Hailing from the Binghamton, New York area, Poetically Contagious formed in the early months of 2010 as a performance group who made early appearances at university shows in the area before transitioning into a recording act. The quality of the duo’s material vaulted them into the finals of New York City recording and performances contests and gave them the solid foundation from which they formed their own self-titled record company for the purposes of fielding the unit’s future releases. The unit’s public and commercial exposure only continued to grow with appearances in national entertainment magazines and working with great music video directors like Edward Mendoza. They’ve been working in the studio since June 2013 on new music with producers like Tony the Maestro, Beatslocker.com, and Nine Diamond to assemble a great album that will catapult them to a higher level than ever before. Their latest single and an early taste of those efforts, “Toss Him Aside”, promises great things to come.
URL: http://www.poeticallycontagious.com/
This is a duo with unfettered creativity. “Toss Him Aside” opens with some surprising acoustic guitar before bringing other elements into the mix. The shimmering synthesizer lines, understated bass, and light percussion joining the acoustic guitar is layered with a great amount of finesse and the song’s production values remain strong throughout the duration of the track. The first vocal doesn’t enter until nearly a minute into the song but, unlike similar outfits and performers, Poetically Contagious has a firm grasp on the importance of balancing voice against the backing track without one part assuming dominance over the other. The running time for the track of a little over four minutes is ideal and gives the duo time to develop their musical and lyrical ideas without ever rushing anything. “Toss Him Aside” evolves with great attention to detail and a bunch of musicality supporting the vocal.
The subject matter is familiar to anyone who listens to popular music – a beautiful girl is urged to dump a man who doesn’t properly appreciate her or treat her right. The lyrical content, however, makes much more of the subject matter than we are, perhaps, accustomed to in modern music thanks to the compelling wordplay and confident, dramatic phrasing. The vocal doesn’t emote much, but it speaks to listeners with absolute authority and locks in with the song’s groove early on. The wordplay never gets so intricate that it bogs things down – instead, much like the balance between the music and vocal, the lyrics strike the right balance between brevity and detail.
Poetically Contagious’ ascent into hip hop and rap stardom continues unabated. These are talented performers, excellent arrangers, and adept lyricists with an underrated sense of the theatrical and a sureness to their approach many of their contemporaries lack. “Toss Him Aside” has a surprising musical touch not common to other entries in the genre and swagger to burn, but it’s also entertaining as hell and sure to get club goers moving. If the song is reflective of the overall quality of upcoming releases, fans of the duo and hip hop devotees in general are in for a real treat.
CD BABY: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/poeticallycontagious
Jason Hillenburg
