Brillboard Top Ten: 1/20/2017

brillboard top 10

Brillboard: An Introduction

My last name — Brillon — has garnered an inordinate amount of wordplay over the course of my life. There was “Chillin with Brillon”. Then “Brillionaire”, a word which peaked when Bruno Mars’s collaboration with Travie McCoy hit the charts. “Brilliont” followed suit, an honest attempt that was rooted in a common misspelling of my last name (Brillion). The latest, though, is a wordplay of my own creation: “Brillboard”.

Brillboard, aka Brillboard Top 10, is different than its more renowned sibling. It doesn’t chart music based off record sales or other metrics. It’s charted by me, for us, from what’s been circling the musicsphere. In a typical day, I burn through ten or eleven hours of music. That’s equal to playing Desiigner’s Panda 150 times (a number that still pales in comparison to Spotify’s record). But it’s a lot. And music, specifically indie music, is coursing through me for the majority of my day. So I’d like to believe I’m at the point where I’ve grasped, even a little, of the monolith that is indie music. And I’m ready to share my thoughts here on I N D E L I C I O U S.

Brillboard Top Ten (Weekend of Jan 20)

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1. Miss Me [Von Sell]
   Miss Me is three minutes and change of electro-poppy-synthy-indie deliciousness. The song ebbs and flows, building up granularly, from opening notes, to synth humming, to the full-bodied brilliance that blooms around the one minute mark. All the while, the titular lyrics of “miss me” and “miss you” provide the song with a backbeat of longing. Brooklyn-based, Berlin-native Von Sell has a gem of an EP. Tracks like Miss Me, I Insist, and Ivan (Revisited) are ones worth visiting and revisiting.
2. Someone That Loves You [HONNE feat. Izzy Bizu]
   HONNE’s premiere album is one mostly filled with beautiful, heartfelt, deep vocals. The quality vocals of quality songs — The Night, All In The Value, Warm On A Cold Night, to name a few. But Someone That Loves You stands as an animal all its own. A masterful duet with featured artist Izzy Bizu, Someone That Loves You offers a jamming chorus with strong Oh Wonder vibes. It’s easily a people-pleaser.
3. The Other Side Of Paradise [Glass Animals]
   I have an unhealthy relationship with the way Dave Bayley says “Hakeem Olajuwon”. That line alone, along with Bayley’s choice to rhyme “Olajuwon” with “phenomenon” — find me a more sonically fascinating rhyme, I dare you — secures The Other Side Of Paradise a spot on the Brillboard. It’s a song that, like all songs off of Glass Animal’s sophomore album, How To Be A Human Being (HTBAHB), shines alone but shines that much brighter when the album is played as a whole.
4. Your Future Is Not Mine [Daisy, Illangelo, Joseph of Mercury]
   The backbeat. The vocals. The lyrics. The electronic interludes. The distorted reverb at 2:45. Daisy. Illangelo. Joseph of Mercury. All of it. Literally all of it. Your Future Is Not Mine is a damn-good song.
5. Running [B. Miles]
   Two years ago, B. Miles brought the world three amazing tracks on her EP Twenty Fifteen. It is now Twenty Seventeen, and B. Miles continues to make quality music. Running is her newest single. Its strong vocal start to every line, paired with the run of lyrics flowing after it give the song an almost syncopated feeling. Its electronic notes run up and down in the background like arpeggios. Running is a song of movement, and hopefully one that moves B. Miles further into fame.
6. Something Better [Hidinin]
   Something Better is a burst of upbeat fun. It has all the pieces of a great indiepop song: a catchy chorus, that poppy synth in the background, etc. If you like COIN’s Talk Too Much, you’ll like Hidinin’s Something Better.
7. Birthmark [Thomston]
   Ah, Thomston. Or as McCall calls him “The Male Version Of Lorde”. Honestly, anything from the album Topograph could be on this list, but there’s something about the rise of the chorus, the lull of the verse, and the occasional intermittent riff that makes Birthmark the cream of the crop.
8. Guru [Coast Modern]
   Coast Modern has four songs publicly available on Spotify, and each is a work of art. Guru has a breezy, chill tune that makes me want to buy a surfboard and move to California. The spoken-word breakdown around the three minute mark adds yet another layer of depth onto an already great song. My only advice for Coast Modern: make more music. Please!
9. Pray (Empty Gun) [Bishop Briggs]
   Fun fact about Bishop Briggs? Her real name is Sarah Mclaughlin. Another fun fact? She went to high school with my friend. Last fun fact? She is a musical genius. I live for the moments when she drops a new single, because in those moments she drops the mic with it.
10. Adderall [Max Frost]
    Rounding out this week’s Top Ten is Max Frost. First Paranoia. Then Withdrawal. And now, the latest catchy song with some loose roots in the medical field: a bouncing upbeat tune about drugs. Speaking of drugs, check out Daily Dose for your latest prescription of awesomeness.