyrics, from both the male & female perspective, but their sound has matured and evolved in a more dramatic way.  In other words, they've grown up. It's like after your much younger cousin who was always a precious kid goes off to college for a few years and you realize the next time you see them they've become a fully-realized person. The break, exploring their own sounds through solo careers, and the reunion, based on the insistence of producer Rick Rubin, turned the sweet sibling indie act into a musical powerhouse.

They open strong with the rocking "A Heartbreak" and the statement "I met your parents, they were lying about falling in love" which sets the tone for the wry, insightful and usually cynical realism which is prevalent throughout the album. In most of the songs, they both adapt a speak/singing that gives them a disaffected too-cool-for-school delivery.  Julia leads "My Word For It" almost entirely in spokensong, with a sleepy sexuality she developed in the years since Down the Way. In this new sound, they play around a bit with being slightly out of tune/tempo, but in a way that showcases their mastery of the genre, while hearkening back to other singer/songwriter folk acts of the past and putting them in a league with the best of the present.

After "A Heartbreak" the highlight of the front half is "Heart Beats Slow" when their off-tempo, almost off-key voices blend together. They're at their best when the achingly earnest emotion highlights the feeling of love lost, love thrown-away, love yearned for. The second half of the album slows quite a bit after Julia's "Death Defying Acts," an anti-love song. The cleverly minimal "Other Things" takes the moment before a fight and in the way it never develops musically beyond the introduction created the tired here-we-go-again familiarity of well-worn arguments between intimates (whether family or lovers).

Where A Book Like This was somewhat minimal in the instrumentalization, and Down the Way added a depth of sound, Angus & Julia Stone has an edge and polished sheen that wasn't quite there before, it leans a little more rock on the scale of indie pop/rock. Additionally, in their past work they penned their songs separately, where in this album they co-wrote the songs for the first time, which plays off by melodies and lyrics playing to both their strengths.

If you get this album, you have to buy the Deluxe Edition as my personal favorite track is actually one of the three bonus tracks.  "All this Love" stands in sharp contrast to most of the album, in that it is a complete 180 from the cynical realism permeating most of the tracks and is simply a happy, uplifting, feel-good track, reminding us listeners that "there's all this love if you need it." Call me a sucker for earnest, sugary-sweet joy but I had this one all repeat all weekend.

Got the album? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below or on twitter: @itzbizr

Musical Monday: The Jezabels Concert Review

TODAY MARKS THE FIFTIETH(ish) MUSICAL MONDAY POST! HUZZAH! 

By my count this it the 50th Musical Monday post, it only took a dash over two years to get to this milestone (see the first one here, sidenote: the first Musical Monday actually got published on a Tuesday)... here's hoping we reach 100 before 2016!

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming:

Last week I saw the Australian pop-rock band The Jezabels in concert at the Rock & Roll Hotel.

Now before you go thinking I go to awesome rock shows every week, I had bought the tickets awhile ago for a date in mid-April. Sometime in March, the band announced it would be postponing the concert date and that all rickets would be good for the new June 18th date. Turns out their Australian tour ended up getting extended in some way and they also headlined the Sydney Opera House(!!!), which is why we had to wait a few extra months to see them stateside. It was definitely worth the wait.

Opening Act: Gold & Youth

Gold & Youth is a band from Vancouver, BC (where I'll be in 2 weeks, what a coincidence!) who are currently on a (inter)national tour on Canada & the US. I had heard them on KEXP somewhat recently and was pleasantly surprised to find them opening this show.

A modern version of 80s synth pop, my friend thought they sounded a bit like The Cure and other bands of that era.  They shared vocals between band members which adds a depth to their sound. Their set was tight, well-executed and sounded great.

Here's a look at their 2013 Album Beyond Wilderness

The Jezabels

There was supposed to be a 12 second video of the concert but blogger was being difficult.

Their show was polished, professional and deserving of a larger venue.  They sounded absolutely fantastic live and the vocals by Haley Mary were powerful and emotive, and were sometimes accompanied by keyboardist Heather Shannon. Nik Kaloper played heart-pounding rhythms on the drums and Sam Lockwood brought the rock & roll with his guitar.


They describe their music as "intensindie" and and brought that sort of intensity to playing their show.  The band got right to playing and there was very little if any, banter towards the audience and I don't even remember them introducing the individual band-members, the music itself was entertaining enough.  Haley Mary and guitarist Sam Lockwood had a few choice dance moves, but unfortunately the stage was small enough, there really wasn't a lot of room for movement.

Here's a look at the video for their latest single look Look of Love from their 2014 album The Brink

Look of Love turned out to be one of my favorites live, as during various chorus repeats Haley would lose herself to the music and start spinning, with one arm waving freely along to the music. While I admired the professionalism they brought, it was the spontaneity of moments like this that were the highlights of the night. If they make it back to the States, they're definitely one to catch live!

Here's what I first posted about them in 2012 for their video to the single Endless Summer:
Epic drumbeats, a ridiculous vocal range, passionately ambiguous but dark/nostalgic lyrics, means it must be the Jezabels. The video is just as epic w/ a cinematic Beauty & the Beast-esque storyline, horses, & Australian ranch.

Musical Monday: MS MR (stands for Must See Musical peRformance)

On Tuesday last week I went to see MS MR at the 9:30 club with my friend Melissa.  You can check out her *official* review over at BYT

Here's where you can stream MS MR's album Secondhand Rapture from Soundcloud:



Opening Act

The Preatures opened up the night, and we go there to see about half of their set.  A female-vocalist with 2 guitars, a bass, and a drummer, the Preatures had a great retro, upbeat sound. Isabella Manfredi led the band with fantastic vocals, especially when she and the two guitarists sang together, for some layered harmonies. There were also some great guitar shredding solos but throughout the  whole performance I couldn't decide how much was genuine joy/movement and how much was a performance as there were periods, especially in the slower/more emotional songs that seemed a bit over-acted.

I didn't take any pictures of the Preatures because by the time we had gotten there Ms. Manfredi had taken off her long sleeve button up shirt and had a see-through white tee with nothing underneath (and I try to keep this blog SFW). Maybe that's why I felt like parts of the performance were contrived, as some quick research showed this was an intentional clothing choice she had made before, but as Melissa told me "this is Rock & Roll" so maybe I'm not as hardcore as I thought, since I would have preferred not to see her boobs.

MS MR

(Not any great pictures but you can head over to the link near the top to see what the professional photographer took)

True story, I tried to see them at the Black Cat last fall for my birthday, and in a minor protest on the "service fees" which cost more than half the tickets decided to buy tickets at the door, but tickets sold out the morning of the concert. However, while it would have been a more intimate performance last fall, I'm glad to have benefited from the awesome acoustics of the 9:30 Club.

Here's the video for Fantasy, which is the first song of theirs I heard/saw on the blog You Me & Charlie. As Melissa points out in her BYT review, it's mesmerizing in its glittery bitterness (warning, if you can't handle cheerleaders puking glitter, this is not the video for you):

The Ms. and Mr. of MS MR are Ms. Lizzie Plapinger and Mr. Max Hershenow. They brought a ton of energy to the performance and played, sang, danced, rocked, and rolled with an genuine jubilation. They were entertaining to watch, even in their banter to the crowd and between each other. Thier personalities were want any listener of their reflective dark-yet-peppy-emo-pop would expect while their dance skills far exceeded my expectations.

They had another instrumentalist/back-up singer and a drummer to help fill their sound which worked great in a mid-size venue like the 9:30 club.  While I have no doubt Lizzie's full-yet-raspy vocals could fill a room, they songs benefited from the extra boost. They let us all know before the last song Hurricane there would be no encore because "honestly, they don;t have that much material," which worked out nicely since it was a weekday concert.

I was presently surprised to find one of my favorites, Ash Tree Lane, was actually the first song they wrote.  Notably, they also performed a cover of The Arctic Monkey's Do I Wanna Know which Melissa and I both agreed was better than the original and I thought that hearing it sung by a female vocalist gives the lyrics a moving sadness and the song a vulnerability that's not there in the original version.

Overall, it was a wonderful concert by two musicians whose gracious attitude at playing their sixth show (and FIRST headline) at the 9:30 club brought an infectious energy that captured the ears, eyes, and (dare I be cheesy enough to say it, yes I dare) hearts of the audience.

Musical Monday: Mourning a Glory

This weekend I received devastating news that a former teammate, friend, and wonderful person passed away in a tragic hot air balloon accident in Caroline County, Virginia.

You might have heard it on the news, I saw stories about it almost everywhere I turned online from local news sources to the MSN homepage, even BBC world news. It was such a shocking and tragic incident. To find out that a former teammate, who had JUST organized last month's alumni meet, who made me a poster just as lovely and with as much thought at the ones she made the 4 year seniors, even though I had only been on the team 3 months, was killed in such a horrific and sudden and unpredictable way was earth-shaking.

In the abstract I know that she's gone but in processing reality, I don't think it's fully hit yet. Work is tough today but what a reminder to cherish every moment and to tell the people that you admire why they are so special to you. There's more I want to write but for now this is all I can get through.

Natalie are are a dear and dearly missed. Your megawatt smile had a brilliance that shone through your eyes to welcome anyone and your passion for live and for loving others stands above most anyone else I know.

Here's a song that expresses some of what I'm feeling.  I didn't want to get too sad or morbid posting a bunch so this is the extent of Musical Monday:

Yellowcard: View from Heaven

Musical Monday: Oh Land's Cherry on Top

Oh Land: Cherry on Top

*skip at least the first minute to get to the actual music, or if you want the full story, you can watch the whole thing

So I've posted some of her music here before, and I'm pretty sure when speaking of her last video for Renaissance Girls, I called her "all the cool I want to be." Not much is different in this video.  The video and the song are based on a dream she had. You see, before she was a pop siren, Nana Oland was training to be a professional ballerina.  A back injury put her in the hospital for months where she was told she'd never dance again.  Her creative outlet became music, and since her self-titled debut album I have been a fan of her off-kilter, sweet but sometimes savory pop sounds.

Oh Land: White Nights

Her first video and one of my favorite all time music videos

As you can see from these videos, she has actually recovered enough that she can move and dance better than the average person.  However, she's shared how hard it was to let her dream of being a ballet dancer fade away, especially since at night her dreams would betray  how tightly her subconscious held onto her childhood dream.  That is, until one night she dreamt that she was back in ballet class yet again, but this time instead of a dancer, she was the substitute pianist. That dream inspired her song and video for "Cherry on Top" and the result is an auditory and visual delight!

Musical Monday: Don't Be Afraid

So rather than highlighting a particular band or style, the theme this week is "Don't Be Afraid." Basically life is full of hard decisions, rocks and hard places, giving up things we want for other things we want more, but with the right perspective and the right support, a bit of courage, a belief in something greater, and a willingness to try we can find ourselves where we want to be, or need to be and there's no point wasting time in worry or fear... at least that's what I'm attempting to tell myself through these select songs.

For the Spotify Playlist, click HERE!(I tried to embed the playlist here but couldn't figure it out in time)

Or continue on in our usual fashion (but note, I haven't watched these videos all the way through to approve they're SFW, so you might need headphones on the live performances)

CHVRCHES: Strong Hand

A bonus track off of The Bones of What You Believe, it makes be happy to have the deluxe version because I dance to this all the time in the car.

"When the pressure's building for a great white hope, do you give up the things you love?"

"Will I be the strong hand, keeping you safe? Or will I break you in half?"

Lucius: Two of Us on the Run

A magnificent Christmas gift from one of my best friends, their 2013 album Wildewoman is a great pop album that deserves your attention.

"So run and tell the story of how we made something of ourselves now"

"There's no race, there's only a runner; just keep one foot in front of the other."

"1, 2, 3, even when you get tired, just keep one foot in front of the other."

Bombay Bicycle Club: It's Alright Now

The new album from Bombay Bicycle Club is a great sophomore effort, showing a more mature, polished sound. THis track in particular reminds me of late band The Middle East's Blood (but mostly cause of the oh-ooos)

"It's alright now oh-ooo-oh-oooo-oh-ooOOOoo"

"Let me be your fortress"

San Fermin: Daedelus (What We Have)

San Fermin has such a great sound, and with so many instruments and different vocalists, their 2013 self-titled album was one unique sounding track after another.

"Don't you know it's awfully hard to dream"

"It's hard to talk about, when inside you're freaking out, when it's going quickly and you doubt you're anything"

Yellow Ostrich: Don't Be Afraid

The closing track on Yellow Ostrich's recently released album Cosmos basically gets the whole message of the post across in one song (which is how it inspired this whole post to begin with). However, it's too new & unknown to even make the YouTubes so I definitely recommend spotifying it just to hear the album and this track!

"Don't be afraid, don't be so hard to find"

Musical Monday: Getdown Snowdown!

More SNOW!?! This is cause for celebration, both because Work got cancelled but also because this will likely be the last snow of the year. I like a good break from work, but I definitely get a bit claustrophobic feeling cooped up at home. So I decided to share a jam that makes me wanna get up and groove, cause if nothing else, at least I'll get some good cardio done today.

Matt Corby: Trick of the Light (Live on the Resolution Tour)

Matt Corby has made us wait sooooo long for his full length album, and in the meantime puts out a few singles to whet our appetites, like this gem. He also tours around Australia, which is all well and good, but for those of us on the other side of the world, we only have youtube videos of the performances to keep us going until that glorious day when he finally finishes an album.

Musical Monday: Triple J Hottest 100 2013 Recap

Hottest 100 Songs of 2013

Playlist on Youtube (Songs 100-1)

What a weekend! The Grammy's, a new Sherlock Episode, and of course the Triple J Hottest 100 Countdown! (Sidenote, 2012's top artists Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won the Best New Artist Grammy  and they along others on this countdown, like Lorde performed last night, so that's an indicator of how this musical survey predicts the next big things in music)



Now I know it's supposed to be a countDOWN, but I figured rather than have everyone scroll real fast to the bottom to see the top songs, and since there's no chance of spoiling it (cause it already happened and if you're reading this close enough to the date of posting theres a chance you can still stream it on the Triple J Website), but mainly because this was the order my computer uploaded the pictures and I don't have time to flip everything, Here are the Hottest 100 Songs of 2013, as voted by 1.49 people worldwide:

 

#1 Vance Joy - 'Riptide'

#2 Lorde - 'Royals'

#3 Daft Punk - 'Get Lucky' {ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers}

#4 Arctic Monkeys - 'Do I Wanna Know?'

#5 Flume & Chet Faker - 'Drop The Game'

#6 Arctic Monkeys - 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?'

#7 Lana Del Rey - 'Young And Beautiful'

#8 Matt Corby - 'Resolution'

#9 The Preatures - 'Is This How You Feel?'

#10 London Grammar - 'Strong'

#11 HAIM - 'The Wire'

#12 Lorde - 'Tennis Court'

#13 James Blake - 'Retrograde'

#14 Violent Soho - 'Covered In Chrome'

#15 Lorde - 'Team'

#16 Arcade Fire - 'Reflektor'

#17 Daft Punk - 'Lose Yourself To Dance' {ft. Pharrell Williams}

#18 Arctic Monkeys - 'Arabella'

#19 The Kite String Tangle - 'Given The Chance'

#20 Kanye West - 'Black Skinhead'

#30 Empire Of The Sun - 'Alive'
#29 Foals - 'My Number'
#28 Chvrches - 'Recover'
#27 HAIM - 'Falling'...
#26 Vampire Weekend - 'Step'
#25 The Wombats - 'Your Body Is A Weapon'
#24 Rudimental - 'Waiting All Night' {ft. Ella Eyre}
#23 Disclosure - 'When A Fire Starts To Burn'
#22 Birds Of Tokyo - 'Lanterns' #21 RÜFÜS - 'Take Me'See 

 #40 The Amity Affliction - 'Born To Die'
#39 San Cisco - 'Get Lucky' {Like A Version}
#38 Touch Sensitive - 'Pizza Guy'
#37 Chvrches - 'Gun'...
#36 Bloc Party - 'Ratchet'
#35 London Grammar - 'Hey Now'
#34 RÜFÜS - 'Desert Night'
#33 Grouplove - 'Ways To Go'
#32 Thundamentals - 'Smiles Don't Lie'
#31 Vampire Weekend - 'Diane Young'

 #50 John Newman - 'Love Me Again'
#49 Daft Punk - 'Doin' It Right' {ft. Panda Bear}
#48 Flight Facilities - 'Stand Still' {ft. Micky Green}
#47 Rudimental - 'Free' {ft. Emeli Sande}...
#46 Queens Of The Stone Age - 'If I Had A Tail'
#45 Robert Delong - 'Global Concepts'
#44 Dustin Tebbutt - 'The Breach'
#43 Childish Gambino - '3005'
#42 Max Frost - 'White Lies'
#41 Boy & Bear - 'Southern Sun'

#60 Chvrches - 'Lies'
#59 Kanye West - 'Bound 2'
#58 Daft Punk - 'Instant Crush' {ft. Julian Casablancas}
#57 Andy Bull - 'Keep On Running'...
#56 HAIM - 'If I Could Change Your Mind'
#55 Boy & Bear - 'Harlequin Dream'
#54 Arcade Fire - 'Afterlife'
#53 Kingswood - 'Ohio'
#52 Cloud Control - 'Scar'
#51 Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr - 'Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat'

 #70 Sticky Fingers - 'Australia Street'
#69 Disclosure - 'White Noise' {ft. AlunaGeorge}
#68 Something For Kate - 'Sweet Nothing' {Like A Version}
#67 Bliss N Eso - 'Act Your Age'...
#66 Illy - 'Ausmusic Month Medley' {Like A Version}
#65 Chet Faker - 'Melt' {ft. Kilo Kish}
#64 The National - 'Graceless'
#63 Disclosure - 'You & Me ()' {Flume Remix}
#62 Goldroom - 'Embrace'
#61 London Grammar - 'Wasting My Young Years'

#80 Panama - 'Always'
#79 A$AP Rocky - 'F**kin' Problems' {ft. Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar}
#78 MS MR - 'Fantasy'
#77 Illy - 'Youngbloods' {ft. Ahren Stringer}...
#76 SAFIA - 'Listen To Soul, Listen To Blues'
#75 Mikhael Paskalev - 'I Spy'
#74 Major Lazer - 'Jessica' {ft. Ezra Koenig}
#73 Busta Rhymes - 'Thank You' {ft. Q-Tip, Kanye West & Lil Wayne}
#72 Queens Of The Stone Age - 'I Sat By The Ocean'
#71 Two Door Cinema Club - 'Changing Of The Seasons'

 #90 Vampire Weekend - 'Unbelievers'
#89 The Cat Empire - 'Brighter Than Gold'
#88 Josh Pyke - 'Leeward Side'
#87 John Butler Trio - 'Only One'...
#86 Bring Me The Horizon - 'Sleepwalking'
#85 Remi - 'Sangria'
#84 British India - 'Summer Forgive Me'
#83 The Jezabels - 'The End'
#82 Cloud Control - 'Dojo Rising'
#81 Andy Bull - 'Baby I Am Nobody Now'

#100 Karnivool - 'We Are'
#99 Dillon Francis - 'Without You' {ft. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs}
#98 Horrorshow - 'Dead Star Shine'
#97 Queens Of The Stone Age - 'My God Is The Sun'...
#96 Big Scary - 'Luck Now'
#95 Vance Joy - 'Play With Fire'
#94 Bliss N Eso - 'House Of Dreams'
#93 St Lucia - 'Elevate'
#92 Bring Me The Horizon - 'Shadow Moses'
#91 RÜFÜS - 'Tonight'

 

Hottest 100 in Numbers

Countries Represented (artists): Seven
43% Australia
24% USA
23% UK
4% France
3% New Zealand
2% Canada
1% Norway

Average Number of Members Per Band
2.81
70 Groups
vs.
30 Solo Artists

Debut Artists
42

Cover Songs
Four

Registered Parties
5,856 in Eighty Seven Countries

Most Entries By A Single Artist
4Daft Punk

Most Songs Released In
May: 17songs

Latest Song Release Date
November 15, "Thank You" -Busta Rhymes

Votes Counted
One Point Four Nine Million