Raging Contagion
Music so good it will make you sick!
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Late Night Alumni – Eros
December 6, 2012
Here’s something a little different. Late Night Alumni is a house group from Salt Lake City formed in 2004, and is composed of 4 members; perhaps one of the most well-known is Ryan Raddon, aka big-time DJ and producer Kaskade. Eros is from their first album “Empty Streets” released in 2005. The soft vocals give the song a very ethereal feel, which suits the title Eros. I think the lyrics are interesting. For those who don’t know, Eros was the Greek god of love, especially lust. You might recognize him by his name in Roman mythology: Cupid. He would make people fall in love with either of his two arrows (for two different types of love). Once you understand that, you may be able to determine the meaning of the rest of the lyrics on your own. I think it’s basically talking about a fading love, one that was built on the “idol Eros,” i.e. a superficial love. Now that Eros is gone (the initial attraction), the love is falling apart because they didn’t build it on anything that really matters. Some food for thought. Anyway, enough of talk about lyrics! Listen and enjoy!
– cheerlubber
Late Night Alumni Official Website
(you can buy from their website; I don’t think Amazon has a downloadable MP3 of Eros)
Walter Meego – Forever (and 50 followers dance party!)
May 5, 2012
— 1 Comment
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
cheerlubber here.
Just had an impromptu dance party earlier today with Dr. Whuzzerface and our other sister, Cbisquit. We love dance parties. While this jamming song was not one of the ones we danced to today, it will be when we host an awesome dance party after we get
50 FOLLOWERS!
Help us reach this goal and you’ll be invited to get up ‘n jive with us in celebration! If YOU haven’t subscribed yet, be sure to follow us ASAP! Tell your friends, spread the music, post on Twitter or Facebook, whichever social medium you prefer. C’mon, who doesn’t want to dance to this, along with many other great, danceable songs we’ll be sure to play? In addition to a ballin’ dance party, we’re going to be hosting a giveaway here soon soon. Whuzzerface will be giving the deets in due time, so keep a look out for them!
Today we have Forever by Walter Meego, a band that unfortunately recently announced their disbandment. However, they will not be forgotten, and certainly this song will live forever in our hearts. Ah hah. See what I did there? I think you’ll feel the groove to move when the chorus drops, too. :D Enjoy the song below.
Even though they’ve disbanded, you can check them out on their official page here: Walter Meego’s Official Site
Robert Schumann – Prophet Bird
April 29, 2012
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Dr. cheerlubber again.
I know there was a bit of a problem with the classical piece I posted last week…I investigated and it turns out the file was 14 MB! So I reduced the file size, re-uploaded, and now you should be able to listen to it~
Today’s Sunday post is a lovely, short piece by Robert Schumann, a famous and influential German composer from the Romantic era, called Prophet Bird. I first heard this when we bought an Itzhak Perlman CD after a concert of his that we went to years ago and it quickly became one of my favorites. Perlman, a world-renowned violin virtuoso, plays the piece beautifully; while I have no idea what the song title means, the piece is light and mysterious and somehow the title Prophet Bird fits.
Years later I’m flipping through some old piano books I’d never been through, and I find we have an entire Schumann compilation book. I couldn’t be happier because Schumann is a great composer, and I also discovered in that very same book was the sheet music for one of my favorite piano concertos that I had dreamed of learning for a long time (I’ll have to highlight that piece later). As I was going through the rest of the giant volume to see what other Schumann works it had, I come across one that looks nice and decide to start sight-reading it, when the melody started sounding rather familiar. Rather joyously, I realized it was Prophet Bird in its original form written for piano. I was so excited. I was actually practicing it earlier today so it inspired me to do it for today’s classical post. Enjoy!
Cut Copy – Far Away
April 27, 2012
— 2 Comments
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Well howdy do, Dr. cheerlubber here.
Seems Dr. Whuzzerface didn’t have a post planned for today so I’ll throw one together real quick. PS, Dr. Whuzzerface’s birthday was back on Wednesday, April 25th. She’s a grown woman now! :D
Today we highlight the amazing Australian electronic band Cut Copy. Dr. Whuzzerface and I are big fans. Dr. Whuzzerface even went to a concert of their’s a few months back :0 They’ve got a lot of great tracks and no doubt you’ll see more of them here in the future, but here’s one of their songs that came up while I was on shuffle. You wanna know the funny thing? The song that played just before was Teddyloid’s Fly Away that I posted about just last week. Fly Away, Far Away? Ah hah. Get it? I mean, the length of the name didn’t even change! Only two letters changed! Just. How about that for coincidence, huh? Well anyway, it got me excited…
Far Away is from their In Ghost Colours album and it’s got a great 80s vibe to it that’s just too hard not to bob your head to. Hang around for the chorus and you’ll soon find your whole body moving. The backup chorus and the echo-y vocals just scream 80s. Enjoy Far Away by Cut Copy below!
Cut Copy’s Official Website
Cut Copy’s Facebook
Cut Copy’s SoundCloud
Gustav Holst – Mercury, The Winged Messenger
April 22, 2012
— 1 Comment
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Dr. cheerlubber again.
Back again with another classical Sunday post. Today we feature Mercury, The Winged Messenger by Gustav Holst, movement number three of his The Planets suite, undoubtedly his most well-known work. While his most famous composition of his career is probably Mars, Bringer of War from the same suite (which was no doubt the inspiration for every early, epic space opera movie score), I enjoy the light-hearted Mercury just as much. Still easing you guys into classical with another short song, but this time featuring a full orchestra, whereas the past two Sunday classical posts featured small ensembles. Don’t worry, I’ll get around to introducing you to full symphonic movements shortly enough (get excited!). c:
Mercury, The Winged Messenger is quick and light and you can perfectly imagine the messenger god flitting frantically to and fro (hooray for alliteration!). He flies in and out through just about every section of the symphony, always keeping things moving. I have to say my absolute favorite part of this piece comes when the full orchestra starts building into a crescendo starting around 1:26, and when the cellos come in at 1:36 with a racing line. It’s quite subtle in the scheme of things but in my opinion, it’s the cellos that launch the orchestra into the song’s climax. I actually only really picked up on the line about a year ago, surprisingly enough, (after having been somewhat familiar with the piece for quite some time). The melodic theme that the violins and the trumpets belt out is great too, but there’s something about that cello line that gets me excited. You may have to listen for it a couple times before you recognize it, but I think you’ll see what I mean by it’s the cellos that are responsible for that climax. Orrr you’ll see that I’m just a bit odd and that line is of no consequence to you at all. Things quiet down quickly again after that, although don’t slow down, and the rest of the song simply follows Mercury around as he finishes delivering the last of his messages, just like any other typical workday.
This may be more analysis than you ever wanted to hear on a short classical piece (not like you’re really listening to this anyway), but oh well. This blog is as much for me to get my ideas and thoughts out as it is for you to consider them.
TeddyLoid – Fly Away
April 19, 2012
— 2 Comments
This song is rated: 2 Pills – intermediate musicologist level
Dr. cheerlubber here.
I was going to wait to post this song later and post something a little easier on the ears instead…but let’s face it, I’m going to be posting some real interesting tracks sooner or later so you might as well start getting used to it now. Not that this song is too out there, but electro/house music just isn’t for some people, hence the 2 pill rating. I had to post this today because it came up as I was riding my bike around last night to take my mind off some things and I thought I could partially relate to the lyrics. They’re not anything unique or deep, and in fact they play a very minor part in the song as a whole, but I felt like it applied to me a bit at that time, so why not. This track comes from the young, talented, Japanese producer TeddyLoid. The kid is only 22 for heaven’s sake! He became a professional beatboxer at age 15 and has been DJing since 18, quickly gaining praise and exposure. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on any of his future releases. Fly Away was made for the soundtrack of the 2010 anime Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt...I know the name might be a little off-putting, but this is Japan we’re talking about. I’ve only seen one episode of the show, and while it had colorful, smooth animation, was funny and at times NSFW, what really caught me was the electronic soundtrack, something not commonly found in anime soundtracks. Fly Away is definitely my favorite track from the whole soundtrack. It’s super addicting and has quickly amassed play counts from me. Hope you enjoy it just as much below!
(I’ve heard that this little built-in audio player WordPress supports doesn’t seem to work on some browsers…I’m not sure whether it’s the file or the player but I’ve tried hosting this particular file on a different site. If it still doesn’t work for you let me know and I’ll try to figure out another player)
Camille Saint-Saëns – The Aquarium
April 15, 2012
— 1 Comment
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Dr. cheerlubber est ici!
Today’s Sunday post features one of my favorite composers of all time, Camille Saint-Saëns (pronounced something like cuhmee saysaun). You know with a name like that you’ve got a Frenchman on your hands. Saint-Saëns is a composer from the late-Romantic period and was also known as one of the best organists in the world at the time. He has many famous works (most of which you’ll probably see here sooner or later); this particular song is from his The Carnival of the Animals suite, which was supposedly his favorite work to compose. You might also recognize this song from the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, although I didn’t quite enjoy the movie version and much prefer the rendition I have here. The Carnival of the Animals has many great movements but The Aquarium is probably one of my favorites. It sounds so magical and mysterious and I think it’s a very unique-sounding song. I could listen to this song over and over and it’s a positively perfect song to fall asleep to. Enjoy this beautiful work below!
Alex Winston – Sister Wife
April 14, 2012
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Dr. cheerlubber here.
First off, let me make an apology to Dr. Whuzzerface for apparently making it sound like she will only post boring mainstream music in my last post. Have you heard all that she’s posted? Does that sound boring to you? Nay!! But whatevs. I’ll just not try and describe our tastes anymore and let you figure it out yourself. :0
Today I present you with Alex Winston’s “Sister Wife,” a delightful pop-folk song about polygamy and the difficulties of sharing one man. Her unique voice lends a nice rustic, raw sound to the song. A song about polygamy may sound a little unconventional but she turns it into a whimsical satire. Take a listen below!
Check out her official website here: Alex Winston
Broken Bells – The Ghost Inside
April 12, 2012
Dr. cheerlubber here.
Since I probably frightened some people with BABYMETAL and then a classical piece–two extremes–as some of my first posts, I thought I should share something a little more moderate this time around. I promise I won’t just be giving you guys obscure stuff all the time. Like I’ve said earlier, I just have a much wider taste in music than most people; not trying to brag or be hipster about it, it’s just a fact you should understand. I simply will try giving you something really new to your ears from time to time, just for kicks. Give your musical comfort zone a bit of a quick stretch. At least so you can show it to your friends and say “Check out this crazy bizarre song that this crazy bizarre chick posted” and laugh about it. As an analogy, Dr. Whuzzerface will be giving you a taste of good home cooking–something not always easy to come by but still familiar enough to soothe your taste buds–and I’ll give you new tastes from around the world (quite literally sometimes)–unique flavors you never knew existed that may sometimes shock you. You may end up liking it, you may not. It’s all about trying. I’ve found many times that giving a song a good two or three fair listens can sometimes make it my next favorite. We like to keep an open mind around here and hope you can try too.
Now enough blabbering, give us the music already!
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Broken Bells is an indie rock band formed by Danger Mouse (the producer behind Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer (lead vocalist and guitarist for The Shins). Formed in 2009, they haven’t released much given that they’re both simultaneously involved in other projects as well, but I certainly look forward to what more they’ll produce. I’m a fan of both of their respective original groups and a fan of this collab. Dunno how good I am at breaking down the elements of a song (diagnosing–ah ah ah, get it?) like Dr. Whuzzerface, but I s’pose I’ll give it a try. The pining lyrics and the thin, whining falsetto gives the song a touch of melancholy. The choir that chimes in in the chorus further adds to the mournful atmosphere, but the steady, continual guitar (?) twang throughout the whole song keeps it moving. The claps contrast to lighten the mood a bit however, turning the song more into a warning than a straight-up lament. I initially feel like I should close my eyes and feel the gloominess of the song, but I can’t help but tap my toe and bob my head at the same time.
Whew, my brain hurts. Not sure if I want to do that again! Let’s just let the music speak for itself!
Check out their website here: Broken Bells
Gabriel Fauré – Mi-a-ou
April 8, 2012
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Happy Easter Sunday! Dr. cheerlubber here.
Since it’s Sunday, we’re gonna do something a little different here. I know this post is a bit late in the day, but what better Sunday to start the tradition than Easter Sunday? I think you’ll come to find as we post more and more that whenever I post it’ll be a wildcard. I’ve got…an eclectic taste in music, I s’pose you could say, just because I like so many different genres. On Sundays I’m going to start providing some more easy listening for your ears since I’m a huge fan of classical music, and I always like to dedicate my Sundays to listening solely to classical. The rap, electro, rock, and pop can come elsewhere in the week.
Today’s track is by the French composer Gabriel Fauré from his Dolly Suite. Whuzzerface and I were actually just attempting a piano duet of this song earlier today and I happen to have a lovely version arranged for orchestra as well. I figured this sweet little tune would be perfect for a relaxing Easter Sunday. Enjoy!
Raging Contagion 