S-Curve RecordsSteve's Blog

The 10 Best Tracks I Heard In January 2012

becky — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:51:47 +0000

Here’s the first of my monthly best-of lists for 2012, with links to the tracks. Why no Spotify playlist? Because many of these tracks are not on US Spotify, in most cases because they’ve yet to be released in the US. Enjoy!

Mama Do The Hump–Rizzle Kicks
Heaven–Emili Sande
Default–Django Django
Simple Song–The Shins
Tongue Tied–Grouplove
My Mistakes–Eleanor Friedberger
Levels–Avicii
Stress Away–Kes The Band
Earthquake–Labrinth (feat. Tinie Tempah)
You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are–Keaton Henson

Steve’s Best Of 2011

becky — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:30:13 +0000

2011 was a pretty strong year for pop singles, with a fairly identifiable center emerging, combining dance beats, electro sounds and hip-hop swagger. To the left, there was no shortage of low-fi alt rockers, whose aesthetic often recalled early, pre-Beatles rock–a refreshing turn. My Top 30 list turns out to be a mix of those two styles, plus some great cheesy Europop (Hoffmaestro!), neo-soul (Timothy Bloom!) and even a Trinidad Carnival song (Kes The Band!). And oddly, three late, great soul singers (Otis, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson) saw their names as titles of songs in my Top 30, with no discernable musical link among the three songs. I’ve taken some heat at home for being too mainstream by picking Nikki Minaj over the Pierces and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jr. as the best single of the year. But as the months went by, I just never got tired of the awesome “Superbass.” Bu it was close between those three finalists.

I would be remiss if I didn’t note that while this may have on one level been the year of Adele–and deservedly so–the record that defined the year on so many levels was Rebecca Black’s “Friday.” The manifestation of a family’s overindulgence of their barely talented daughter’s dream of pop stardom, it was the logical result of our “look at me look at me” culture, where any attention is good attention. And in its reliance on auto-tune, is showed how incidental vocal talent is to much of mainstream electronic pop music in today’s world. It’s been said that progress is when any idiot can do what it once took a genius to accomplish. We may well be at a point in commercial pop where, due to technology, the gap between the untalented wanabee and the truly gifted artist has narrowed to the point where the two can pretty much reach out and touch each other across the divide. In the case of “Friday,” this was made tangible by Rebecca Black’s cameo in Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” video. Katy wasn’t making fun of Rebecca by featuring her in the video. She was, rather, temporarily welcoming her into the club, patting her on the back and signaling “Bravo–well done!”). What makes “Friday” so tantalizing is that it’s only A LITTLE BIT less good than run of the mill Top 40 pop. Even the stupid lyrics aren’t completely off the mark–they’re just a little bit stupider than everybody else’s lyrics. And it’s this slightly off nature that gives it its eccentricity and makes it actually more interesting than a lot of run of the mill Top 40 pop. There will be more to come from left field in the coming year, I’m sure. I predict strange days ahead.

And now, without further ado, my 30 Best Singles of 2011–plus my favorite S-Curve singles of the year (I never include the songs from my label on the Top 30 list–wouldn’t be fair).

Super Bass–Nikki Minaj
You’ll Be Mine–The Pierces
We Almost Lost Detroit–Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jr.
Go Outside–Cults
Two Against One (feat. Jack White)–Danger Mouse & Daniel Luppi
Hello–Martin Solveig & Dragonette
Hold My Hand–Mr. Heavenly
Someone Like You–Adele
Ray Charles–Chiddy Bang
Changed The Way You Kidded Me–Example
Somebody That I Used To Know–Gotye
If You Wanna–Vaccines
Highway Man–Hoffmaestro
Otis (feat. Otis Redding)–Jay-Z & Kanye West
Feel So Close–Calvin harris
The Edge Of Glory–Lady Gaga
Dedication To My Ex (feat. Andre 3000 & Lil Wayne)–Lloyd –
Scared, But Not That Scared–1,2,3
The Missing Year–Nightmare & the Cat
Mr Saxobeat– Alexandra Stan
So American–Portugal The Man
Coming Home–Diddy-Dirty Money feat. Skylar Grey
Throw Your Hands Up–Qwote feat. Pitbull & Lucenzo
Down With The Trumpets–Rizzle Kicks
Coming Down–Dum Dum Girls
Om Sanningen Ska Fram–Eric Amarillo
Wotless–Kes The Band
Michael Jackson (feat. Travis Rosenberg)–Das Racist
We Found Love–Rihanna & Calvin Harris
‘Til The End of Time–Timothy Bloom

Disqualified from the list because they are on our own label, but really great nonetheless:
Keep Your Head Up– Andy Grammer
Friday Is Forever– We The Kings
Real Woman– Betty Wright

Steve Greenberg’s Favorite 15 Tracks of the First Half of 2011

becky — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:07:08 +0000

You’ll Be Mine — The Pierces (Why is this out in the UK, but not the US? They’re American!)

We Almost Lost Detroit — Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (great cover of the Gil Scott-Heron song)

Hello — Martin Solveig feat. Dragonette (Maybe this is the best track of the first half of the year)

Two Against One — Danger Mouse & Daniel Luppi feat. Jack White (or maybe this is)

‘Til The End of Time — Timothy Bloom feat. V (Best old-schoolish R&B slow jam)

Mr. Saxobeat — Alexandra Stan (Euro-dance summer holiday track of the year)

Wotless — Kes The Band (Best 2011 Trinidad Carnival song)

Grenade — Bruno Mars (probably the defining artist of the year so far)

Coming Home — Diddy -Dirty Money & Skylar Grey (guilty pleasure)

Lay It Down — Lloyd feat. Patti LaBelle (non-commercially released remix)

The Edge of Glory — Lady GaGa (I put this on the list in tribute to the Big Man)

No One Can Touch Us Tonight — JJ (embarrassed to say I found out about this from NY Mag’s Approval Matrix)

If You Wanna — The Vaccines (Best Britrock track)

Rolling In The Deep — Adele (Was on my Best of 2010 list, but now feels more like 2011 record)

The Show Goes On — Lupe Fiasco (Also was on my Best of 2010 list, but now feels more like a 2011 record)

Disqualified from the list because they are on our own label, but really great nonetheless:
Keep Your Head Up — Andy Grammer

Friday Is Forever — We The Kings

You’re invited…

becky — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:14:42 +0000

to celebrate the first day of summer with the First Annual, Catalina Wine Mixer!

Featuring All Star DJ’s, Stevie G, Sam “Mayday” Malone & Kid Pallin and they will be spinning some of the greatest beach records ever.

Hope to see you there!
June 20th, 7:30 PM
City Winery
155 Varick

Stevie G’s 30 Best Singles of 2010:

becky — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 23:14:12 +0000

2010 was an intriguing year for pop music, as dance sounds continued to gobble up the center and indie bands with echoey vocals came on strong from the fringes. My favorite single of the year, Lyfe Jennings’ “Statistics” was a monster R&B hit that, sadly, never crossed over to the pop charts. Beyond that, big melodies and even bigger vocals dominate my list: R Kelly and Bruno Mars channeled the sounds of doo wop; Lauren Pritchard and Miranda Lambert came on like latter-day Bobbie Gentrys; and the intersection of rap and melody was seemingly everywhere. I hope you enjoy my list of the 30 Best Songs of the Year.

As usual, I have not included any S-Curve releases on my list, out of fairness to artists not fortunate enough to be on our label. But We The Kings’ “We’ll Be A Dream“, Diane Birch’s “This Corrosion“, Andy Grammer’s “Keep Your Head Up” and Care Bears On Fire’s “Girls Like It Loud” ep (which just received an “A” from the Dean of American rock critics, Robert Christgau) can stand toe to toe with anything on my list. I encourage you to check them out. Enjoy!

1. Statistics / Lyfe Jennings
2. Tighten Up / The Black Keys
3. Airplanes (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore) / B.o.B
4. What’s In It For / Avi Buffalo
5. All My People / Portugal The Man
6. When a Woman Loves / R. Kelly
7. The High Road / Broken Bells
8. Somewhere In Brooklyn / Bruno Mars
9. Rill Rill / Sleigh Bells
10. Painkillers / Lauren Pritchard
11. The Show Goes On / Lupe Fiasco
12. The House That Built Me / Miranda Lambert
13. I Need a Dollar / Aloe Blacc
14. Crazy for You / Best Coast
15. Rolling In the Deep / ADELE
16. Just a Dream / Nelly
17. Pretty Girl Rock / Keri Hilson
18. Angel / Akon
19. Run Run Se Fue Pa’l Norte / Francisca Valenzuela
20. Big Wave / Jenny and Johnny
21. We No Speak Americano / Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup
22. Enter the Ninja / Die Antwoord
23. Islands (The Blue Nile Remix) / The XX
24. Northern Skies / I Am Kloot
25. Barbra Streisand / Duck Sauce
26. Jar of Hearts / Christina Perri
27. Dirtee Disco / Dizzee Rascal
28. The Bike Song / Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.
29. Dry Your Tears (feat. Winston Francis) / Prince Fatty
30. Alors on danse / Stromae