drwex | Jul. 30th, 2009

Some of the music posts lately have been me phoning it in. Work's keeping me busy so even though I can tag things I rarely have time to read up on the background or chase related links. Stayed late at work last night so I've got another big batch of open tabs I'm going to try to close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8fIVTH0TiM
First, watch this. Swedish new (or nu) swing! I'm not as big a swing fan as I might be, despite Docbug's attempts over the years to introduce me properly to this style. The bits of swing I like are the jazzier, bouncier, and much less serious bits. I think of it almost as verging on circus music, and I think Movits have captured both the sound and the visual essence of that part I like.

Movits (or maybe it's really Movits! with the exclamation point) have their MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/MOVITS) and apparently an album coming out soon. If you like swing at all, or even think you might, you should sample some more from them. When I first heard them singing I thought it was German, which leads me to remember that I've got bookmarked a couple of cool but weird German vids I'll try to put into tomorrow's post. But I digress. If you want a broader intro to this style, spend some time with the "Swing Trend" mix over on 8Tracks (http://8tracks.com/panquetofobia/swing-trend) which is where I found these guys initially.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g88Dp7Z9AA
http://new.music.yahoo.com/antoine-clamaran/tracks/feel-it-feat-lulu-hughes-kobbe-remix--204828563
A big change of pace here to some really straight up house/dance rhythms. This pair is two ways of approaching the same track - Antoine Clamaran doing Feel It (featuring Lulu Hughes). I tend to prefer the first approach, which has a faster and less repetitive style plus more vocals (yay Aretha!). The second is much more of a DJ show-off mix, but I really like the way Kobbe (http://www.myspace.com/djkobbe) backs off and lets the Motown vocals bust through now and then.

Lulu Hughes is another one I couldn't get much info on. For one thing she's Quebecois, so all I found is in French that I'm not up to translating (http://www.myspace.com/luluhughes). Feel free to do your own digging if you like what you hear there. If her "Crazy Mama" track is any indication she's a swing singer herself. (I promise that's coincidence; I can't possibly plan these things that well.)

http://viprhealthcare.typepad.com/files/lobsterdust--brooklynrocks_beastieboys_vs_joanjett.mp3
http://viprhealthcare.typepad.com/files/hi-brid---thats-not-gay.mp3
Mashuptown (http://mashuptown.com/) snuck these two links onto the middle of its page. They have download links as well in case you don't want to jump to the direct-playing MP3s.

Both mash-ups are excellent. The first is DJ Lobsterdust having fun with old 80s tracks. Queen->Joan Jett->Beastie Boys->Joan Jett again. All three are eminently remixable and what he's done is take the Boys' vocals and stretched out the Jett guitar riffs to match in a way that makes the whole thing seem natural.

The second is riffing off the Ting Tings, whom I'm sure I've talked about before, and... well, go listen. Dude, that is SO gay - give me more!