The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Been a while since I did a music post. There are a few open tabs - mostly different kinds of house tracks - but the real reason for doing this post now is the last item on the list. Yes, I'm making you wait, or encouraging you to jump ahead, as you wish.

https://soundcloud.com/housemusic/audio-bastardz-lets-git-ill
Audio Bastardz serve up a thumping electro-house track.with hip-hop vocals over high-energy dance rhythms. It's been a while since I was motivated to blog a straight-up house tune but this banger caught my ears at the right time.

https://soundcloud.com/the-homognic-chaos/epic-california-centuries-mashup-by-the-homogenic-chaosmp3
The Homogenic Chaos (yes, that's what he calls himself) offers up a California-themed mash. I can't count the number of tracks in this short mix but all have some connection to the state of CA, either by lyric, song theme, or identification of the artist with the state. It's an interesting conceit and a fun mash.

https://soundcloud.com/deejaytrademark/through-the-storm-alesso-x-tritonal-x-bastille-x-mako
Another new name - deejaytrademark from Chicago - offers up a very smooth four-way mash. I like this particularly because it's built around "Anchor" from Tritonal (https://soundcloud.com/tritonalmusic/anchor) a nice prog-house/vocal track from last fall that gets sampled a lot but not really well used in most of the mashes I've heard so far. This track uses a lot of the Anchor vocals and mixes them up and down through the other three tracks. It ends up with a really uplifting feel.

https://soundcloud.com/demslackers/elastic-heart-dem-slackers-bootleg
Dem Slackers contribute something they call a "tropical house" dance track version of Sia's "Elastic Heart". THe original is much more electro-pop and sparser. Dem Slackers have filled in the spaces and though the track still respects Sia's vocals it doesn't ride solely on them.

https://soundcloud.com/beatsantique/we-swarm-the-glitch-mob-beats
After I posted the Beats Antique cover last time, MizA sent me a list of related tracks that included this gem. It's B.A. remixing The Glitch Mob's "We Swarm" which is from their debut album. It's interesting to listen to it now and hear again how the Mob's style has evolved. Meanwhile, this track has those luscious horn sounds and dance beats that I love from Beats Antique. Two great tastes that taste great together.

https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-promo-mix-2015-reboot-summer
If there was anyone among you who still doesn't know why I think Mashup Germany is the best, most underrated mashup artist playing today, give this a list. This is nothing less than a 100-minute flying, swirling mixing mash set. Like any set it has stronger and weaker moments but I'm amazed Mashup Germany is able to keep the transitions and mixes going for that long. I can't imagine trying to do something like this in real time and I wonder how long it takes him to plan it out. It's utterly brilliant.

Closing down the tabs as a form of holiday cleaning, including a double-shot of Mashup Germany. Here we go:

https://soundcloud.com/housemusic/rocks-n-stones-extended-mix-by
Dem Slackers turns in a nice electro-house mix (please do NOT go claiming that 4 minutes is "extended") of his own "Rocks n Stones". I wish I could identify the vocalist; she sounds vaguely Katy Perry-ish, but MizA disagrees. If you listen to the vocal sustains that start around 2:40 you can hear she's got some potential but it's still too heavily autotuned to be sure.

https://soundcloud.com/looandplacido/knife-party-vs-the-rapture-vs
Loo & Placido do a kind of strong electro slam-mix that can be a lot of fun when it works, and this one works. It's a five-way mash that is scheduled to appear on their New Year's release bootleg pack. I'll try to blog more of the tracks once it's released. Meanwhile this is some highly danceable stuff.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/london-grammar-strong-live
This is Live City (https://www.facebook.com/LiveCityMusic) remixing London Grammar's summer blue-collar ballad "Strong" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6drfp_3823I). I have to say that even though it's a bit cliche' I love her idea that 'strong' for a man is tenderly caring for a child. Also, fireworks. Take that Katy Perry. OK, where was I? Right, this remix - it's labeled prog-house but it feels more like standard vocal house. Hannah Reid (the singer for London Grammar) still carries this track the way she does the original. Vocals + piano + dance beats = beautiful, what can I say?

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/sandro-silva-quintino-epic-2
Just Fine and Atik did an electro-stomping remix of Sandro Silva & Quintino's "Epic". The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQKsLOPK_ls) is a high-BPM summer dance vibe that's pretty heavy on the thump. The bootleg use a slightly slower tempo and more orchestration, but it's still instrumental thumpy dance. The best part is definitely starting around 2:15 where the track drops to almost slinky riddim styles before speeding back up again.

https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-du-hast
https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-are-you-gonna
OK you've been very patient to get this far so here's your reward. Mashup Germany has been really prolific of late, but much of it has been German-language things that haven't really grabbed me. Rammstein, however, is a horse of another color altogether. This is a four-way mash built around their classic "Du Hast" which is a song I simply cannot play at less than volume 11. I also laughed out loud at the transition at 1:45 - it's the sort of "he did NOT..." transition I love in Mashup Germany's work.

The second one is listed as Mashup-Germany vs. DJ Schmolli because M.G. started with a Schmolli mash and then added his own touch. This is great work, though I think it's a little slow to start - the track doesn't really kick into high gear until almost 1:30. I've been sort of disappointed by Schmolli's efforts lately - he's doing a mash-a-day thing - and it's nice to be reminded that he did great work in the past and it can be made even better.

Insert various excuses here. Now let's listen to something more interesting than excuses.

http://soundcloud.com/clownandsunset/csp06-nicolas-jaar-essential
This is the stream for Nicholas Jaar's BBC One Essential Mix, but without the BBC "edits". Basically the Essential Mix is a two-hour commercial-free stream but the BBC has to remind you what you're listening to, so there are intro/outro bits added as well as random places during the mix where the music itself is turned down so you can hear the BBC announcer's voice-over. This annoys the crap out of some of the performers, who then release the un-edited mixes so people can hear them as intended, really without interruption.

This is a very typical Jaar mix, so it's heavy on the melodic, with very strong jazz influence, orchestral and ambient segments, and electronica throughout. I mostly enjoyed it - I'm on my third play-through - though I could have done without the synthesizer whale songs.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/STARS/track/Theory-of-Relativity-Diamond-Rings-Remix/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta1xEMypk2Q
Stars (http://www.myspace.com/stars) are an indie act that is well known in Canada and almost unknown in the US. This is a single off their fifth album release from this year, and the Diamond Rings remix for it. The original is heavy synth, slower-tempo electro-pop, with a good helping of fuzz. The remix drops out almost all the base synth stuff and replaces it with female vocals and sped-up beats to create a more dance-floor-friendly track. Both the original and the remix are good listens and it's an interesting example of what a remixer can do.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Chevin/track/Champion/
The Chevin (http://www.the-chevin.com/) are another male vocal-driven indie-rock outfit. Like Stars they're not much known in the US, despite appearing on Dave Letterman's show (see the vid on their site) - though they're still quite new. I think that's a shame as too much of the US-based male-lead stuff slants heavily toward emo, which this is definitely not. It's got strong production values, and is pretty heavily mixed, but Coyle's voice still comes through OK.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Miike_Snow/track/Pretender-Dem-Slackers-Remix/
http://www.earmilk.com/2012/07/10/rihanna-where-have-you-been-dem-slackers-remix/
I haven't mentioned Miike Snow in a couple years. As before, I continue to listen to their new stuff but none of it grabs me. Tracks like "Paddling Out" and "Animal" got a lot of attention and remixes, but again... enh. This one, "Pretender", really stood out as a cut above. Dem Slackers is still doing standard techno dance-floor stuff (like, I think the whole first 40 seconds of the remix are disposable) but once he gets going you want really to crank it up and when he starts to cut in the vocal sustain bits it's really good.

The second link has several more Dem Slackers remix but the one that got me up and dancing was his stomping treatment of Rihanna's "Where Have You Been". Awesome!

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Icona-Pop/track/I-Love-It-Style-of-Eye-Remix/
Icona Pop (http://www.iconapop.com/) are usually too much disco for me to take. But they're so much fun and this track is so hot I couldn't resist. I seem to be in the mood for hot dance music this week and this fits that bill perfectly. It's got tight beats and all the techno that can reasonably fit. Yes, it's still a little bit disco, but not too much.