5 Songs We Can't Stop Listening to is a collection of our newest favorite songs. And Every week we ask an artist that we love to tell us about the music they love.
Listen to the whole thing in the player below.
1. Rhye picks “Stabat Mater” by Pergolesi
Our guest today is Mike Milosh, singer of the Canadian R&B group Rhye. They released the album “Woman” in 2013. They also recently released their new album “Blood” on February 2nd, which includes the song “Taste.”
Justin Barney: Mike, what is one song right now that you can’t stop listening to?
Mike Milosh: It’s going to be really weird because it’s not contemporary at all, but it’s the truth.
It’s an Italian composer from 400 years ago writing a composition that is religious in nature. I’m not personally religious, but it is “Stabat Mater” and Pergolesi, the composer. So it’s not a contemporary piece in anyway, it just happens to be what I’m listening to a lot right now.
I just love the vocal phrasing, the note selection, what it does to you when you hear it; the feeling of putting you on that borderline of tears almost, if it’s the right performance. It has this ability to pull, or conjure, emotions up in the air that they just start to swell. I personally get that feeling where it’s almost like you’re going to cry and it’s almost like the choke combined.
It’s that feeling, but there’s nothing that’s triggering you in your own life that’s making you feel that. It’s literally the song. It’s the music; is making you feel, or makes me feel like I’m not going to just hear it. You know?
- Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” was originally composed in 1736.
- Listen if you like: Classical music, opera, hymns
2. Sitcom – “Orange Slice”
“Orange Slice” is definitely a vibe. And that vibe is chill. Made by Philly’s own Jake Lasovick, it’s a blissed out love where he’s very casually reflecting and thinking about this relationship and what it means. He says “When you’re around, I calm down,” but I could never imagine him not being calm. He’s got clever lines, the production is good, but the overall appeal of this song is how laid back, confident, cool and mellow he is.
- “Orange Slice” will appear on the “Be The One You Love” mixtape by Sitcom.
- Listen if you like: laid back vibes, relaxed deliveries, comfort behind the mic
3. Rostam picks “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake
Our guest today is Rostam. He started his music career in the band Vampire Weekend. Recently, he has moved on and released his own solo album, “Half-Light,” which includes the song “Bike Dream.”
Justin Barney: Hello, Rostam.
Rostam: Hey, how’s it going?
Justin Barney: Good. At our studio session, you covered the song “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake. Why did you choose to cover that song?
Rostam: It was a song that I’ve loved since I was a kid, then when I was in college I got into the whole album and I got into Nick Drake as a whole. I got into all of his records. What’s different about the album “Pink Moon” is that there’s no instruments on it except for guitar and vocals- acoustic guitar specifically, and vocals. “Pink Moon” the song is the one song that has a piano line that comes in, so it’s like the one deviation.
Justin Barney: Uh-huh
Rostam: The story that I heard about the making of that record was, it was his third album, he had made two other albums that had a lot of instruments on them; a lot of arrangements, and drums, keyboards, and various things. He decided that on this third album he didn’t want to add anything to it. He just wanted to leave it how it was, just acoustic and vocals. It is my favorite of his albums, and it’s also one of my favorite albums of all time.
Justin Barney: Then it sold terribly, and he quit doing music after.
Rostam: Yeah, apparently he struggled with live performances because all of his songs were in different tunings, so it would take him a long time to retune the guitar.
Justin Barney: Yeah, never great.
Rostam: So that’s why I only do one song with acoustic guitar in my live show, and that’s “Pink Moon.”
Justin Barney: Right on. “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake
- “Pink Moon” was originally released in 1972 on the album of the same name.
- Listen if you like: British folkies, singer songwriters, one of the greatest songs of all time
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.
4. Wild Ones – “Invite Me In”
Every Thursday on 5 Songs We Can’t Stop Listening To, we talk to one of our staff members here at Radio Milwaukee about one song that they cannot stop listening to. Today, we are talking to one of our interns, Josh Ehlke.
Justin Barney: What are you listening to, Josh?
Josh Ehlke: I have been listening to this song by this band Wild Ones. They put it out last year on this fantastic album called “Mirror Touch.” The song is “Invite Me In” and what I really like about it is essentially the chorus. It starts off really slow and spacy, dreamlike, and then it hits this groove right in the chorus with this… the vocal melody is basically following the bass line, which you don’t hear a whole lot in a lot of pop music. I think it’s just really neat. I love a good groove. Great album.
Justin Barney: So how did you discover Wild Ones?
Josh Ehlke: They are on one of my favorite labels, Topshelf Records, which has a bunch of my favorite bands on it. Usually once a year they do an entire day where you can just go and download all of their music for free, essentially.
Justin Barney: Interesting.
Josh Ehlke: I went in and downloaded probably like 35 albums… maybe not that many, but Wild Ones was one of them. Their first album was on there. I just fell in love. They have such a cool sound. I think they’re a band that really needs to be heard more. They’re building up a lot, but I think not enough people know about them. They’ve definitely got that sound that I think a lot of people could really enjoy. I just... I love them.
- “Invite Me In” was released in 2017 on the album, “Mirror Touch.”
- Listen if you like: Topshelf Records, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, Hazel English
5. Sex Park – “Dignity”
Despite the bands unfortunate band name, Sex Park makes some pretty good music. The genre, surely up for debate, I’m gonna say is post-punk. Punctuated by dark synthesizers, a pedal heavy guitar that never really stops, and a vocal that sounds like it was recorded from the other side of the room that fits just under everything in the mix. Post-punk, kind of started by bands like Wire and perfected by Joy Division, continues here in 2018 with multitudes of subgenres that each give the genre something different.
“Dignity’s” synths are thick, and the drums are propulsive. Like the best in it’s genre, it gets your head to turn off everything that’s around you and live in the song.
- Sex Park’s new album, “Atrium” is available now on bandcamp.
- Listen if you like: Joy Division, shoegaze, post-punk
5. Iceage – “Catch It”
“Catch It” is a song that endures. You can feel the difficulty in this song. It slogs, going foot after foot after foot. Enduring, whatever metaphor you want to insert here, the difficulty of life, the difficulty of existence, the brooding pain of insignificance, whatever it may be, Iceage captures it.
It has these bells that are tolling and they get kind of faster and faster in the mechanics of this song and you start to feel like you are overcoming something and getting to the end of whatever slog you may be in right now.
- “Catch It” was released last week as a single.
- Listen if you like: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, brooding, Protomartyr