Key Change – gingerBFG: Recent Episodes
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At the risk of stating the obvious, Joni Mitchell has had a massive influence across her career, but how did her album Blue come to define the sound of 2019?
Featuring:
- Joni Mitchell’s All I Want, A Case of You and River
- Weyes Blood’s Andromeda
- Julia Jacklin’s Body
- Phoebe Bridgers’ Motion Sickness
- Stella Donnelly’s Boys Will Be Boys
- Lucy Dacus’s Night Shift
- Angel Olsen’s Not Gonna Kill You
- Laura Jean’s Girls on the TV
- Julia Holter’s Marienbad
- Cate Le Bon’s The Light
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
She copped a lot of grief, but is the White Stripes drummer better than you remember?
Featuring:
- The White Stripes’s Fell In Love With A Girl, Hotel Yorba, The Hardest Button To Button, and Icky Thump
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
Unless you’re one of the lucky ones, even seeing the words Baby Shark is enough to get you humming, “doo doo doo-doo do-doo” under your breath. It’s a great illustration of how repetitive hooks mess with your brain, and how that power can be used for good (or evil, depending on how you feel about Baby Shark).
Repetition in music is a big subject, so I’ve focused on repetitive lyrics and what they do to us. By total coincidence, Vox Earworm put out a very similar piece on this phenomenon, and Earwom videos are ALWAYS worth a look.
Featuring:
- Pinkfong’s Baby Shark
- Eiffel 65’s Blue
- The Kingsmen’s Louie Louie
- Lil Pump’s Gucci Gang
- Migos’s Versace
- Dolly Parton’s Jolene
- Britney Spears’ Womanizer
- The National’s Afraid of Everyone
- Rihanna’s Work (feat. Drake)
- Hot Chip’s Over and Over
- Carly Rae Jepsen’s Store
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
Not quite real, not quite fake, but more powerful than both, Undead Strings are pure power, like a lich in musical form. Sharp and merciless, Undead Strings were once sounds made by musical instruments, but they underwent a strange transformation to become unstoppable.
Featuring:
- The Veronica’s Untouched
- Britney Spears’ Toxic
- S. P. Balasubrahmanyam’s Tere Mere Beech Mein (from the movie Ek Duuje Ke Liye)
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
Sorry for the clickbait title – obviously Ms Swift can and does say “off”. But critically, she doesn’t say it in the title-drop of her 2014 hit, Shake It Off, and I had to know why.
Featuring:
- Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off
- Hall & Oates’s You Make My Dreams
- NSync’s It’s Gonna Be Me*
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
It’s not ALL about the chorus (just mostly). A huge part of why Cut To The Feeling is such a banger comes down to the way it sets you up before the chorus, building hype so the chorus goes off like fireworks. Most of what we’re talking about is the pre-chorus, but songs like Cut To The Feeling do something more specific; something I’m calling the Hype Lift. So what exactly is the Hype Lift, and how did everyone from Metallica to David Bowie do what makes this shimmery, sugary pop song burst into colour?
Featuring:
- Carly Rae Jepsen’s Cut To The Feeling
- David Bowie’s Life On Mars
- XTC’s Senses Working Overtime
- Metallica’s Enter Sandman
- Chic’s Le Freak
- Thelma Houston’s Don’t Leave Me This Way
- The Bee Gees’ Tragedy
- Frankie Knuckles’ Your Love
- David Guetta’s Titanium (feat. Sia)
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
Nothing summons misty-eyed visions of sugarplum fairies and snow-dappled fir trees like the soft jingling of bells. Every tune with even a passing connection to Christmas busts out the tinkling percussion to get you in the seasonal spirit, but how did our brains get wired to associate sleigh bells with holly-decked halls? In this brief festive episode, I won’t really answer that question (I don’t exactly have a research team), but let’s ponder it together in a bite-sized bit of wonder you can call on when the Christmas Day conversation turns to politics. Why not astound Aunty Doris with moderately-researched ideas instead of listening to her talk about “those people” for the millionth time (you’re a retiree, Doris; no one’s taking your job).
This episode’s playlists can be found on Spotify and Apple Music as always, and come with a Bublé-free guarantee (if you like Michael, more power to you, but I’ve spent enough time with his Christmas album during my time in retail to sustain me for this life).
Brace yourself – it’s gonna get loud! We go inside the quietLOUDquiet shifts that make music so viscerally thrilling, and ask why I want to keep listening to Your Best American Girl long after my eardrums are in tatters.
Featuring:
- Mitski’s Your Best American Girl
- Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana
- The Pixies’ Gigantic
- Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball
- Mogwai’s Mogwai Fear Satan
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Maps
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
Since U Been Gone is a monumental song, especially when that massive chorus hits. But how did British heavy metal influence the sound of Kelly Clarkson’s unforgettable hit? Let’s talk Iron Maiden, Swedish super producers, and Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind sequel.
Featuring:
- Kelly Clarkson’s Since U Been Gone (obviously)
- Iron Maiden’s Run To The Hills
- The Veronicas’ 4ever
- Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind
- Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind PtII
- Fountains of Wayne’s Stacy’s Mom
Podcast art by Anthea LeBrocq – @fulltimeangel on Insta, or antheaaaa@gmail.com for enquiries.
Check out (and add to!) this episode’s playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.