drwex | Another Monday music post

The music I've been listening to hasn't moved me much so I'm sort of noodling around here. I do want to point to Part 4 of DJ Steveboy's "Playa Con Dios" (http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html) for several reasons. One is that it's interesting to think of it as a "sunrise" mix and the feelings that evokes are complicated. I've rarely done all-night party things and even in my best days I don't think I'd've had the energy to dance 'till dawn. Two hours of it at Worldcon was fun, but I don't know how much more I could've done. Theme mixes in general are sort of hit-or-miss for me. I think Steveboy does a good job here, but I'm looking forward to him getting back to the new/old funk soon.

He closes out this mix with a piece he's used before, which I really like, Matteo Marini's "Terra Sarda (Electro Mix)". I found this mix on some download sites, but it's not clear whether they're copying something that should be paid for so instead I point you to his MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/matteomarini) where he has several mixes up, including a different variant of Terra Sarda that's nearly as good.

If you haven't stopped by Mashuptown.com lately you might want to wander by. In the "Finally More Mash-ups" entry (http://www.mashuptown.com/2009/10/finally-more-mashups.html) you get to listen to a bunch of tracks that use CeCe Penniston's track "Finally" (http://www.myspace.com/cecepeniston1) - a pretty standard backbeat+Motown mix. My guess is that you will like or hate these mash-ups based on whether you like the underlying tracks. Most of them were not worth the time, but three use backing tracks I loved:

Winkar Lopez's "Let's Kung Fu Tonight" is a mash-up that would be right at home in the soundtrack of nearly any Blacksploitation flick of the last 3 decades. But it uses Carl Douglas's "Kung Fu Fighting", which I adored as a pre-teen.

DJ Tripp's entry uses the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army", which has a very funky bass beat. I think this one could do better in matching up the lyrics and guitar bits, but it has potential.

Then there's Partyben's attempt, "Finally, Insomnia Airlines", which uses the old Steve Miller Band classic - another of my childhood favorites. I also think he does a much better job with the lyrics than DJ Tripp.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/John_Forte/track/Nervous
John Forte has been nominated for a Grammy and listening to these two tracks it's easy to see why. The range of style he shows here - going from slam poetry-style street rap to beautiful soft guitar rock - is impressive. One of the things I really like about these tracks is how 'authentic' he sounds. I hate using that word because it's overused, but what I mean is that Forte seems natural and unforced in both styles. He's not trying to be someone or make some point.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Florence_and_The_Machine/track/Youve_Got_the_Love_The_xx_Remix
Finally, I point this out for the surreal value if nothing else. She's 21, has bright red hair, is from the UK... and sings what RCRD LBL correctly describes as romantic murder ballads. She's got quite the vocals; I'm just not sure what inspires the lyrics. Also, I like the idea of mixing a harp with backbeats.