Cool New Song From The Shins

Press the PLAY button and listen to the new Shins single "Simple Song". Cool. Can't wait for their new album coming out in March.

Mel's Weekly Top 20: Sept. 19, 2010

Mel's Weekly Top 20

Week of September 19, 2010

This Week	Song Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Dynamite	Taio Cruz	2
2	Misery	Maroon 5	1
3	Teenage Dream	Katy Perry	5
4	Like We Used to	A Rocket to the Moon	4
5	Mine	Taylor Swift	8
6	Fire With Fire	Scissor Sisters	3
7	Release Me	The Like	9
8	Just The Way You Are	Bruno Mars	17
9	Please Don't Go	Mike Posner	11
10	Be My Thrill	The Weepies	12
11	I Saw the Rain	Lovers and Poets	13
12	Heavy Feeling	Justine Bennett	6
13	Cool My Heels	Nikki Yanofsky	7
14	MoneyGrabber	Fitz and the Tantrums	15
15	Animal	Neon Trees	14
16	Brand New Day (with Tim Meyers)	Lindsey Ray	19
17	Bulletproof	La Roux	10
18	Rhythm of Love	Plain White T's	--
19	2012 (It Ain't the End)	Jay Sean	--
20	Stuck Like Glue	Sugarland	--

CHART NOTES:

Taio Cruz claims the #1 spot with "Dynamite", the second of his 2 top 20 hits to go to the top this year. Cruz scored a #1 hit earlier this summer with "Break Your Heart" which held the position for 2 weeks. Katy Perry moves up 2 from #5 to #3 this week with "Teenage Dream." Country superstar Taylor Swift climbs into the top 5 with "Mine" her latest pop hit moving from #8 to #5.

Fastest rising single on the chart is "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars, who at one time was a child singer celebrity in Hawaii doing impressions of Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. Looks like the guy has a smash hit on this hands as the single moves from #17 to #8. Unfortunately for Mars, he was busted this week in Las Vegas for coccaine possesion.

New songs on the Top 20 include "Rhythm of Love" by Plain White T's at #18, "2012 (It Ain't the End)" by Jay Sean at #19 and "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland at #20.

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - August 1, 2010

See the video on YouTube.

Mel's Weekly Top 20

Week of August 1, 2010

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Cool My Heels (3rd Week @ #1!)	Nikki Yanofsky	1
2	My First Kiss (Feat. Ke$ha)	3OH!3	6
3	Bulletproof	La Roux	4
4	California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg)	Katy Perry	2
5	Heavy Feeling	Justine Bennett	5
6	Animal	Neon Trees	3
7	A Night Like This	Caro Emerald	8
8	Misery	Maroon 5	10
9	Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)	Shakira	7
10	Fire With Fire	Scissor Sisters	13
11	Like We Used to	A Rocket to the Moon	11
12	24 Hours	Noisettes	12
13	Jar of Hearts	Christina Perri	14
14	Undo It	Carrie Underwood	18
15	Drummer Boy	Debi Nova	19
16	Come Over Love	Anuhea	20
17	Every Subway Car	Barenaked Ladies	9
18	A Stitch In Time	Smashing Pumpkins	16
19	Dynamite	Taio Cruz	--
20	Uh Oh (Radio Edit)	Kyrah	--

CHART NOTES:

Nikki Yanofsky holds at #1 for the 3rd consecutive week with "Cool My Heels". 3OH!3 featuring Kesha jumps four points from #6 last week to #2 with "My First Kiss." The track has topped the alternative rock chart on iTunes for several weeks and it looks like it may go to #1 on this chart soon.

Comeback resilience: La Roux is at #3 up from #4 with "Bulletproof". The synthesized dance track topped this chart late last year and made a return to the chart earlier this summer. This certainly is a very popular song!

Scissor Sisters enter the top 10 with "Fire With Fire" at #10 up from #13. Maroon 5 sits at #8 this week with "Misery", up 2 from #10.

Debuts include "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz at #19 and "Uh Oh" by Kyrah at #20.

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - July 4, 2010

Caro Emerald has a new video for "Back it Up".

Mel's Weekly Top 20

Week of July 4, 2010 | Weblog

This Week	Song Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Animal (4th week @ #1!)	Neon Trees	1
2	Pray For You	Jaron and The Long Road to Love	3
3	Cool My Heels	Nikki Yanofsky	2
4	California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg)	Katy Perry	6
5	Every Subway Car	Barenaked Ladies	5
6	A Stitch In Time	Smashing Pumpkins	4
7	Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)	Shakira	10
8	Heavy Feeling	Justine Bennett	9
9	Break Your Heart	Taio Cruz	7
10	Back It Up	Caro Emerald	8
11	Bulletproof	La Roux	13
12	A Night Like This	Caro Emerald	14
13	Alejandro	Lady GaGa	11
14	Just Breathe	Pearl Jam	15
15	I'm A Believer	Weezer	16
16	The Finish Line	Train	19
17	24 Hours	Noisettes	20
18	My First Kiss (Feat. Ke$ha)	3OH!3	--
19	Colors	April Smith and the Great Picture Show	12
20	Like We Used to	A Rocket to the Moon	--

CHART NOTES:

"Animal" is a huge hit on Mel's Weekly Top 20. The debut single from Neon Trees holds on to the #1 spot for the 4th week in a row. Other than "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum and "Bad Romance" by Lady Ga Ga from earlier this year, this record is the only one to hold the top spot for 4 weeks. Will it be around for a 5th?

Jaron and The Long Road to Love have a big hit on their hands with "Pray For You". The song has been inching its way up the top 5 for weeks now, this week settling in at #2 up from #3 of last week. Nikki Yanofsky's "Cool My Heels" slips a point from #2 to #3. Katy Perry moves into the top 5 to claim the #4 spot with her hit "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dog), up form #6 while Barenaked Ladies hold at #5 for the 3rd week in a row with "Every Subway Car."

Sharkira's "Waka Waka" song moves from #10 to #7 this week. La Roux moves up 2 form #13 to #11 with "Bulletproof," Caro Emerald close behind with "A Night Like This" up form #14 to #12 while her former number 1 hit "Back it Up" drops 2 from #8 to #10. She has a new video for "Back it Up" (see video above).

Two songs debut this week: "My First Kiss" featuring Kesha by 3OH3 comes in at #18, and "Like We Used To" by A Rocket to the Moon comes in at #20. Both songs are popular on the alt rock charts.

Neon Trees New At #1

Mel's Weekly Top 20 | Week of June 13, 2010.
Chart posted on June 14, 2010.

NOTES | ABOUT | BLOG | TOP 100 OF 2009

This Week	Song Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Animal	Neon Trees	2
2	A Stitch In Time	Smashing Pumpkins	1
3	Cool My Heels	Nikki Yanofsky	9
4	Break Your Heart	Taio Cruz	3
5	Pray For You	Jaron and The Long Road to Love	6
6	Every Subway Car	Barenaked Ladies	7
7	I Never Told You	Colbie Caillat	4
8	Rude Boy	Rihanna	5
9	Alejandro	Lady GaGa	8
10	Back It Up	Caro Emerald	12
11	California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg)	Katy Perry	19
12	Fortunate Family Tree	AM	13
13	Heavy Feeling	Justine Bennett	16
14	Colors	April Smith and the Great Picture Show	14
15	Just Breathe	Pearl Jam	17
16	You and Your Heart	Jack Johnson	10
17	You Run Away	Barenaked Ladies	11
18	I'm A Believer	Weezer	20
19	Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)	Shakira	--
20	Naturally	Selena Gomez and The Scene	16

CHART NOTES:

Neon Trees tops the chart at #1 with "Animal". The song moves up from #2 of last week. Made its climb in 4 weeks. We got a hit here!

Coming up strong at #3 is Nikki Yanofsky and her hit "Cool My Heels", a contemporary sounding jazz piece off her debut album. The song moves from #9 to #3. Quite a jump.

Also jumping high is Katy Perry. Her hit which is number 1 on numerous charts around the world, moves from last week's #19 spot to #11 this week. Way to go for "California Gurls".

One of my favorite songs from this year has got to be Caro Emerald's "Back It Up." The track went to #1 a few weeks ago on the Weekly Top 20. Two weeks ago it was at #8 and last week dropped to #12. This week the catchy song moves back up to #10. She has issued a new video for the track.

Another song that dropped last week and went back up this week is "Pray For You" by Jaron and The Long Road to Love. The song was at #6 last week, moves back up to #5 this week.

Debuting at #19 this week is Shakira with the African flavored "Waka Waka", which is the theme song for the World Cup Soccer playoffs.

New Music of Note

The following embedded tracks and videos are some of the new and current music that I am listening to this week.

MISS LI - I Heard of a Girl - A bittersweet tune of an outcast girl.



MISS LI - Oh Boy - from a few years ago, a song that looks like fun.



From THE SIXTY-ONE Music site, the following tracks have been recently favorited:

The Agency: "Bumpers"



AM "The Other Side" - went to #2 on Mel's Weekly Top 20
Buy AM's album Future Sons & Daughters - one of my favorite albums of 2009.



Lovers & Poets - " I Keep Falling" featuring Shannon Hurley
I think they have an album upcoming in 2010.



Shannon Hurley - Beg Steal Borrow - great new track... love it!



Tiffany Desrosiers - Alone




Asteroids Galaxy Tour - The Golden Age - burning up my chart at #3 this week.



Caitlin Hart - Seven Minutes



Listen to more indie songs by selecting the Digital 45 player to the right. Be sure to listen to the full length albums posted on the right hand column.

Discovering New Music & Artists @ TheSixtyOne.com

Over the past 18 months I have discovered a lot of new music and artists, many of them obscure and relatively unknown at TheSixtyOne.com music sharing website. Nearly all the songs and artists there are independents. Many genres are featured and a lot of it is crap. However there are many good songs and artists which I have "favorited" and featured on TheSixtyOne.com website as well as on this blog and my music site.

There are a small handful of mainstream established artists there ranging from golden oldies such as The Kinks and Gary Numan to current bands such as The Shins and The Ting Tings.

That all said, I have come to like several of the previously unknown artists and their songs a lot.

My most recent song and artist discovery is a musician from California by way of Oklahoma and Lousiana who goes by the name "AM". From his bio at TheSixtyOne.com, it states:

"Is this the new classic rock? Echo Park indie artist AM brings a heady brew of twinkling Anglified folk-rock-pop to his new album “Future Sons & Daughters” being released on Filter US Recordings (Fontana/ Universal Distribution) exclusively on iTunes on August 11th, 2009. AM does all this with an acute, finessing ear for the ancient art of real, true songcraft. With, arguably, some of the best bridges and choruses in the bizness, drawing from the Beatles and Badfinger or Curtis Mayfield and Jorge Ben, AM demonstrates over and again the simple fact of songwriting life: that imagination and taste is what it's all about. If you watch the tele maybe you've heard AM's tunes on HBO's "Big Love" MTV "The Hills", ABC's "Brothers and Sisters"."

Most notoriously, AM probably prides himself on the fact that his professional name is hard to find on major search engines such as Google and even on TheSixtyOne.com site itself.

That I believe.

AM has dozens of songs posted at TheSixtyOne.com website. He must have been there for quite some time. However in the last 18 months since I been on the service, his name or music has never shown up until last night. I'm probably not listening to the music at the site often enough or whenever I listened to The Rack, his music never came up. Until yesterday when I clicked on the "new music" tab to see just what was recently added.

It was then that I found my first AM track and possibly my favorite song of his so far, "Self Preservation." It is a wonderful pop rock track with good vocals, lyrics and guitar work. It's off AM's new album Future Sons & Daughters which is slated for an August 11 release on iTunes only. If the album is reasonably priced, I'll probably get it. The six tracks I heard from the album are all outstanding.

I hope that the album will also be available on Amazon.com. I'd like to get it on a standard CD if possible. AM's earlier albums are available on Amazon.

AM is the latest SixtyOne.com find that I like and will place into high rotation on my iTunes as soon as I get the music. He joins other artists from TheSixtyOne.com that I think are extremely good and should be getting mainstream exposure and airplay on more venues. Those artists include Meiko, Shannon Hurley, The NuRu and Darrin Kohavi. All have music that I enjoy and tracks that have been previously featured at this blog and on my website.

For all to enjoy now, here are some of my favorite tracks from AM:

New Finds of the Day from The Sixty-One

Here are some new tracks that I added to my growing roster of Sixty-One favorites:










Enjoy!

Playing on The Sixty-One

The Sixty-One is a fairly popular new music website where many unsigned artists publish independent music for people to listen to and vote on. Every song posted to the site is a full length version. All genres are available at The Sixty-One including rock, pop, alternative, jazz, hip-hop, classical, instrumental, country and more.

While there are some very well known songs and artists on The Sixty-One website, most of them are people and groups that you never heard of. Some are very good, others are not. If you are adventurous and want to listen to fresh new music, this is the place to be. Some of my favorite undiscovered artists at the Sixty-One site include The NuRu, Meiko, Chairlift, Joe Sibol, Tegan & Sara, Rebecca Ann and The Nobodies to name a few.

Lastly songs that you discover, listen to, favorite and share are compiled into a point system that are part of a "game" that I really don't keep up with. Some people like the game aspect of The Sixty-One where the only aspect of the game is to pile up points and achieve certain levels of coolness and possibly respect among your peers at the site. I don't go to the site often enough to make my measly collection of points matter.

Besides listening to free streaming music, the features that I like about the Sixty-One are free downloads of some tracks. links to Amazon.com to purchase other tracks, favorite lists and the ability to share tracks on other websites and blogs. I have my own page at The Sixty-One.com as well as a Sixty-One Jukebox page at my music charts page. There is also a Hawaii Ning site where people can go to discuss The Sixty-One and share tracks there too.

Here are a few tracks that you can listen to right now by clicking on the song links below:











I will be featuring more songs on this blog from The Sixty-One.com in the weeks and months ahead. Stop by my Sixty-One page and jukebox to listen to more music.