Digression: My SXSW Experience

Okay, so it's not SXSW's fault that my experience was pretty lame. That one is on my puny, inefficient immune system. I spent three nights volunteering as a stage crew member for the IFC Crossroads House venue. I really liked my venue-the stage manager explained that it was "more highbrow" than some of the others so we would get a lot of bigger acts. ...Okay, I really spent two nights volunteering now that I think about it. By the third day I was supposed to volunteer, I was feeling very sick. By that Saturday (my one full day off where I would get to go see any show I wanted with my pass) I came down with the worst fever I've had in years. It was terrible. I had to force myself to sleep all day because the pain was too much to handle when I was awake. So, upon reflection, my volunteer experience would have been better if 1) more friends/people I knew had volunteered so I had more people to see shows with and 2) if I hadn't fricken' gotten sick and wasted my pass. The only acts I really got to see (besides the Sleigh Bells show Tuesday night) were the ones in my venue. We got out too late and had to be there too early to go see shows on the days we worked. I'm now determined to do SXSW the "right" way-just suck it up and pay for a wristband so I can go see whatever I want, whenever I want. However, I was still able to find some great acts just from watching the shows in my venues. Here are my favorite bands/songs from SouthBy:

"Lay Your Cards Out" by Polica.
LOVE this band. The ethereal quality to her vocals. The vocals themselves. The facts that it's only a singer, a bassist, and two drummers with no lead guitarist. This music video. Plus, I am totally head over heels in love with the lead singer. She is gorgeous and can totally rock a pixie cut.

"Anna Sun" by Walk the Moon

These guys had a fun stage presence. They wore flecks of multicolored facepaint and had a good energy to them. 

"July" by Youth Lagoon

They were funny and super nice. Really laidback feel to their performance. Just two guys in ratty flannel shirts jamming on a soundboard and a mini-keyboard. Pretty minimalistic, in a way. 

"Stuck in My ID" by Reptar

My brother has been a fan of them for awhile, and after seeing them, I'm disappointed I didn't discover them sooner. These guys seem very low-key but also very strange. Their outfits were either weird or too casual (the keyboardist was up there in gym shorts, a tshirt, sweatbands, and addidas sneakers with mismatched socks). They were by far the best performance I saw during SouthBy. So high energy and their music is addictive. So much fun. The entire venue was dancing. 

Check out their new album: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/body-faucet/id514162106

European Dance Music

Song: Mr. Saxobeat
Artist: Alexandra Stan
Earworm Elements: repetition, high-energy, synth, beat, melody, saxophone
Genre: Eurodance, dance, europop, trance
Sounds Like: Stereo Love
Link: http://www.alexandrastan.ro/

At last. I've finally figured out the name/artist of a particular song that I've been insatiably curious about but unable to catch the name of for weeks. In honor of identifying it and subsequently being able to listen to it as many times as humanly possible, this post goes out to this song's genre--European dance music.

The song that my ears can't get enough of is called Mr. Saxobeat by Romanian artist Alexandra Stan. I've been hearing this one around for awhile--on the radio, around town, in stores. The other day it came on while I was shopping at the Gap. Needing to know what this incredibly catchy song was, I pulled out my phone and Shazamed it. Thirty seconds later, instant gratification.

It was released in 2011 and uses house, and trance elements as part of its catchy, eurodance spell. It didn't take long to gain mass popularity--it topped the charts in Romania for eight weeks, then swept through every major European country, and finally beyond to Canada, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.

Like most of the Western hemisphere, I've been hooked. I've listened to this song at least ten times in the past 24 hours, and at least six times just this morning. Even though it fits perfectly into the category of formulaic euro-pop, I'm still impressed with this song because it's one of the most addictive I've heard in awhile. See what I mean for yourselves:

Catchy, huh? It accomplishes exactly what it was created to do: be so incredibly irresistible that it becomes a smash hit. It definitely draws listeners in with its high-energy style--it makes you need to get up and move.

It is super-reminiscent of the 2010 summer smash hit, Stereo Love, by Edward Maya featuring Vika Jigulina, another prime example of a Romanian artist intentionally crafting earworm material. 

They're both trance-y, catchy, europop and both predominantly feature instruments not commonly found in pop, dance, or techno genres (the saxophone in Saxobeat and the accordion in Stereo Love). 


Major earworm points to the eurodance subgenre--they know exactly what it takes to make a song catchy as hell, whether listeners think it's quality music or not.