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B3SCI Best of 2015: Staff Favorite Songs

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Hello 2016. Goodbye 2015. 2015 was a year. We’ve elected at B3 this year that in lieu of arbitrarily ranking a list of top x-number tracks that we’d prefer to share lists of the favorite songs of the year of each main B3SCI writer. Following later this week will be B3’s choices for top artists of the year and our picks for artists to watch for 2016. Thanks for reading.

Troy

1 Drake – Hotline Bling
2 Drake / Future – Jumpman
3 Kendrick Lamar – How Much A Dollar Cost
4 Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean
5 Major Lazer / DJ Snake & MO – Lean On
6 SG Lewis – Warm
7 Kanye West – All Day
8 Florence + The Machine – What Kind of Man
9 Alabama Shakes – Don’t Wanna Fight
10 NoMBe – California Girls

deerhunter

Mike

1 Deerhunter – Breaker
2 Moses Sumney – Seeds
3 Gallant – Weight in gold
4 Kurt Vile – Pretty Pimpin
5 Midnight to Monaco – Suicide
6 Blur – Go Out
7 Green Buzzard – Zoo Fly
8 Spring King – City
9 Noel Gallagher – Ballad of the Might I
10 Sjowgren – Seventeen

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Bruce

1 Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats – S.O.B.
2 Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
3 Alabama Shakes – Miss You
4 Death Cab For Cutie – Everything’s A Ceiling
5 FFS – Piss Off
6 The Struts – Could Have Been Me
7 The Maccabees – Marks To Prove It
8 Frank Turner – Mittens
9 The Libertines – Anthems For Doomed Youth
10 Hippo Campus – Suicide Saturday

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Erin

1 Kenton Slash Demon – Harpe
2 Darius & FKJ – O
3 Lettuce – Phyllis
4 Sango – Dias Melhores
5 J.Louis – Camarillo
6 Rick Ross – Amazing Grace
7 Superhumanoids – Anxious in Venice
8 Egyptian Art- She’s Lovely
9 NoMBe – California Girls
10 HONNE – No Place Like Home

reviewed by
01-07-16

RestWater – So Lovely Is Your Soul

restwater

We like the catchy hook and indie rock fundamentals of “Lovely Is Your Soul” from Philly band RestWater who we’re particularly digging with for their soothing low-key vocal vibes and dynamic-muted elemental instrumentals. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

RestWater (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
01-06-16

KA-YU – Goddess

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Familiarize yourself with new-to-B3 artist KA-YU (who hails from the Netherlands). KA-YU keeps it bright and simple with a soft sensual mesh of down-tempo beats, jazzy metallic accents and a sweet keyboard melody on “Goddess”. We totally love how the keyboard dictates the track’s cheery mood and how effectively it contrasts with KA-YU’s dynamic, super sexy bass-line. Great tune! Reviewed by Erin Shay.

KA-YU (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
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01-06-16

Sudan – Soul (Eets Remix)

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Get into the soulful mixture of world-music-vibe rhythm and percussion awash some remarkably good vocals on “Sudan” the latest nuance-tempered track from B3 covered Alaska-based beat-maker Eets who we featured in October for his cool-minded hip-hop vibes on “Feathers of Gold”. We love it. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Sudan (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
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01-06-16

J.Robb – Saywhat

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Tune into the understated sensuality and dynamic meld of beats on new one “Say What” a restyle of Donell Jones’ hit “U Know What’s Up” from a relatively new Baltimore artist (swag-surf-gawd) j.robb who we featured in September for his joint-produced gem track “Euphoria” (created with Calgary-bred Canadian musician Skater for the duo’s debut EP “Pastel”). Reviewed by Erin Shay.

J.Robb (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
01-06-16

Bruce Rave Interviews The Silver Lake Chorus

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The Silver Lake Chorus dropped one of 2015’s best albums. They linked up with Aussie artist/producer Ben Lee and then received songs from indie all-stars such as Death Cab, Flaming Lips, Bon Iver, New Pornographers, Tegan and Sara, and Ben himself. Here’s my chat with Music Director Mikey Wells.

Check out Bruce’s weekly “Go Deep” radio show; air dates and times for “Go Deep” as well archived past shows can be found on Bruce’sblog. Don’t forget to follow Bruce on Twitter too!

The Silver Lake Chorus (Official)

reviewed by
01-06-16

Berhana – 80s

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Lose yourself in the smooth, soulful and funky Jamiroquai-meets Frank Ocean meets Miguel vocals-led vibes of “80’s” from B3 featured Berhana (discussed here in November for his A+ debut jam “Janet”). “80’s” (quite a timeless track with its impressive standout-talent vocals and artfully simplistic fine-tuned mosh of percussion) earns Berhana another A+ on the style meter. Awesome. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Berhana (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
12-17-15

TENDER – Hotline Bling

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We’re entranced with the uniquely stellar calm and centered vocal style, minimalist percussion, and catchy bass-line grooves of UK producer collaborative newcomer-act Tender (who are immensely talented and in our pool of consideration of artists to watch in 2016). We like the group’s latest cover of ubiquitous remix-friendly 2015 Drake hit “Hotline Bling”; a track which you may recall Marian Hill producer Jeremy (1/2 of the act) remixed beautifully back in September (he chose a twist on the Kehlani/Charlie version). Even though we have only showcased two tracks from Tender their style is so quietly appealing (especially strong Beck-vibe vocals) we think the group is potentially unstoppable. We look forward to more of Tender’s graciously simple brand of music. Superb cover. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

TENDER (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
12-17-15

Ardyn – The Garden

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In October, we discussed Gloucestershire UK brother-sister songwriter duo Rob and Katy Peterson (also affectionately known as Ardyn) for their mellow-lovely track “Help Me On My Way” which (at the time) was the second preview to drop off their November-released “Universe” EP. Give a listen to the EP’s outstanding vocals-led indie-pop dynamic-beauty “The Garden” (track #4) which we highly recommend for its alluringly whimsical folksy-Americana country-vibe old-fashioned Hollywood crooner vocals (Lana del Rey meets Patsy Cline) and soothing soulfully-melodic lyrical qualities. Very good vocals!! Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Ardyn (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
12-17-15

The Internet – Get Away (Kayloo Remix)

kayloo

B3 recent feature KAYLOO remixes B3 fave LA trend-setter music collective The Internet to quite a stunning result. We’re enjoying the French artist’s subtle yet robust trap-accented French-touch-permeated late night dance spin on “Get Away” the poetic-sexy vocals-led Ego Death album gem which features The Internet’s uniquely-gifted hip-hop soul songstress Syd. KAYLOO endeavors to go dynamic (with bass, trap beats and synth) yet remain surprisingly subtle and in doing so beautifully highlights Syd’s delicate ultra-female classic-vibe vocals (modern Gwen Stefani-vibes all around) while also creating a fresh and interesting spin on the track. Very cool remix. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Kayloo (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
12-17-15

Flamingosis – Saturday Night Fever

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B3 2015-favorite production artist Flamingosis, who’s eclectic well-balanced blend of hip-hop, soul, jazz and funk first caught our attentions back in June, creates a light and vivacious lounge-y 70‘s/80‘s-vintage vibe ambiance on his new technicolor brass-tinged tune “Saturday Night Fever”; a superbly tantalizing, bright and lively funk-infused vocal-loop-enhanced instrumentals-led track which has us very much looking forward to Flamingosis’ much anticipated soon-to-release album. We love everything you touch Flamingosis! Another great track. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Flamingosis (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
12-16-15