This city’s got a great music scene. There are LOTS of really brilliant people doing incredibly interesting things here and we are lucky to have their talent. This Thursday (Dec. 3) we are hosting The 8th Annual Radio Milwaukee Music Awards to honor that talent, and we also asked five Milwaukee musicians to share the songs that they love with us. Here, WebsterX, Soul Low, Kiings, Testa Rosa, and Juiceboxxx tell you the songs they can’t stop listening to.
Hear all 5 Songs We Can't Stop Listening To:
1. WebsterX picks “Oatmeal” by London O’ Connor
Justin Barney: “Webster X, what is one song you can’t stop listening to?”
WebsterX: “London O’Connor’s “Oatmeal.” I still can’t stop listening to that.”
JB: “You knew that right away. Why that song?”
WebsterX: “Because it’s so synth-y and I like really heavy synth base and all that stuff. London O’Connor is this kid, if you don’t know, he’s from the East Coast he’s also just like this dude who also just like skates around town and stuff. He’s got this really natural vibe to him but a lot of people have been like picking him up over this last summer. And he just makes really good music, too. He is Black Beck – that’s the best way I can put London O’Connor. That’s the only way I can describe him.”
- Listen if you like: WebsterX, Raury, deep synths
2. Soul Low picks “Opressor” by Krill
Justin Barney: “Why that song?”
Jake Balistrieri: “Um, it’s very relatable. I’m unemployed right now and spend a lot of time at home and that is pretty much what the song is about: self-deprecating.”
“Unemployment. Oh, it’s excellent. I’m not complaining. I’m just idle a lot. Krill is really relatable to me, too, as an artist because of the vocal style. Just high-pitched, kind of nasally voice, something I live by every day when I wake up unemployed.”
JB: “I love that, too. Like, for some reason. Why do I love nasally, high voices?”
Jake: “It’s weird. I think it’s because I had so much time spent listening to Spongebob as a child. And now I’m like, ‘Finally, now I can be Spongebob’”
- Listen if you like: Soul Low, Burger Records, Spongebob Squarepants
3. Kiings pick “Sittin’ Sidewayz” by Paul Wall
Justin Barney: “Let’s go deep here, what was your favorite song listening to in middle school basketball?”
Chris Siegal: “Let’s see...that, I don’t know, that’s embarrassing.”
JB: “I know. That was like early 2000’s. It was the worst time in hip-hop. That was like the ‘bling era hip-hop.’ I remember going to a game in New Berlin, listening to Paul Wall on the way there.”
Chris: “pssshhhh ‘Sitting Sideways’, that’s still a good one. *laughs* It’s really random, on a sidenote, we DJ’d this free art show in Chicago, Paul has his own alcohol, like vodka.”
JB: “Really?”
Chris: “Yeah, and his vodka was like free the entire day. He was supposed to show up or something but he didn’t make it. But, Paul Wall thank you for the free vodka. Did you have a grill? You had a grill.”
JB: “I wish I did. I wanted one, sure. Not gonna lie about that.”
Chris: “It was the hip-hop life.”
JB: “It was.”
- Listen if you like: Kiings, Bling era hip-hop, middle school basketball
4. Testa Rosa picks “Hobart Paving by Saint Etienne
Justin Barney: “Betty, what’s one song that you can’t stop listening to?”
Betty Strigens: “The song, Hobart Paving by Saint Etienne and the primary reason it’s in my head a lot is because a friend who recently passed away asked me to sing it, along with a couple of other friends, to perform it at his funeral. His name is Dave Monroe, local DJ. And it’s a beautifully written song and the lyrics talk about trivial, small things that actually paint a very full picture. The rain is falling like Elvis tears and it’s got all these details. She says, ‘Don’t forget to catch me, Hobart Paving’ to me, it’s kind of like a love song to the pavement.”
JB: “That must have been difficult to perform.”
Betty: “It was hard. The first time he asked me, this was about a month ago, he knew he was dying then and I made the mistake of listening to it in my cube at work, you know? And I’m going to cry just thinking about it. It was like, ‘oh, why did I play it?’ It’s been in my head for like a month.
- Listen if you like: Testa Rosa, Julia Holter, piano ballads
5. Juiceboxxx picks “Pacifier” by Young Thug
Justin Barney: “Juiceboxx, what’s one song you can’t stop listening to?”
Juiceboxxx: “Well, I think one song I’ve been listening to a lot is ‘Pacifier’ by Young Thug. I just think he’s such an exciting rapper – probably the most exciting rapper – and the song feels, just feels monumental. It feels like it could open up a new world. It’s the new ‘Bombs Over Bagdad.’ It just like sits alone as this singular rap song. It just gets me so psyched, ya know? There’s like a break beat, a very classically hip-hop break beat, but then Mike WiLL Made-It produced it and then it goes half-time and then it’s like Southern rap. But then the break beat is still running throughout the track double-time. It’s like pretty poppy but it’s still idiosyncratic and sick. It’s just like, Young Thug is the best rapper, right now.”
- Listen if you like: Juiceboxxx, classic break beats, abstraction delivery