Magic Box - Scream My Name

"If you really love me, let me hear my name again"

From Korea to Finland and now to Italy... this week has been quite the pop odyssey so far! I don't recall posting many songs from Italy, but when something this irresistibly catchy knocks on my door, I sit up and listen. On the surface, Scream My Name is a pretty standard EDM track, with the standard instrumental build and incessant beat. But this one has a dynamo of a hook and I really like the singer's voice. It feels more like a pop band going dance than the other way around. As EDM becomes more popular, I think it also becomes more important that the genre doesn't rely solely on production tricks. Underneath all of that gloss, it's still the song that counts.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Kliff - Mun Jopo

I know it's been days since I posted a song with English lyrics, but I've got one more foreign-language song today. It's weird. As my music tastes continue to go more global, I'm finding that at times I actually prefer songs performed in a language different than my own. It really allows me to focus more on the melody and production and, for whatever reason, keeps the songs "fresher" longer (ie: I don't get sick of them as quickly). I particularly love the sound of Finnish. There's something really cool about the accent and the sounds of the language itself. Kliff are a new band from Finland, with a dynamic pop/urban/schizophrenic flare. In that way, it's very reminiscent of modern K-Pop (particularly Exo's Wolf from last year, which this reminds me a lot of). One thing's for sure: that chorus sticks--and sticks hard--in your brain.

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(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

2NE1 - Come Back Home

"You gotta do what you gotta do"

Now that Melodifestivalen is over for another year, I can focus on other parts of the world again. Over in South Korea, the big news is the album comeback (after way too long) of amazing girl group 2NE1. When I first listened to the album, I was a little underwhelmed, but YG productions have a way of growing on me in major ways. Lead single Come Back Home is one of those instances. I was expecting something with a faster tempo throughout, but it turns out that this hodgepodge of hip hop, pop, reggae, dance is just what I actually wanted from them. It's a weird little track, with one hell of a hook. I've basically had it stuck in my head for the past week. There's just something about this group's sound. It's like nothing else out there.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.