CIVL’s Aaron Levy features CIVL’s two newest programs this week, with the first two selections pulled from Arthur Atlas’s Monday afternoon Style in Music, and the second pair from David Neale’s The Wired Corner on Friday afternoons!
Alec Benjamin – “The Way You Felt” (Chinese Version)
The way I felt listening to this song’s performance, having no understanding of the lyrics — and never having heard the original recording in English beforehand — was that I was blown away by how all-encompassingly pan-Asian pop music is shattering the standards set for westerners. Turns out, Benjamin is Phoenician.
Jackson Wang – “Blow”
Almost a 180 in a couple of different ways. The rockier elements call back to the gothic, anthemic emo of mid-00s bands like My Chemical Romance, The Used, Brand New, and others of the like. But the slow breakdown of the chorus is a welcome flip on ostensible mall-punk.
The Prodigy – “Voodoo Child”
A song I’d heard at least every weekend in my youth, wordlessly announcing the witching hour or thereabouts on commercial rock radio — at a night out dancing in downtown Toronto, in the car, on the way back from dinner with family, seeing a movie, or catching a game. Who knew it was Prodigy?!
Deadmau5 – “Ghosts ‘n Stuff” (ft. Rob Squire)
A now-classic, last-minute addition to the inaugural episode of The Wired Corner, this Burlington, Ontario-born and raised mouse-head turned house-heads right ‘round across the world leading up to the 2010s dubstep explosion. This song was rock radio ready, making the rounds no matter where you were.
