Song of the Day for September 27th, 2010: "Collapsing Cities" by Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

And the song of the day is...Collapsing Cities, by English artist Sam Duckworth, and his band Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. come out of Southend, Essex, England and were signed to Atlantic Records in 2006. According to lead band member Sam Duckworth, the name for the band comes from a section out of a magazine called ZX Spectrum, as a solution to a Batman computer game. The song Collapsing Cities appears as the first single from the new self-titled album, which was released on August 9th, 2010. Also if you like the song, you would do well to know it is still available as a free mp3 download at this website.

Song of the Day for September 10th, 2010: "After Dark" by The Count and Sinden (Ft. Mystery Jets)

And the song of the day is...After Dark (ft. Mystery Jets), by English duo The Count & Sinden. The Count & Sinden are and electronic-duo coming out of London, England. The duo have been around since 2008 and they are Joshua "Hervé" Harvey (aka The Count), and Sinden. After Dark is a single release (released on August 15th, 2010) featuring the 5-piece English indie rock band Mystery Jets, which is due to appear on their debut album titled Mega Mega Mega. This song has already peaked at #4 on the UK Independent Chart. Enjoy!

#64 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Chains of Love" (1988) by Erasure

And #64 is....Chains of Love, by English synth-pop duo Erasure. Erasure consists of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and vocalist Andy Bell, and formed originally back in 1985. Vince Clarke was one of the founding members of another well-known synth-band from the 80's by the name of Depeche Mode, and he was the writer of their first three singles, including their breakthrough top ten hit Just Can't Get Enough. Clarke left Depeche Mode in 1981 and started up with another successful group called Yazoo (aka Yaz in the USA), after two hit albums with Yazoo Clarke produced a top four hit in the UK called Never Never. He then went on to form Erasure with Andy Bell, which went on to produce 34 Top 40 Hits in the UK between the years of 1985-2007, and they have sold somewhere around 25 million albums in that time. Clarke and Bell have been labeled as "the definitive synthpop superstars," according to their wikipedia page. Chains of Love was the 4th track on their May 1988 release album The Innocents. Chains of Love was Erasure's 6th consecutive Top 20 Hit on the UK Singles Chart, and it became their first mainstream breakthrough on the USA Billboard Hot 100 Charts at #12, and to this day remains their highest charting pop hit in the United States. Check out their wikipedia page for more info, and break those chains!

Song of the Day for August 15th, 2010: "Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)" by The Wombats

And the song of the day is...Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) by British indie-rock band The Wombats. The Wombats consists of Matthew Murphy (vocals, keyboards, and guitar), Dan Haggis (drums, vocals), and Tord Øverland-Knudsen (bass guitar and vocals), who come at us out of Liverpool, England. The band formed back in 2003 when they met at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and had released their debut album by 2006. Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) is a new release to come off of their latest album of the same name (which is to be released in late September 2010). Check out this song, and their new album, blah!

#66 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Sex Dwarf" (1981) by Soft Cell

Its that time again, this time its #66, and the song is...Sex Dwarf by British synth-pop duo Soft Cell. Soft Cell consisted of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball and was originally from Leeds, England. Sex Dwarf came off of their 1981 release album titled Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which also contained their major 80's hit song which they are best known and renowned for, (and definitely is one of those songs that gets stuck in one's head way too easily) Tainted Love. This was also Soft Cell's first album. The duo became quite big right during the ecstasy club-scene of the early 80's in New York, and this song had a controversial S&M video which was banned in the UK for explicit content at the time. The duo was known for having drug abuse issues and like so many other successful 80's groups were constantly using drugs (according to wikipedia). In the UK Soft Cell achieved Ten Top 40 Hits, and 4 Top 20 albums between 1981-1984. They initially split in 1984, but then reformed in the early 2000's and made a new album in 2002. The song is a bit racy, but if you can handle it, it has a great dance beat and definitely hits an 80's mark that not many others do.

#75 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Here we are again folks, now presenting #75 of the Countdown, and the song is...Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me), by British singer/songwriter Rod Stewart. Rod Stewart comes out of England, and is of English and Scottish decent. Stewart was born in London way back in 1945 at the close of WWII, and he started his music career with the Jeff Beck Group in the late 1960's and early 1970's. In 1969 he also officially began a solo career with his first debut album. Stewart has had something like 62 hit singles over the 5 decades of his music career and he was voted the 33rd Greatest Singer of All Time by Q Magazine. Stewart has a memorable voice and has always had a memorable hairstyle. Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me) is a song that came into my awareness not all that long ago, but it was the title track for his 1981 album of the same name. The album and the song were some of the first of Stewart's where he began adding some synth-pop and an 80's New Wave flavor to his sound which so defined his 80's musical style, and was different from his previous work for sure. Tonight I'm Yours reached #11 on the US Pop Albums Chart, and ended up going platinum. The album generated 5 big singles, and incidentally the biggest hit single from that album was Young Turks which reached #5 on the Pop Singles and Mainstream Rock Charts. Well, enough data, now for the song, enjoy yourself some Rod the Bod!
Rod Steward - Tonight I`m yours - MyVideo

And the "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Light It Up, by British alternative rock duo Blood Red Shoes. Blood Red Shoes come out of Brighton, England consisting of Steven Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter, they formed in late 2004. Light It Up was released in February 2010 and appears on their Fire Like This album. Not much else to say, pues nada...

And the "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Dawn of the Dead, by British electronica band Does It Offend You, Yeah? Does It Offend You, Yeah? are based in Reading, England. According to wikipedia Does It Offend You, Yeah? were the ninth most listened to new band of 2008 on last.fm and were included in the best alternative music list of 2008 on iTunes. They were announced as a Rolling Stone breaking Artist in 2008, and they often work with big-time DJ's, such as Justice, Peaches, MSTRKRFT, Simian Mobile Disco, etc.. Dawn of the Dead is a single release, which debuted in 2008, so not really that new, but who bloody cares, the term newish, applies here. Enjoy!