5 Songs We Can't Stop Listening To is a collection of our newest favorite songs. Every week, we ask an artist that we love to tell us about the music they love.
But this week, we are in the membership drive. So, I want to highlight some of the people that work here all the time that you don’t hear on-air. Before working here I thought, “It’s just one person in the entire building,” but we have a full building full of people working all the time to make this happen.
Listen to the whole segment and all the songs below.
1. The Parrots – “Soy Peor”
Justin Barney: Steph, what is your title?
Steph Baghai: I am an underwriting assistant.
Justin Barney: What does that mean? What do you do?
Steph Baghai: Basically, I help the underwriting department, which leads all the partnerships and awesome connections we have throughout Milwaukee with great businesses and organizations. We are a non-profit, so we rely heavily on all those partnerships and amazing people that make this run the way it does.
Justin Barney: Right on. I know that you’re a big music fan.
Steph Baghai: I am.
Justin Barney: What’s one song that you can’t stop listening to?
Steph Baghai: Right now it’s The Parrots, “Soy Peor.” It’s actually a Bad Bunny cover, so it incorporates two of my favorite genres: garage rock and reggaeton, so right up my ally. It’s really fun and great for some sunshine. After all this cold, it’s the best thing that could ever happen.
Justin Barney: If you could describe the sound, what would you describe it as?
Steph Baghai: I would it’s a very upbeat, rock n roll, fun jam.
Justin Barney: I feel like we both like scuzzy stuff. Is it scuzzy?
Steph Baghai: It is scuzzy enough, but also very uplifting, so you want to dance to it.
Justin Barney: You’re not in the garbage, you’re next to it.
Steph Baghai: Right, dancing in the garage next to the garbage.
- The Parrots cover of Bad Bunny's "Soy Peor" was released in March 2018
- Listen if you like: Bad Bunny covers, dancing next to the garbage
00000184-c387-d511-ada5-ffdf52dd0000 2. The Cranberries – “Zombie”
Justin Barney: Maddie, what is your title?
Maddy Riordan: I am the event coordinator for a program we have in house called Cultural Commons, which basically seeks to bring diverse audiences together to love on one another, to learn more about one another, and to have conversations with one another.
Justin Barney: That’s awesome. I was going to ask you but you already did it.
Maddy Riordan: Awesome!
Justin Barney: So what’s one song that you can’t stop listening to?
Maddy Riordan: I’m going to have to go with “Zombie” by The Cranberries.
Justin Barney: Yeah! Right on. Why “Zombie?”
Maddy Riordan: I guess the reason I chose it is because my 4 year-old is obsessed with zombies right now. Although, the song itself isn’t really about the undead, it’s easy to sing with her.
Justin Barney: Does she love it?
Maddy Riordan: She does love it.
Justin Barney: Does she get into the throatiness of it?
Maddy Riordan: Not so much. I think she’ll get there eventually. She’s only four, so… The Cranberries is also a nostalgic group for me. I grew up listening to The Cranberries and it was the first concert I ever went to.
Justin Barney: No way!
Maddy Riordan: Yes.
Justin Barney: You only get one.
Maddy Riordan: You only get one. That is so true. Watching Dolores O'Riordan, who I pretended growing up was a part of my family because we have the same last name. I also did that with Macaulay Culkin, but that is a different story. Watching her descend these white stairs in a white pantsuit down to a white piano is an image that I will never get out of my head.
- "Zombie" was released in 1994 on The Cranberries' second studio album "No Need to Argue"
- Listen if you like: Classic 90's jams
3. Digable Planets – “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”
Justin Barney: Nicole, what do you do?
Nicole Beilke: I am the web editor here, so all of the articles and content we have digitally...I am behind the scenes editing stuff, writing articles as well. You’ll see me online.
Justin Barney: At RadioMilwaukee.org. Check that plug. What’s one song you can’t stop listening to?
Nicole Beilke: Right now, when spring is approaching and I’m driving around, windows down, I have been listening to Digable Planets' “Rebirth of Slick” so many times.
Justin Barney: Oh my God. They just did a re-release of that album on vinyl. What do you like about Digable Planets?
Nicole Beilke: What do I like? I just feel like a cooler person when I listen to them.
Justin Barney: “Rebirth of Slick,” a take on “Birth of the Cool” by Miles Davis. What do you like about this song?
Nicole Beilke: I want to be the human embodiment of a sick bassline. That makes me as close as I can get, I think.
- “Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” was released in 1993 on Digable Planets' album, "Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)"
- Listen if you like: Classic hip hop and sick basslines
Cody Gaisser - “Wish There Was A Way”
Every year, we have this event called Sound Bites at the Iron Horse Hotel. Restaurants all around town are paired up with DJs from here at 88.9. They pair a dish with a song. There is also an auction, which Bridget Flynn won and is our guest today for our 5 Songs We Can’t Stop Listening To segment.
Justin Barney: Bridget, what is one song that you can’t stop listening to?
Bridget Flynn: I had to find something that, 1, I didn’t think you would know, 2 would…
Justin Barney: Not a prerequisite, but okay.
Bridget Flynn: I wanted it to be sort of a sad song, so my pick is Cody Gaisser, “Wish There Was A Way.”
Justin Barney: Okay, so I don’t know it. Good. We’re on the right track. Tell me more about it.
Bridget Flynn: So I met Cody probably 15 years ago, and he’s a singer/songwriter out of Florence, Alabama. It’s fun, but it’s a little sad.
Justin Barney: Do you remember hearing it for the first time?
Bridget Flynn: I do. He used to come in and do open-mic nights at the place I worked. The first time I met him, he was just this little 16 year-old guy. He pulled out a guitar and no one really thought anything of it, and he opened his mouth and I was like “Oh my God! My life is changed.” He’s got this crazy voice that I just love.
- “Wish There Was A Way” was released in 2002 on Gaisser’s “Good As Velvet” EP.
- Listen if you like: Kyle Craft, Van Morrison, gritty vocals and guitar
- Get tickets to Sound Bites here.
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4. Disclosure – "When a Fire Starts to Burn"
Justin Barney: Kyle, what do you do here, what is your title?
Kyle Heller: I am the facilities manager. I manage everything that goes on in the building. I also manage events and rentals.
Justin Barney: Right on. So we wouldn’t be on the air right now if it wasn’t for you helping us with the building.
Kyle Heller: That’s how I like to look at it.
Justin Barney: Right on. It’s an essential part. What’s one song you can’t stop listening to?
Kyle Heller: “When a Fire Starts to Burn” by Disclosure
Justin Barney: Right on. We like Disclosure and have played them forever. What do you like about this song?
Kyle Heller: It’s become a tradition for my family. We listen to records when we eat dinner and my daughter, she’s six-years-old, she really likes the song, so we tend to start our dinners with this song.
Justin Barney: Really? What’s her favorite part?
Kyle Heller: The whole song. She just likes to say “When a fire starts to burn right, it starts to spread,” over and over again.
Justin Barney: Sounds kind of troubling as a father.
Kyle Heller: Eh… I mean I want to encourage those fires, you know? They’re good fires.
Justin Barney: Right. A fire burning within.
Kyle Heller: Yeah. “Passion,” we call it.
- "When a Fire Starts to Burn" was released on Disclosure's 2013 album "Settle"
- Listen if you like: Dancing your heart out
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5. Caroline Rose - “Smile! AKA Schizodrift Jam 1 AKA Bikini Intro” and “Bikini”
Justin Barney: Sarah McClanahan, what is your position at 88.9?
Sarah McClanahan: Marketing manager.
Justin Barney: What do you do as marketing manager?
Sarah McClanahan: What don’t I do? A little bit of this, a little bit of that, but mostly work on our emails, work on our external communications.
Justin Barney: What’s one song you can’t stop listening to?
Sarah McClanahan: Well, I know it’s a song, but I got an intro and I got a song, so it’s technically two songs, but the total run time is 3:18, so I feel like we’re good.
Justin Barney: So we’re introing the intro right now, essentially.
Sarah McClanahan: Yeah. It’s very meta of us.
Justin Barney: What’s the name of it?
Sarah McClanahan: Alright so the name of the intro song is “Smile! AKA Schizodrift Jam 1 AKA Bikini Intro” and what song does it intro?
Justin Barney: Yes?
Sarah McClanahan: The song “Bikini.”
Justin Barney: Wonderful, and why are we picking this?
Sarah McClanahan: We haven’t said the artist’s name either: Caroline Rose. So, first time I heard the intro to this song, I was like “This is unlistenable. Well, glad that was only 49 seconds of my life.” Then it intros “Bikini.” It’s kind of like a surf rock kind of thing going on and it’s groovy. I’m like, “Alright, we’re back!” but then, “Bikini” does the same thing as “Smile.” The whole thing is just very repetitive. I’m like, “Man, this is super annoying.” Then, you go back and listen a second time, right? Because you’re a true music appreciator like “I must have missed something.” You realize that she’s dialing into the times right now. The song “Smile” is essentially a bunch of people telling a woman to smile, which women get all the time. The song “Bikini” is about a woman’s experience in Hollywood. Telling her, “We’re going to get you all the things you want. We’re going to fulfill your dreams. To do that we’re just going to need you to put on this bikini and dance.” They say that over and over and over again to the point that you’re just so annoyed and so angry, but then you fuel that anger into a fun surf rock song.
Justin Barney: Oh my God, I love this.
- "Bikini" and its intro are from Caroline Rose's new album "LONER" available now
- Listen if you enjoy: Dancy surf rock bops
