The fight for diverse and conscious voices

I've got some Soundcloud links stashed on the home browser but can't get to them now so there will likely be more music soon. But here are some things to pick and choose from depending on your mood. I save the best for last.

http://www.mashup-industries.org/mashups/crazy-egyptian/
Nearly a year ago I tagged a piece by an artist known as Qubic, a movie-music mash-up that was pitched as the first in a series. To my surprise, Qubic wrote to me to let me know that the second composition from the project is now up and you can hear (and download) it at the URL above. It's a mash based primarily on the Violent Femmes' "Crazy" which I know well and Jr. James & The Late Guitar's cover of "Egyptian Reggae", which I think is originally by Jonathan Richman & Modern Lovers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg7WG6tCbrw). Following this link led me to realize that mashup-industries is alive and well again, so expect to hear more from there soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt-28iNQnwY
Yes, it's Depeche Mode. Yes, it's new Depeche Mode, not a rerelease or mix/cover. This "Soothe My Soul" is off their new album Delta Machine. It's an excellent example of a band updating its sound while remaining true to what you loved about them. For me, it's about the voice - the lyrics here are (as usual) not that sophisticated but oh gods can that man sing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfiXfr_fbsw
This track is listed as Pleine Lune (Anoraak Remix) by Trésors. However, as near as I can make out (with my terrible French) Trésors (http://soundcloud.com/tresors) is a production duo, half of which is Anoraak himself. So confusing. Just look at the pretty and listen to the nice. It's French-style electro-disco, which I find to be more gentle and intricately arranged than American-style. They probably can't help but be influenced by all the nu disco pouring out of Italy these days. So we get something with light and airy vocals but nothing much in the way of lyrics - just something to relax and space out a little bit with.

http://www.chloehowl.com/
Chloe Howl. Oh, my. The voice, the hair, the attitude. This is a three-song debut EP from a new UK voice who's unashamed to let her accent show through. The first track, "Rumour", has been getting a lot of publicity on various music blogs but I think "No Strings" is a better track. Rumour has an electro-wub intro, and a high BPM that contrast nicely with Howl's relaxed vocals. If the track has a flaw it's that it's trying too hard - the production is more obvious and makes me want to hear Howl acoustic. By contrast, "No Strings" is more conventional pop arrangement and Howl's vocals trend more toward club-singer than studio production. Sigh. I'll be in my bunk.

I have another huge backlog of open music tabs. This is all over the place, so let's start with some new stuff.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Parenthetical_Girls/track/Careful_Who_You_Dance_With_Xiu_Xiu_Remix
Parenthetical Girls are new to me, though the Intarwebs says they've been around in one form or another for almost ten years. The present incarnation is very much post-grunge Northwest USA sound, which is about equal parts pop, intense young-male vocal, electro, and smooth post-production. The sound is rich and complex - it reminds me somewhat of early REM meets OK Go. If that doesn't make sense to you, then just listen and see if you like it.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Gang_Gang_Dance/track/MindKilla
Gang Gang Dance (http://ganggangdance.com/) is another new-to-me act that has been around for a decade. Very different sound than P.G., though. This one tends toward heavy-bass and strong female vocals with interesting, sparse, and varied electronica backing. The set of styles on this mix is all over, including rasta-rapping from Tinchy Stryder, and lovely a capella harmonies on "House Jam" (the original), and Bjork-esque breathy bits on "MindKilla".

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/04/colatron-vs-reborn-identity-we-still-miss-you-double-pack.html
Trentemøller's "Miss You" has been a familiar friend for a couple years now. It's a little melancholy, but very beautiful. Perfect rainy summer-day music, I think. Or winter fireplace music, come to that. Here APC offers up two remix takes on the original. The first one is Colatron's "Someone’s Still Missing" and it does the trick of taking the Cubism Remix of the song, and mixing back in the original, but also drawing heavily on Vangelis's "Rachel's Song" and closing out with a sample from Blade Runner that just ties it all up beautifully.

The second is Reborn Identity's "I’ve Still Never Missed You" and it goes in a wholly different direction, using Charlene Duncan's "I’ve Never Been to Me". As you'd expect, this one has much more of an 80's pop feel to it and yet somehow the Trentemoller melancholy still permeates the track. I think it's not as good as the first but that's because I'm a closet Vangelis fangeek.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/04/depeche-mode-personal-jesus-the-stargate-remix.html
I can't believe I somehow missed blogging this when I was talking about Royksopp's D.M. cover. This isn't a cover - it's the boys themselves, remixed. I might have mentioned that I spent a lot of time listening to D.M. back in the day. Somewhere along there I became convinced that "Personal Jesus" is a song about phone sex; of course, there's an "official" answer but that's kind of dull. This mix really makes me want to hear more of what they have in store - apparently there's a three CD set of remixes due out next month.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/04/ben-double-m-policy-of-truth-miami-heat.html
It's apparently Depeche Mode month. Here we have Ben Double M working DM's "Policy of Truth" against Boy Hagemann’s beautiful electro-trance "Miami Heat" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_VJ1K_xLfg). The result is smooth and floaty and still just a little bit intense. I particularly like the way he spreads and stretches the DM tune to fit over the longer Hageman track without making it seem slowed down or unnaturally drawn out.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/05/illegal-sunday-fissunix-end-of-the-walrus.html
This one is just a little bit brain-busting. Imagine taking Daft Punk's "End of the Line" from the recent Tron: Legacy, mixing in sound bits from Tron and Battlestar Galactica, and then mashing it up over The Beatles's original psychedelia "I am the Walrus." Yeah, it's that level of weird, but Fissunix makes it work.