Raging Contagion
Music so good it will make you sick!
You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys
Little Boots – Remedy
August 17, 2012
Similar Artists: Madonna, Kylie Minogue
cheerlubber here. Uhh…did I do that right…? -shrug- As you can already tell, I won’t be putting much thought into this “Similar Artists” thing ’cause I’m lazy (if I ever do it at all, heh heh). And why should it matter–you guys should just listen to everything we post anyway. :P
I feel like I’ve been picking some songs on a whim lately. There’s just so many good things that it’s hard to pick one for a certain day–that and I’m still being tame with my music choices, ah hah. When should I introduce you guys to more electro and more international songs…? Hm, gotta ease you into it…Well today we have British electropop songstress Little Boots. She’s been in the music biz for a while but only achieved mainstream success with the release of her Hands album in 2008. Even though I got the music from Whuzzerface somehow she tells me she’s not very familiar with Little Boots. Hah. Tells you how much music we have if we still don’t know how some of it sounds.
Little Boots has got a great 80s and 90s vibe in some of her other songs on the album (I was originally thinking of highlighting Hearts Collide) but then I realized it’s Friday! Let’s get something dance-y up in here! So I present you with Remedy. It starts off sounding dark and moody but when it hits the chorus things pick up and it’s hard to not dance. I love the main line of the chorus and the song, “Dancing is my remedy,” because it’s true! Having a bad day? Lay down some good beats and dance it off! All too often I turn to music to drown out worries in life, and no better day to let it all out than on Friday. Looked it up and turns out there’s a music video for it; a little boring for the song, imo, but that’s all that matters anyway, isn’t it–the music! Take a listen to Remedy and turn on your Friday dance mode!
Little Boots – Hands on Amazon
Junior Boys – You’ll Improve Me
August 10, 2012
If you like artists such as: New Order, Cut Copy, Hot Chip
This song is rated: 2 Pills – intermediate musicologist level
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface here,
Gonna try something a little different here. Don’t know if you noticed that not only did I include the pill indicator (how normal to different a songs sound is), I also tossed in a “If you like artists such as….”, because several of my patients (readers) have indicated that is a feature they’d also like to see. We’ll give it a try for a bit and see if it helps you kiddos relate to the songs a little more.
On to Junior Boys!! This Canadian duo (yeah, it makes me shiver at the thought too) actually have quite the aptitude for creating catchy dance beats which inversely contrasts with out soft the vocals are. Each song they churn out is complex with it’s layers of synth yet because of the youthful timbre of the singers voice they maintain a calculated restrained feel.
This delicious little ditty of “You’ll Improve Me” shows a bit of that restraint as it is sung to a girl that has “never been lonely” yet the only way to win her heart is to play and act like he doesn’t care. (Oh, if only I had a dime for every pretty girl I’ve been friends with who is just like this girl, I would have bought the Seychelles islands a decade ago). Somehow though, he seems to think that he is going to benefit from this venture not only by winning her heart, but turning into a heartless player just like her. It is a bittersweet cycle, but a cool song! I know you’ll love it and it’s perfecto for the weekend.
Enjoy (and please share the contagion with your friends)!
Kraak and Smaak – Squeeze Me Tight ft. Ben Westbeech
August 8, 2012
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
cheerlubber here with a bit of funk for you today.
I bring you Squeeze Me Tight from a trio of Dutch producers known as Kraak and Smaak, featuring smooth vocals from Ben Westbeech. Aside from getting a kick out of their name, I honestly don’t know much about them. I came across this song by accident somewhere years ago and loved the groovy funk. I haven’t looked into any of their other stuff yet though I really ought to because Squeeze Me Tight is such an enjoyable listen, and the music video is creative as well. I wish I could make delicious triple-stacked sandwiches from a flip book! It’s got a great, head-bobbin’ beat that b-boys would love (for those of you who don’t know, b-boys [and girls] are break dancers), and it’s just such a great tune to boogey down to. I wanted to post something quick, fun, and easy-to-get-into today and this was one of the first songs that jumped to my head. Check it out below!
Kraak and Smaak Official Website
Kraak and Smaak Official Facebook
Twin Shadow – Golden Light
July 20, 2012
— 2 Comments
This song is rated: 2 Pills – intermediate musicologist level
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface here,
Twin Shadow (otherwise known as the man George Lewis Jr.) just released the new album “Confess” last week and, yes, I must confess, that I’m liking it very verrrrrry much. One critic went so far as to aptly describe it as being “so unabashedly ’80s you half-expect Molly Ringwald to crash the party” (Stephanie Benson of Rhapsody). The entire collection is crunch synth heavy, with elements of arena rock and drifting wave vocals. Some of the songs are outright homages to Prince and The Police! And I’m ok with that, I know you will be too.
“Golden Light” is the first track on the album, which might have been a bad call since it’s so good, I’ve hardly listened to any of the other songs…. Starts of with an soft synth that plays the hook and a buzz drones in crescendos. While the chorus maybe seem heavy, it actually feels reined in, building an intensity to the drama unfolding. Add to that, the baseline also doubles up the first beats of each measure in the chorus as and throws in some good slapping to thicken the bottom plot. I can envision, if I were ever asked to direct the music video (BIG HINT!!!), a Mad Max-esque scene where Twin Shadow comes out pumping his fist in the air, leather jacket clad cronies filling in behind him, and shouts “Some people say there’s a golden light, you’re the golden light (I will follow). and if I chase after you does that mean that it’s true?!” while he dances in the desert. It’s just that epic of a feeling. After the first verse a twangy surf rock guitar accompanies but interestingly enough doesn’t detract from the electro-vibe of the whole number. I say brilliantly done Mr. Lewis, bravo.
I hope you enjoy this and that it becomes the anthem of your weekend!
Amazon.com MP3’s Twin Shadow – “Confess” (ONLY $3.99 RIGHT NOW!!)
Concentrating on seeing the “Golden Light”.
Animal Drama – Spordipäev
June 23, 2012
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
cheerlubber again, here to finish off ESTONIA WEEK!
I think it’s gone pretty well, haven’t you? To be honest, when we first planned this we only had 3 artists in mind. After much searching, I came across other groups and we didn’t have to have two songs by the same artist! I’m pretty sure I’ve come across every artist Estonia has to offer by now, though, considering they only have a population of about 1.3 million. There’s still some songs I’d like to share with you guys, but it’ll have to be later on because we’re gonna wrap it up here.
Perfect for a relaxing Saturday, I present you with the band Animal Drama and their song Spordipäev, meaning “Sports Day” (what we’d call “field day” here). Spordipäev is a very whimsical, upbeat song, a bit like something OK Go might do. The indie pop-rock band from Tartu (the college town in Estonia) has been around since 2007, had some line-up changes in 2009, and then released Spordipäev as their latest single in November of last year. The main singer, Fredy Schmidt, is actually active in another band as well: Laika Virgin. I liked what I heard from them as well so it was tough to decide which of Fredy’s bands to highlight. Maybe I’ll throw in a song by them later on down the road. That’s about all I could find of Animal Drama, really. I can’t even find where to buy their music, which is a shame because I would.
Animal Drama Official Facebook (you can download three of their songs for free here, including Spordipäev; click on “BandPage,” then hover over the listed songs and there should be a Download button [realized the Spordipäev download is in .wav format for some inexplicable reason. Converted it to .mp3 for you here])
Animal Drama Official MySpace (I know, I know–MySpace. But hey, a lot of artists still host their music on here. You can’t download songs, but you can listen to some of their other music they don’t have posted elsewhere. Do eet!)
Mimicry – The Destination
June 20, 2012
This song is rated: 2 Pills – intermediate musicologist level
cheerlubber here.
Today for ESTONIA WEEK, we present you with the track The Destination by synthpop duo Mimicry. This is yet another song with a huge 80s vibe. Can you tell we love 80s music? The keyboard, the echo-y vocals…I’m really not good at describing parts of a song and breaking it down into why it’s so 80s without being repetitive and redundant (Whuzzerface is far better at that sort of thing), it just IS and it’s great. This group was formed in 2004 and certainly has some funky, psychedelic stuff. This is probably their tamest song that I’ve heard so far. I know I say this a lot too, but I can guarantee your head will start bobbing to the music, à la Night at the Roxbury. BONUS: found a free download of this song from their website! w00tw00t! Free download here
Kerli – Zero Gravity
June 19, 2012
— 2 Comments
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface here!
What do you think of ESTONIA WEEK thus far eh? I’m sure you’re surprised at how awesome and different their sound is all at the same time! Then you’ll be even more surprised to find out that we actually first heard of the country of Estonia when we caught wind of a force of nature in a deceptively delicate-looking creature named Kerli back in 2009. After the first chorus of her song “Walking On Air”, we were hooked. So it’s rather funny that C-Bisiquit ended up living there for a while. First thing we thought of when we found out was “KERLI IS FROM THERE!”
Kerli (for Americans, the way to pronounce her name is closer to Keh-rrlie, but Care-lee works too) has been dubbed as Queen of Bubble Goth music and lives up to in her costumes on stage and in videos. We like to think of her sort of as Iiris’s older sister in song! Her rise to fame is actually a Cinderella story. She knew at a very young age she wanted to be a singer, despite all the classical training she had received in dancing and piano. At age 14, she signed up for the Baltic equivalent of American Idol back in 2002. She lied and said she was the minimum age of 15 but what do you know, she blew away the competition and won the show anyway, winning a recording deal over there and eventually getting a contract signed on the spot after singing for Island Def Jam Records execs in the US shortly after.
We’ve been almost foaming at the mouth to share this song with you and are so glad the moment is finally here! Today’s nugget of bliss comes in the form a a club-worthy number called “Zero Gravity”. You can’t NOT dance to this (to simplify that double-negative for you, you MUST dance to this). It’s such a choice beat, positive message, and space opera-centric video theme. There are even a few moments where she breaks it all down dubstep style while rocking out as what I imagine Pop Princess Rainbow Brite would look like. Can I also add these next words without making you too wary of the video: Alien space butterfly glam football. That will make sense toward the end of the video but it is really a rather rad combination of words I bet you’ve never seen before, much like you’ve never seen anything quite like Kerli before. I hope you enjoy it and keep it on repeat!
IIRIS – Weirdo
June 18, 2012
— 1 Comment
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
cheerlubber again!
Continuing with ESTONIA WEEK, I present to you today with great pleasure the singer Iiris Vesik. Only 20 years old, she’s been active as a singer for a few years now, doing only a little bit here and there, until she signed on with EMI in 2011 and released her first full album, The Magic Gift Box, in March of this year. I don’t often buy physical CDs much anymore, but I snatched this one up as soon as I could find an international shipper. When it finally arrived, I had never been so excited and happy to hold a physical CD in my hands before. I love her funky, weird, alt-pop style and she’s just so adorable. If you ever watch an interview of her in English, she has the cutest little voice and accent.
In Weirdo, we see IIRIS in what seems to be a madhouse. You may not quite understand what’s going on but it doesn’t matter because it’s a madhouse. It’s a bit quirky but whimsical, and the dancing old men are too cute. Check out Weirdo below and stay tuned for more Estonia goodness later in the week!
Buy IIRIS – The Magic Gift Box CD or digitally on Amazon
Kimbra – Good Intent
June 4, 2012
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Yes, it is I, cheerlubber! Many apologies for disappearing for two weeks. It’s tough when two things you love clash on the same week; as Dr. Whuzzerface already explained, we got a little caught up in the excitement of Phoenix Comicon.
I was going to post this song for Kimbra week anyway, but coincidentally, what could be a better “apology” song than this? The siren from New Zealand strikes again as she channels a cabaret singer with this swanky number, Good Intent. I’m a sucker for big band and classic crooners (love the 30s-40s era) so this song is an instant hit for me, and the music video just seals the package. Kimbra’s a doll, but I’m equally admiring that dashing, dapper dancer that appears. Where can I get me one of those? If New Zealand is the answer (meaning he’ll also come packaged with a hot accent) then I daresay it’s worth the $1800 flight.
Enjoy the music video below, be sure to check out Kimbra, and spread the contagion!!
Kimbra – Two-Way Street (Day 3 of KIMBRA WEEK!)
May 24, 2012
This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface here!
We are half way through Kimbra Week on Raging Contagion. What do you kids think so far?? Well get your seat belts on because this next song literally talks about driving (and refers to crashing, so you might just wanna be on the safe side). I have a very limited personal experience with falling in love but from what I’ve had I can tell you every lyric in this song is exactly true. You can’t force it one way or the other, it requires give and take by both. A meeting in the middle. Perfect timing. All of these somehow are what make that moment when you both confess that you love and that your love is returned so incredibly magical. For those who’ve been fortunate to have had this happen multiple times, you are truly lucky. For others (like me) who seem to keep hitting all the red lights and missing it but a few minutes/days, maybe one day we’ll have good timing like you.
Anyways, back to the song. I love that Kimbra not only makes this song incredibly visual with how the flow of traffic is compared to love, she’s also creative in the sounds you hear. If you’re attentive, you’ll notice there are several times throughout the song where she talks about how “the cars could all collide, the shards of glass won’t catch my eye…” and not too long before and after there is literally the sound of glass breaking. It’s incredible how much a an impact that adds to the lyrics when you hear more of them. Best part about this post today? This is the official video WITH illustrated lyrics! Best of both worlds. So yeah, while you’re listening/reading, think about this crazy process of falling in love is and how much of it has to do with crossing each others paths at the right time and place. Enjoy!
Raging Contagion 