Raging Contagion
Music so good it will make you sick!
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Capital Cities – Safe & Sound
November 2, 2012
— 1 Comment
Sounds similar to: Penguin Prison, Hey Champ, Strange Talk
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface here,
How as your Halloween? Did you have a spooky good time? I apparently had too much fun as I realized the following day that I had a Halloween Candy Hangover after just 3 “fun-size” Almond Joys. I know, I’m such a lightweight. And what did you think of our creepy/strange/huh videos? Well, I still had about 10 other alternates I could have included as well but this one, this jem, actually has more of grateful lyrics with a creepy video, so I figured it’s ok to post it in November.
Capital Cities comes bursting out at you from the get-go. These Los Angeleans have a easy-going sound of electropop and even love to throw in good trumpet loops as a hint of spice to their songs. The combination of two singers, one slightly gravely, makes for a good complimenting of their retro vibe. Considering that they found each other through Craigslist, I’d say this pairing was meant to be! I especially love when they get to the “Even in a hurricane of frowns, I know that we’ll be safe & sound.” And you should get excited because there is a break after the bridge that is so disco-centric, you can’t help but bust out at that very moment.
As far as the video goes, I’ve never heard of llama worshipers before but I guess there’s a first for everything at some point. I can’t discern the meaning of the odd images of a derelict town, dolls, and symbols either. The end of the video has me totally flummoxed. You’ll see what I mean when you watch.
I hope your Friday is stellar!!
Capital Cities – Official Site
Capital Cities EP’s – Amazon MP3
The N.A.H.P.I. – Do They Know It’s Halloween
October 31, 2012
Sounds similar to: All the bands listed below
This song, made in 2005, is a direct parody of the unforgettable Band-Aid song “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All?” The actual name of the collective is The North American Hallowe’en Prevention Initiative (yes, that apostrophe is intentional). Wikipedia says that “According to the official press release, the song ‘stems from a frustration with other benefit songs’ misguided, somewhat patronizing attitude, and Western-centric worldview.” Yowza, yet kinda funny. They did donate all the proceeds to charity, so even though it’s a tongue-in-cheek venture, it does have great intentions.
On to the best part. Going through the list of the bands and artists involved in this is like reading straight from a stage set at Coachella (from 2005): Arcade Fire, Beck, Buck 65, David Cross, Dessert, Devendra Banhart, Dntl, Elvira, Feist, Gino Washington, Les Savy Fav, Islands, Malcolm McLaren, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Peaches, Postal Service, R.E.M., Rilo Kiley, Greg Kursten, Roky Erickson, Sloan, Smoosh, Sonic Youth, Sparks, Subtitle, Sum 41, Tagaq, That Dog, We Are Molecules, Wolf Parade, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There’s no way I can add more hype to this post after that list, it still boggles my mind with the sheer enormity of awesomeness.
Without further ado, Happy Halloween!!!
Rob Cantor – Shia LaBeouf
October 30, 2012
Halloween is tomorrow. Your greatest fear? Michael Myers? Nay, something far more terrifying than him. It’s Shia LaBeouf. Yes, that’s right. Shia LaBeouf. Actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf. Don’t believe it? Take a listen to this song and the truth will come out; you will realize how frightening he really is. Whatever you do this Halloween, just be careful to stay away from Shia LaBeouf.
– cheerlubber
Buy Shia LaBeouf from Rob Cantor’s official site
Hot Chip – I Feel Better
October 29, 2012
Sounds similar to: Twin Shadow, LCD Soundsystem, Yeasayer
Happy almost-Halloween!
I’ve scoured music videos for this week and found several great creepy, odd, freaky, and down-right disturbing videos which will help to get your Halloween festivities off to a great start. Our JJAMZ offering was a mere appetizer to what we have in store for you!
Hot Chip is a huge name in the electropop indie circuit. I cannot begin to count the number of their epic remixes of other songs alone. In addition to their Dj-ventures though, they also offer songs where they have both a high and low-pitched male vocal duo. That combination alone sets them apart and gives both a warm and ethereal feel to the songs. Add that to the “blip-blop” electronics and you’ve got yourself some epic dance tunes.
Now we’ve all been in love with at least one boy band in our lives. So what do you think would happen if you blended a boy band, a dance-off, alien invasion and good ol’ British humor together? You’d get this video! It seems to be a generic boy band music video filled with male-peacocks and dancing, but that’s where you’re wrong. A special guest arrives and shows those boy banders up. Now, when the chorus does come around, if you’re anything like me, a look of revulsion will slowly shape your face into a big “WHAT THE H???”, trust in me though, it gets better ;-)
I hope you get your dance on with this. What are you dressing up as for Halloween?
Modest Mussorgsky – Night On Bald Mountain
October 28, 2012
The finale of October’s “spooky” classical music is none other than Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky’s (mo-dest, not maw-dest) diabolical work, Night On Bald Mountain. This is another famous work that has been used and referenced numerous times in pop culture. It was one of the first tone poems from a Russian composer (remember tone poems from Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre?). The story that this tone poem tells goes something like this (taken from program notes included in the score):
“Subterranean sounds of unearthly voices. Appearance of the Spirits of Darkness, followed by that of Chernobog. Glorification of Chernobog and celebration of the Black Mass. Witches’ Sabbath. At the height of the orgy, the bell of the little village church is heard from afar. The Spirits of Darkness are dispersed. Daybreak.”
As with Danse Macabre you can definitely hear the story as the music progresses (fyi, chernobog means “black god” in Russian). Any of you who watched Disney’s Fantasia as a child will be familiar with this piece. I believe it’s the last song, the creepy one with the big demon on the mountain. The version in Fantasia is slightly different, however, being an arrangement made by that conductor, Leopold Stokowski. In fact, that’s not the only time this piece has been re-arranged. It’s got quite the convoluted history, so if you care to find out, continue onward.
Mussorgsky originally wrote and titled it St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain, but his mentor at the time refused to perform it. Mussorgsky then took parts of his tone poem and used them in other subsequent compositions. The original version was never actually published until 1968, 100 years after Mussorgsky finished it in 1897. In fact, the version I present you with here and the one most widely recognized and performed is an arrangement from fellow Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (if I haven’t covered him yet, rest assured I will in the future). This version was composed in 1886, 5 years after Mussorgsky’s death, as Rimsky-Korsakov was going through the late composer’s works to prepare them for publication. Rimsky-Korsakov came across one of the compositions using some of Mussorgsky’s ideas from his original work and turned it into a full orchestral edition. Rimsky-Korsakov didn’t actually use the original tone poem in his re-working of Mussorgsky’s music; he didn’t realize at the time that the original St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain was in fact already a finished work. This is a condensed version of the history; you can find the complete background here.
I had fun picking out the songs for this month. I think they definitely show that not all classical music is boring, slow, and sounds the same. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Here’s Stokowski’s version for Fantasia if you’d like to listen and compare:
– cheerlubber
Boy & Bear – Mexican Mavis (Snapdragons Remix) (free download)
October 25, 2012
Sounds similar to: Powderfinger, Ewert & The Two Dragons, Little Birdy
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface here.
Remixes, those wonderful, and sometimes fatally awful, re-imaginings of another song. This particular re-creation takes a song that is acoustically soft, slow, gentle, picks it up out of it’s Mumford-ish doldrums, folds it in on itself, and chucks it into the stylings of yesteryear. This is dubbed by Snapdragons as a Retro Remix but also it begins to sound akin to a few La Roux keyboard riffs and bass lines.
You’ll have a real TREAT from this TRICK of remixing! The treat being that if you follow the player above, you can download this for FREE!!!
For a song so fun, it’s hard to believe there are only 36 “Likes” on their Facebook page, but I suppose they’re just starting out. Makes me excited to see what more they have in store!
Snapdragons – Facebook Official Page
St. Lucia – All Eyes On You
October 23, 2012
— 2 Comments
Sounds similar to: Foxes, Strange Talk, Ben Browning, Empire of The Sun
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface reporting in,
Much like the paradise it borrowed it’s name from, St. Lucia is relaxing and comes at you in warm, gentle, lapping waves of musical goodness. St. Lucia himself is a world traveler. He started out in South Africa and wound up in Brooklyn via London. This vagabond-ish past could be a good explanation for his honed sound that resonates like a modern take of all the best elements of 80’s music, complete with a saxophone solo in the bridge (remember what i’ve said in posts past? Saxophone is making a comeback, trust me!)
This song is actually very sweet and heartfelt. “I will never take back, The words that I said then, I always knew I’d come back to you….Even in the meantime, I will always stand by, A mirror on the shelf” ending with “I will always have all eyes on you.” What girl does NOT want their man-loves eyes locked on them all the time!! Now, these may be empty words and promises really, but I find this song has captivated my heart and you can bet that I had it (like many other music gems) on repeat for a solid week.
I hope you enjoy this brief phonic getaway!
Edvard Grieg – In The Hall of the Mountain King
October 21, 2012
Ahh, a classic. I touched on composer Edvard Grieg a bit once before (looks a bit like a Norwegian Albert Einstein, don’t you think?), also with a song from the Peer Gynt Suite (see my post on Anitra’s Dance). I told you then that you’re probably more familiar with Grieg than you’d think, and now here I am again presenting one of his most famous songs to you. We lost our CD that had Peer Gynt on it, unfortunately, so I’ve been on the hunt for some good recordings. Haven’t quite found one yet I’m totally in love with so sorry the quality of this mp3 is a little crummy. However, while searching for a good copy, I did discover that Apocalyptica apparently did a cover of this iconic song once upon a time too. Interesting. > o>
Now I can’t quite remember the story behind this song off the top of my head–something about the lad Peer Gynt trying to rescue someone from some trolls I think?–but I do remember that when I would listen to the Peer Gynt Suite CD many times over as a child, I always got especially interactive with this particular song. As the song starts out slow I would tip-toe around, but as it picked up speed and got faster (the version we had was a particularly fast recording), I would start running in place like a madman, pretending I was running away from the Mountain King, whoever he was. Thank goodness I usually did it with just myself in my parents’ bedroom because there’s no doubt I looked mighty silly doing it. I swear I don’t do it anymore, guyz.
Anyway, this song is frequently used in commercials or movies for a frantic or mischievous scene. You should recognize it right away. I thought it would go along mighty well with the whole October theme with classical music I’m doing here. Hope you enjoy it! Look forward til next Sunday for the big, grand, spooky finale!
– cheerlubber
Yeasayer – O.N.E.
October 19, 2012
— 2 Comments
Sounds similar to: Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Santigold
Hi there, Dr. Whuzzerface here.
This music video is captivating, visually and sonically. It’s almost as if there’s a huge backstory to this that we’ll never fully understand but the story they put in front of you depicts a futuristic entertainment-filled warehouse club venue. The main character, who’s exact species is unknown to me, enters the establishment and enters into an enthralling board game with another opponent. I’d love to learn out to play the game, I’m sure it was made up just for the video. Other things I love about this video: the colors, the clothing and dance moves of the trio of dancers (and the fact that the first time you see them, they’re hooded and look like the gay cousins of the Nazgûl, a.k.a. ring wraiths from LOTR), the glowing jewel synthesizer that the band plays, I love the funky fish tank glitter swimming person-thing and most especially, I LOVE THIS SONG!
The lyrics of this song portray someone who’s been fooled/played by the same person for too long, and now they have no pull on the heartstrings of their victim. I applaud people like this! The bridge of the song even eludes to the process of realization from feeling sedated or tranquilized to finally waking up with the recognition of the persons true toxic character. Additionally, it’s a fuuuuun song to dance to so I hope you enjoy it on this gorgeous Friday. Yeasayer came out with a new album in August that is quite clever, make sure to check out “Fragrant World”. Cheers!
Noisia – Alpha Centauri (Excision & Datsik Remix)
October 16, 2012
Sounds similar to: Rusko, Bassnectar, Diplo
When someone tells you something like “Oh dubstep? Yeah, I looooove dubstep. That Skrillex is awesome.” Ask them these two things “Oh yeah, I thought ‘Slats, slats, slats’ was better than ‘Scary Monsters’. What’d you think?” and then follow up with “So what other dubstep artists do you like?” Chances are, they don’t know anything about dubstep, really, and if they cannot think of anyone besides Skrillex that does dubstep, they’re just another of many bandwagoners who truly have no concept of the movement. However, we can forgive their ignorance and show them how truly EPIC good dub is. Case in point:
Datsik. Considered to be one of the original DJ’s to get down and dubby, Datsik’s compilations and mixes always seem to make my head ‘esplode with his Picasso-ish reworks of songs. Excision is also coming along nicely these days, he’s been lucky lately to keep teaming up with the right mix of artists to create unique songs that show great potential. A tidbit about the original artist here: the name NOISIA comes from a VHS tape that was turned upside down that read “VISION” (do you see it? NOISIA:VISION). Without further ado, I turn you over to the dubstep fiends, who will help you lose your mind in the electronic dub-wonderland!
Noisia – Alpha Centauri Remix – Amazon.comMP3’s
Raging Contagion 