About This Site
Each month I select 20 songs (10 songs twice a month) that I am either hooked on or am curious about. Most of the music I select are rock, hip-hop, R&B and pop songs.
My song selection comes from 20-30 CDs I get from various sources each month, as well as recommendations from iTunes and Amazon. I also check out the charts in US, UK and Japan.
What a year for Canadian DJ, Joel Zimmerman known as Deadmau5 in 2010. He was the house DJ during Vancouver Winter Olympics as well as MTV VMA, and he climbed up two spots to take the #4 spot on DJ Magazine’s annual Top 100 DJ Poll. His latest album titled 4x4=12 contains bunch of songs that is sure to get your head bobbing, and dancing all night.
Will.I.am, Fergie and the other two guys (yes, I do know their names) are back with a band new album, after their international phenomenon, The End from last year. For the lead off single, they sample “Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing. It is catchy, but so far doesn’t have the infectious sound of “
Boom Boom Pow” or “
I’ve Got A Feeling.”
Robyn has been nailing her singles, and gaining a lot of new fans (and winning back a lot of older fans who’s known her since the 90s). Her “Body Talk” EPs have been very successful, and she compiled the three EPs for this album. This is one brilliant electronic-pop album.
Ne-Yo’s album has been pushed back a little, but this single, “Beautiful Monster” was already a big hit in the UK back in the summer. The fourth album, Libra Scale, feels a lot like Michael Jackson album, especially this track.
Duck Sauce consists of popular house music DJ, Armand Van Helden and long- time Kanye West’s DJ, A-Trak. Their collaboration single, “Barbra Streisand” was a huge hit in the Europe, breaking top 5 in numerous countries. The song has addictive beats with occasional vocal of someone saying, “Barbra Streisand” for not particular reason (in the interview they said that it could’ve been any word). The music video is a fun New York homage with lots of cameo appearance from Kanye West to Pharrel Williams.
Aussie diva, Kylie Minogue has another dance hit song. Although non-dance song listener may not be aware of this song’s success, but “Get Outta My Way” has been on #1 on dance chart for some time now. “Get Outta My Way” is on Kylie’s eleventh studio album, Aphrodite.
It has only been a year since Rihanna released hit filled album, Rated R. The fifth album, titled Loud, to be released in mid November already has a hit club song, “Only Girl (In The World).
If you are a dance music fan, you may remember a song called, “Paradise” from 2001, sung by then 14 year old artist name, Kaci. Now, that Kaci has grown up at 22, she is singing (or more like moaning a la Britney style) “whip it up, lick it up, suck it down.” The music reminds me of Lil Jon rip off of club song, but not nearly as catchy. Ludacris tries to save the song, but you almost forget that he is even featured on this song. Kaci also had another dance hit last year with “Crazy Possessive.” Her latest album, Bring It On, is to be released sometime later this month.
Swedish pop star, Robyn is on a mission to release a trilogy. She released Body Talk Pt. 1 earlier in the summer, which had dance smash hit, “
Dancing On My Own.” On the second series, she releases, “Hang With Me” as her first single. On the album, she attempts electro-rapping along with Snoop Dogg on the track, “U Should Know Better.”
These Aussie guys have an international hit with “We No Speak Americano.” It has reached #1 in numerous countries in Europe. The name Yoland Be Cool comes from a line in Pulp Fiction (when Samuel L. Jackson’s character tries to calm down the female robber). It is repetitive, but it sure stays in your head.
Kelis went from screaming rock-chick (remember “Caught Out There”) to hip-hop milkshake queen, and now she is going for techno. She has already succeeded by placing her first single, “Acapella” to top of dance charts and UK pop success. This song reminds me a lot of Madonna’s “Hung Up.”
Usher is on top again, thanks to will.i.am featured track, OMG, which was popular over the early summer. He is trekking to the top again with the new single, “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” which is basically a Euro dance pop. This track appears on the deluxe edition of Raymond v. Raymond. Not to upset the fans that had already bought the original Raymond v. Raymond, the label also released, Versus, which only contains the new songs and remixes.
Australian singer, Sia, may be well known to Zero 7 fans as she has collaborated with them. Sia has had a busy 2010 so far. She helped write a couple of songs for Christina Aguilera’s new album, Bionic. And she also managed to write and record her own album, We Are Born, which is her fourth album. “Clap Your Hands” is doing well on the dance chart.
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When I first heard this song on the radio, the opening beat made me think of “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas. Well, what do you know. It’s produced by the same French DJ, David Guetta. Although this won’t turn into a mega hit, it is a decent club track that should get people on the dance floor.
Boulder, Colorado duo, 3OH!3 (“303” is an area code in Boulder) has enjoyed quite a success in the past few years with hits like “
Don’t Trust Me” and “Starsrukk”. Their third album, Streets of Gold already has a top 10 single with “My First Kiss” featuring Ke$ha.
It’s been three years since her last album, X (which was her 10th album), and her 11th album, All The Lovers, debuted at number one in UK. The album was actually released during the same week as her debut album, Kylie, was released 22 years ago. That makes Kylie Minogue 42 years old. That also makes Minogue the only female artist to have a number one album in four consecutive decades (80s, 90s, 00s and 10s).
Scissor Sisters are yet to experience the breakthrough success in the US, but this latest single from their third album, Night Work, has already enjoyed top 20 successes in multiple countries including UK and Japan. They are actually an American band.
Following his successful single,
“Break Your Heart” featuring Ludacris, UK newcomer, Taio Cruz is back on US top 10 with “Dynamite.” I’m not quite sure why this song is a hit yet, but maybe I just need to listen to it some more. I’m not quite sure why the song, “Dirty Picture” featuring Ke$ha wasn’t selected as the second single in the US (it was in big hit in UK), but I would guess that should be coming out in near future. Although, Rokstarr is Taio’s debut album in the US, he has already released an album in UK titled, Departure, back in 2008.
How long did it take for Lil Jon to release this Crunk Rock? Probably too long. Although I still like the guy for shouting, “What!” and “Oookaaaay!” in between verses on other people’s songs, when it’s all him, it’s tough to say that I like him all that much. To avoid that, he enlists a lot of guests on his songs including Ice Cube, R. Kelly, Pitbull and 3OH!3
Swedish dance pop star Robyn hasn’t had a US hit since the late 90s pair of hits, “Do You Know (What It Takes)” and “Show Me Love”. “With Every Heartbeat” did ok on the dance chart two years ago, but it didn’t crack into top 40 at all. She is hoping that release of two part series might give her a better chance. It was the #1 album in her native country of Sweden, but she barely broke top 100 in the US. Still, this is a great single from Robyn.
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