The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Still not making much progress against the backlog. Hooray for being busy, I guess. Also, stuff keeps being interesting and interesting requires investigating. At the end we'll revisit an old friend.

http://soundcloud.com/zebramix/zebra-rock-n-soul-best-of-bootlegs-2010
We begin with an end-of-year/best-of-year podcast by French DJ Zebra. If nothing else it's fun to listen to this mix because the fast-talking Franglais ("zehbra rockandsoul!") is amusing. He hits on several good mixes I've heard already but also a lot that's new.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2OWWYjDr9U&has_verified=1
One of the nice things about the future we live in is that you can ask artists questions and sometimes they'll respond. In this case I posted a comment on the Soundcloud mix asking about a clip from early in the set, which clearly used the Star Wars Imperial March. Zebra responded by pointing me to this mix of his, which is called "Joey Star Wars" and uses the iconic John Williams music mixed over Daft Punk and a French hard rap act called Joey Starr.

http://soundcloud.com/fissunix/mcs-just-want-to-celebrate
Fissunix (who I noted last time for a nice James Brown/Led Zeppelin mash) turn in a multi-layered scratch mix. The base tune is Motown favorite Rare Earth's "I Just Want To Celebrate" over which they have laid at least 6-8 different vocalists, mostly rappers. I love this kind of pairing and this one is brilliantly composed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo5bBq2j2EE&feature=related
Girl Talk has two appearances in this set, both of which are good. This one is a megamix from their "All Day" album, which is itself a massive compilation. You can and should get the full (free) download of the album. I highlighted this track because it has some of the really clever transitions and juxtapositions that set the really great mixers apart. According to the Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Day_%28album%29) the entire album has 372 samples which sounds like a prescription for disaster but you just need to listen to this track to feel how smoothly they flow. If you're curious, the album site has them in alphabetical order: http://illegal-art.net/allday/samples.html

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=310&Itemid=36
I'm not sure how I managed to miss this thunderously fun mix from DJ Schmolli. He puts the 70s funk faux-grou Incredible Bongo Band's "Let There Be Drums" against AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock". Schmolli's trademark is heavy metal and something, and this one really does it up in highly danceable style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6bgz3VOjtc
Finally I had to pull out this bit because it's something so cool and so mind-bending at the same time. Daft Punk "Technologic" - been done to death, right? Over and done with, right? Can't possibly be novel, can it? Uh, hit play and then say that. This is only describable as a demented circus reinterpretation of the techno theme song. You can find the artist M'siou Rigolitch on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Msiou.Rigolitch?v=app_178091127385) and MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/mrrigolo) where there are a lot more tracks to listen to. I may have more to report after I go through that list.

http://www.astonmusic.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rCW8ZICToA
When I was listening through G3rst's collection I happened upon a remix he did using Aston which inspired me to go back to their Web site and see where they're at. The news is good - they have an actual album out and they've improved their wardrobe since last time.

But the best part is their new song, which is a cover of La Roux's "Bulletproof". Back when they had their poll up I voted for this one and I'm pleased to see it won. The adaptation is pretty good - the violins do a passable job of covering her vocal range - and the band members haven't yet lost that sense of "hot damn this is fun" that made their other vids so enjoyable to watch.

I don't know where these things come from, but sometimes they just blossom up an the world is so much more awesome when they do.

Start with Rihanna's "Rude Boy" (http://www.last.fm/music/Rihanna/_/Rude+Boy). Standard pop tune, hip-hop. It's not a bad track, really. Got to #1 on the Billboard charts, so go her.

Of course, if you have a popular tune, lots of people are going to cover it. Some of them are going to cover it in other genres. For example, classical. Wait, what?

Yes, classical. I give you Australia's Aston covering "Rude Boy" - http://audioporncentral.com/2010/06/monday-kick-aston-rude-boy-classical-rihanna-cover.html

It's actually quite a good cover. They've mostly transposed the vocal parts to piano - though the violinist and cellist are rockin' out too - and they've got a percussionist who is having WAY more fun on the kettle drums than anyone wearing that bad of a sweater really should be having. Dude looks like he should be knocking back beers at a Skull & Bones private affair. But I digress.

I had that video marked for eventual posting, when this showed up: http://audioporncentral.com/2010/06/world-premiere-rihanna-ft-aston-rude-boy-mashed-by-pheugoo.html

Phuegoo (http://pheugoo.com/) took the Aston cover and mixed the Rihanna vocals back in, which is just freaking perfect. You can hear exactly how Aston adapted the track and Phuegoo makes the best of both the classical ensemble and the original lead vocals.

This remix got me curious about Aston, so I headed over to their web page (http://www.astonmusic.com/) and just fell in love. I mentioned they're from Australia. And they really need some fashion help (dude, lose the soul patch, please; and you, on the left - need less frumpy). I read that Perez Hilton tweeted their cover so maybe he can help them in that department.

But anyway, they're cute and earnest and they have other covers of mega-hit pop tunes. You can listen to them doing Gaga's "Telephone" and Kylie Minogue's "Confide in Me" (with harp!). You should also vote for which track you want them to cover next.

And then join me in being sad that they're in Australia and there's no way I'm ever going to get to see them do this stuff live. Because the one thing that is missing from these videos is the sight and sound of an audience going bananas with joy at the end of each track. You can see the Aston members looking at each other as they stop playing, as if to say "did we really just do that?" Yes, kids, you did. And it was AWESOME.