Welcome to week #22 of the Steel Orca Songs of the Week.

Island Lake, Fernie, British Columbia 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

Happy belated Valentine’s day! I took this past Monday off, returning from Kimberley, British Columbia, as described in my post last week, and Monday is Family Day in Western Canada, so I’m rolling back-to-back 4-day work weeks. Tough life.

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Happy Presidents’ Day as well to all my American readers. I looked, and it turns out that almost everywhere in the US and Canada (though it’s called different things in different provinces in Canada) has Monday as a statutory holiday except Quebec:

“Quebec doesn’t observe Family Day as a stat holiday because it celebrates Journée nationale des Patriotes the Monday before May 23 (the only province in Canada to do so) as well as its Fête nationale du Québec every June 24.”

So if you have a long weekend this weekend, good for you. If not, hopefully, you enjoy (or tolerate) your work, or this post and playlist provide some respite.

One little Western Canadian anecdote I figure some people will enjoy:

When British Columbia had its first Family Day in 2013, it held a vote online about what Monday in February the day should fall (either the second or third Monday). The appeal of the second Monday was that BC locals wouldn’t have to compete with others for crowded ski resorts and holiday spots (especially with those terrible Albertans). More than 30,000 people voted, with the majority picking the second Monday.

This held until 2019 when then-Premier John Horgan shifted it to match the rest of the provinces because it was:

“…the right thing to do for businesses small and large, and is better for families who may be spread out across the country. This gives families an opportunity to schedule and spend more time with loved ones from other provinces.”

Anyway, that’s all well and good, but we just came back from Kimberley and looked into booking the same place next year but instead on the Family Day weekend (i.e. this coming weekend), and it was more than twice the price. So I see why they voted the way they did 10+ years ago.

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Playlist Breakdown

Here are the songs for the week of February 17, 2023 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧.

▶️ Youtube Music: Songs of the Week #22

If you’ve read at least one other Steel Orca post, you know that the title of this post and the description is a little adjusted from the previous posts. As per Substack’s recent announcement around SEO, I’m trying to be more conscious of the things that will get me more organic traffic.

Anyway, on that theme of changing things up a bit (and keeping things fresh), I’ve started branching out and listening to two other playlists weekly to expand my repertoire. So now I source these songs from three Spotify playlists (for the most part, with some exceptions):

Discover Weekly
New Music Friday Dance
ZENITH (Dancing Astronaut’s weekly playlist)

Assuming I like any of the music that I hear, the latter two playlists are helping me keep this playlist a bit more current and myself a bit more hip. Thus, hopefully, making this newsletter more immediately relevant. If not, I’m a lot cooler in my head.

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Slynk & Defunk - Techno Viking

Release Date: May 28, 2020
Spotify Plays: 390,059
Plays Per Day: 393
Label: Westwood Recordings
Genre: Mainstage / Midtempo
Origin: Brisbane, Australia 🇦🇺 / Calgary, Alberta 🇨🇦
Instagram: @evanslynk / @defunk
Twitter: @evanslynk / @Defunk_Official

I looked up Evan Slynk, and though the above lists him as from Brisbane, Australia, originally, he’s now located in Vancouver, which I am assuming is how he got connected with Defunk, who seems to be quite active on the Alberta and BC scene.

This is a great synth/bass-heavy song with a fun hook in the “Walk… like a Techno Viking.” I’m getting better at my genres, so I’d say this almost leans into the synthwave at the beginning. It definitely also feels like it’s leaning into the ’80s vibes.

Anyway, now that I know these guys are locals, I’ll keep an eye out. Defunk’s next show is February 19 at Gotham Nightclub in Kelowna. Slynk’s next show is on February 24 at the White Eagle Polish Hall in Victoria. I would also not be surprised to see both of these guys on the Shambhala lineup this year.

Anyma & Chris Avantgarde - Eternity

Release Date: February 10, 2023
Spotify Plays: 451,950
Plays Per Day: 112,987
Label: Afterlife Records
Genre: Melodic House & Techno
Origin: New York 🇺🇸 / Germany 🇩🇪
Instagram: @anyma_ofc / @chrisavantgarde
Twitter: @anyma_eva / @chrisavantgarde

Before you read anything more I write about, watch this and this. If this is the first time you’ve seen that, I have to assume your mind is blown. If not, why are you so jaded?

Anyma is the solo project of Matteo Milleri, one-half of the melodic techno duo Tale of Us. Tale of Us is huge (835,081 monthly Spotify listeners), but I’ve never gotten into them. Maybe after this, I will.

Chris Avantgarde (née Christian Vornweg) is a German musician and record producer based in London. He has a background in classical and jazz music and has released records in dance music, created original scores for video games, and produced music for pop artists on major labels. Based on a quick review, his particular skill set seems to be syncing audiovisuals, which is a massive part of this concept show, which they have dubbed “Genesys.”

It seems like some game-changing stuff in terms of live shows, but the only issue with it is if you listen to this song on the album and watch the show live, I guarantee there will be almost no musical variation because how could there be? If there is, they break the synchronization. So while something like this is fun, and I appreciate the artistry of it, from a musical standpoint, the live show lacks some of the spontaneity I enjoy. It’s closer to being part of an immersive movie or something like that.

The next date I found for Anyma is the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona on June 1. I would imagine they’re breaking out the visuals for that one. The irony with that show is that the lineup is so deep they’re considered second-tier billing. So if you’re in Spain, or close, you should probably consider buying a ticket.

Louis Millne - Duty Free Toblerone

Release Date: August 19, 2022
Spotify Plays: 729,131
Plays Per Day: 4,073
Label: Another Rhythm
Genre: UK Garage / Bassline
Origin: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Instagram: @louismillne
Twitter: @louismillne_

This song has the same melody as the one at the end of “Don’t Be Alarmed” by Devault & Bipolar Sunshine. This is obviously a sample of a ’70s song (I’m guessing) of which I’m not aware. I would research it, but I don’t want to stay up all night. The lyrics I can discern (which should hopefully point someone in the right direction) are:

Don't you bring me some light here
Just reach out and love it
Cuz I love, I love, I love, I love you
Cuz I love, I love, I love you

It sounds like something from the Diana Ross/Donna Summer era, but I will stay up all night trying to figure it out, and I’ve tried for like 20 minutes now, so I’m giving up. If someone knows, please tell me in the comments. Devault, Bipolar Sunshine, and Louis Millne all know it, so it’s popular.

Anyway, that melody is pretty much why this song is so good, to the point where I didn’t want to include it, as I thought it was a little too close to “Don’t Be Alarmed,” which I had included in a previous post. But then I went with my gut, and here it is - we’re all listening to it.

Louis Millne is a 22-year-old UK-based DJ and producer who has already made a name for himself in the dance industry as one of the most exciting new talents in the field. His work has received recognition from many notable artists, including Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix, and Gorgon City. Most in the music media expect he will continue releasing high-quality work on recognized labels.

The only date I could find for him is a rumoured date at Spring Break Amsterdam on April 9. However, he is not confirmed at this point.

Blake.08 - Playhouse

Release Date: July 2, 2021
Spotify Plays: 281,132
Plays Per Day: 475
Label: Independent
Genre: Techno / House
Origin: Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺
Instagram: @blake.08_
Twitter: ?

“There are a growing number of illegal rave parties in the region. In Bristol, officers managed to stop an illegal party at Brislington after youngsters broke into a disused factory. Damage estimated at thousands of pounds was caused at another factory last week. And organizers use these events to push drugs, mainly LSD or ecstasy. They say the raves are held with no thought to safety. Electricity is run through makeshift cables. Fire exits are either lockеd or blocked. There arе no fire extinguishers or emergency lighting.
Rave organizers plan their events meticulously, never giving away the venue until the very last moment. Convoys of cars drive off towards the given location in different directions but all arrive at the same time. Within minutes, hundreds of people are inside a disused warehouse and the police are helpless.”

This is an example where a Spotify Artist profile saved my newsletter post, as when you look up Blake.08 on Google (or at least when I did), I couldn’t find him. I feel like this is a function of how he wrote his name (with the period in the middle), and that’s screwing up the Google search somehow, but who knows. It’s not like I’m an expert in these things.

Anyway, his Spotify Artist profile will tell you that “Blake.08 is the fresh new project from Sydney producer Blake Gilray”. Now, armed with that information, I can make some additional connections - Blake was formerly of the Sydney techno duo Human Movement (which has since become a solo project of Blake’s former collaborator Edward Macdonald). From globalprpool.com:

“It’s been nice to do something from the ground up that’s entirely my own vision. After some time away from Human Movement I had time to really think about my approach to music, with everything going on around COVID I started taking my car down to the local race track and racing most weekends between long weeks of working – it was my release in a pretty shit time and it created the direction for this project – I just made tunes I wanted to hear in my car and it sort of steamrolled into a project.”

According to his Instagram, it does look like he plays shows semi-regularly, but I couldn’t find any tour dates online. However, the additional detail his Instagram does reveal is that he has some big things in the works with Anjunadeep. Good for him.

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Song of the Week 🙌

Jason Derulo & David Guetta - Saturday/Sunday

Release Date: February 9, 2023
Spotify Plays: 2,571,698
Plays Per Day: 514,340
Label: Derule, Inc. under exclusive license to Atlantic
Genre: Electro Pop
Origin: Miami 🇺🇸 / Paris 🇫🇷
Instagram: @jasonderulo / @davidguetta
Twitter: @jasonderulo / @davidguetta

Because I’m trying to produce a quality product, no matter what I do, it will take a while. So I should resign to always staying up late on Thursday nights: either writing this, editing it, adjusting it for SEO purposes or whatever. I was very organized for this issue this week, and I’m still up late on a Thursday night. Time to get used to it, I guess. The irony is that, like I said last week, a post a week would be considered a snail’s pace by most people trying to make blogging their business. Anyway, I shouldn’t be overly self-critical. I’m pretty proud of the current state of this newsletter.

Anyway, this has to be the most current mainstream song I’ve ever included on the list (look at those plays per day), much less the Song of the Week, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m not writing this to be a super hip underground EDM guy - I’m just listening to songs that I like and including them. This song is catchy as hell. From EDM.com:

“The club-ready house-pop anthem marks the pair's latest collaboration following their 2018 global hit “Goodbye” (with Nicki Minaj and Willy William). Guetta is fresh off of yet another year of huge hits, entering 2023 as the top artist on the Global Spotify Chart thanks to his collab with Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good,” which garned him his Guetta his 11th Grammy nomination.”

This sounds crazy, but I’m only cursorily familiar with David Guetta (maybe that doesn’t sound crazy if you’ve read the newsletter to this point). I’m sure I’ve listened to much of his music, but I couldn’t tell you what it is without a deep dive. I looked for him in my Spotify likes and, beyond this song, came up empty. If you have some good David Guetta suggestions, let me know.

I don’t know Jason Derulo beyond the name recognition most people probably have. Still, from the very cursory research (Wikipedia) I have done, he started his career in 2009 and has achieved eleven platinum singles with over 250 million total singles sold worldwide. Admittedly, not quite the same thing as selling 250 million albums, but he is still obviously quite successful.

David Guetta’s next date (according to his website) is June 10 at Ormeau Park in Belfast (but it’s sold out already, so you’re out of luck). Jason Derulo’s next date is June 17 at Radio Nova Festivaali in Helsinki.

Near Joutsa, Finland 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

That’s it for this week from all of us here at the Steel Orca.✔️👋

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🎧 Songs of the Week #22: I don't need all of…