So I’ve been a bit shit and not posted in 17 days (an update for my baby fistful of readers) and been feeling horrendous about it because I have tunes to gush about! This time, I’ve decided to play with a term I first heard on BBC 6music a couple of years ago. You know that delicious but inconvenient feeling when a song gets stuck in your head and you can’t get it out no matter what you do, where you go, how boring your lunch or your companions are? (Actually, it’s great to have a tune in your head for these mundane moments because it’s what keeps you from yanking out eyeballs! Others’, not your own.) THAT kind of special, life-saving, daydream-aiding, toes-beneath-desk-tapping, choreographing-dance-moves-in-the-shower sort of SONG, is called….an EARWORM. Since you and I probably have seventy three such tunes in our eyeball-saving mental library, I’ve picked five earworms that only entered my life recently. Preeeeesenting my fourth Cracker Mini Mix: The Electric Earworm
- Impossible – Lion Babe (Interscope Records)
My undying love and reverence for Annie Mac is not a secret. Recently, Mele did a five-minute mini mix for her that prevented my brazenly bad Tuesday from getting even worse. THAT is what I call a ninja tune! (Pun intended, for those who got it). Anyway, I tweeted her, she ‘favourited’ it and it was the single most glorious moment of 2015 for me. Here, check out my not-so-humble screenshot:
The point behind my starry-eyed revelation is, it was through an Annie show on Radio 1 about a month ago that I first encountered the don’t-mess-with-me-vibe of Lion Babe. Isn’t that a baller name? Imagine introducing yourself: ‘It’s Lion Babe. First name Lion, last name Babe’. Lion Babe are actually are a duo from New York (comprising badass front woman Jillian Hervey and instrumentalist Lucas Goodman) and while they’ve been putting out music since 2012 I only heard them (via Annie) with ‘Impossible’ a month ago. The next time you’re feeling a bit low or annoyed and need to feel a bit gangsta again, listen to this. It’s been my go-to song to play while I take a morning shower or need a post-lunch pick me up. (Also recommend ‘Jump Hi’ by them, featuring Childish Gambino).
- Yeah Yeah Yeah – Jax Jones (Eton Messy)
If you’re into dance music and your introduction to it began in the nineties, Moby was instrumental in opening a whole new world to you (at least that’s how it was for me!). One of my favourite feelings is encountering a tune by a contemporary producer that makes my skin cells feel exactly like they did with an old favourite. Dance music (and pretty much all music) is a mutating creature that consciously or subconsciously borrows from past or present influences while rooting them in a personalised context, so this isn’t my scientific breakthrough. However, with ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’, Jax Jones has done for me now what Moby did for me then with ‘Lift Me Up’. I kind of told him:
It’s a killer, check it out. Also, it happens to be on Eton Messy, one of the coolest independent dance labels out there.
- Foreign Language feat Jess – Flight Facilities (Future Classic)
So. Now that you’re (hopefully) enjoying my electric earworms, this one falls into a special place. I’m a bit of a disco douche, being overly partial to music that favours shameless synths and inflated beats above all else. Nothing screams contented flamboyance like disco can. This one is a few years old, but I still feel not enough people are fawning over the bottled happiness that Flight Facilities have to offer. I also used this as one of the accompanying tunes for my friend Abhik’s Martini Candyland review for our joint venture ‘The Melting Mixtape’ https://radiowasabi.wordpress.com/category/the-melting-mixtape/ but because I listen to it every other day, it’s definitely an earworm. It’s perfect to get ready to, especially if you’re planning to look a bit sexy.
- Boy Boy Boy – andhim (Black Butter Records)
While this has been around for a year, I only discovered it after hearing about it on Beatport a couple of months ago. Although the only vocal you hear is the constant ‘boy boy boy’, it’s the looped, trippy guitar notes that make this track an electric earworm. It’s one of those no-brainer mood boosters splashed over a cheeky bassline. When it comes to streaming music from YouTube, I have to admit I don’t usually watch the video because it’s open in another window and I just want the song. BUT, the video for this track is pure hilarity, I guarantee you’ll go ‘whaaa?’ while watching it but will definitely laugh!
- Tove Lo – Talking Body (Jax Jonex Remix)
Yes, I’m on a bit of a Jax Jones fangirl trip these days. Tove Lo is not an unfamiliar name to anyone sort of familiar with the charts this past year, and while ‘Talking Body’ made a huge ripple (not least because of its straightforward lyrics) it’s this remix that’s made it to my electric earworm selection. You’ve got to reserve judgement until the 47 second mark though, ‘cause that’s when it gets you. And after that, it keeps getting you until it becomes a staple in your espresso-replacement part of the day when more coffee would be lethal and so you resort to a headphone rush to keep things going. Really sexy house bassline twist to a pop record, frantic but tight. Can’t get enough.
There you have it, my five electric earworms that’ll live in your cranium for weeks! I also made a playlist of them on my Soundcloud page, lucky you!
Do you have any earworms you’d like to share? Tweet me at @chooncracker or write to me at chooncracker@gmail.com
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