The fight for diverse and conscious voices

I've almost got enough saved items to make a themed post so let's see how this goes. Most of what we have here is smooth and wonderful electronica of one sort or another, with new beautiful vocals to enjoy.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/04/illegal-sunday-leedm101-sound-of-light.html
LeeDM101 is someone I found late last year and his best work, in my opinion, works with strong female vocalists and here he lays in another in that genre. Ellie Goulding's "Lights" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NKUpo_xKyQ) is, as I noted last month, pretty syrupy synthpop. Husky Rescue's "Sound of Love" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg7pjP9idSk) is more sophisticated and LeeDM picks out the best of both for this mix. I will probably have more to say about Husky Rescue later.

http://photek.fm/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swcDeoZR0E8
Photek unfortunately doesn't tend to put up full tracks. You can get a number of samples off his page via the player, and also don't miss the entry in the Tron: Legacy R3CONFIGUR3D remix set. He keeps the strong thudding house bass but weaves his special magic around it.

It's interesting to put that one up with the Glitch Mob entry into the Tron remixing set. The Glitch Mob don't have Photek's smoothness; what they have is incredible intensity and an ability to work with electro-fuzz in a way that doesn't set my teeth on edge. Normally it's not my cuppa but damn it works so well here. The video artistry by Khameleon808 is also tight and cut fine.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/04/world-premiere-apc-exclusive-josephine-ft-copycat-the-darkest-side-of-me.html
If this one doesn't send chills up and down your spine then I'm not sure what to say. Josephine has a gorgeous dark rich vocal style that makes me think of elegant nightclubs, and DJ Copycat's electro-disco supports it extremely well. The result is much more vocal-trance than you'd expect - intimate and just a little bit ethereal.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=364&Itemid=36
Yes, dear readers, that is Clivester. You know, the guy who does all those fun 80s-metal remixes and hard-edged Nordic/German rock stuff? Yeah, um, took me completely by surprise too. This one takes Axwell's "Heart Is King" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyUiVCiNURw) a modernist John Williams-esque instrumental piece, and plays beautifully against Chase & Status's "Time" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWP9VvkeTmA - warning, video is about domestic violence). Chase & Status are a drum&bass DJ duo; here they're featuring Where the original is a sort of minimalist pop tune, this mash is a stronger anthem. The singer is just credited as "Delilah" and I've not been able to track her down yet.

Today's music special has a surprise ending. I hope you'll play along because it's just that kind of awesome.

Step 1: the set-up
http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=321&Itemid=27
We begin by checking in at Mashup Industries, as I do a couple times a week. They don't post as often as they used to, but it's the place to go to hear the newest stuff from people like Clive$ter here. His latest offering "We No Speak Chica" is a strongly latin-influenced fast-paced pop dance tune. I like it and since I don't know either of the component parts I go off to listen to them so I can backtrack what the DJ has done to produce this mash.

Step 2: the players
In this case, we have Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP doing "We No Speak Americano" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wavpWRK6IX8). Yolanda are a couple of Euro DJs who have teamed up with DCUP, an Australian producer. Being an American I had no idea that "We No Speak Americano" had topped several European charts already this year. The song samples a 1956 hit "Tu vuò fà l'americano" (You want to be American) by Italian singer Renato Carosone (or so says Wikipedia). Cool.

The second part is Dan Balan's "Chica Bomb" and my first search for that turns up the official video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWxnI8-5LEg. Go ahead and watch that, at least long enough to get an idea of what's going on. Keep in mind this is the official video for the song.

Step 3: the video
I watched about 45 seconds of the video before my jaw bounced off the floor long enough for me to send the link to MizA who promptly responds with "Boobies!" And "it was nice of her to invite her gay friend into her video."

No, sorry, that's his video. What, exactly, is he adding here? A bit of freak and three words, repeated, assuming you think "oooh" is a word. I'm still unclear on who the female singer is - she's got a decent voice and I'm pretty sure she's not the "jiggly sweaty tits" so succinctly described in Nick Levine's pithy snark (http://www.digitalspy.com/music/singlesreviews/a234883/dan-balan-chica-bomb.html).

Step 4: who is Dan Balan anyway?
Right, so if he's not the moving force on this bit of electro-house, who is he? Well, like lots of musicians he has a MySpace page. To which I will direct you in a moment, but it auto-plays and you need some background first.

He's Moldovan and he's done Eurovision entries as part of a band called O-Zone. If that's familiar to you, then you know what's coming and props to you. I was sitting there thinking "Hmm, where do I know that from..." when I went to his MySpace page.

Step 5: the reveal
( Just in case you were skimming and don't want spoilers quite yet )
I can not make this stuff up. Life is just way weirder than you ever expect.

End of the week, let's see how many of these I can close out. There's some really good stuff in here.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/05/scissor-sisters-fire-with-fire.html
Last week I noted Scissor Sisters for their "Invisible Light" track. APC linked to this track called "Fire with Fire" also from the upcoming album and called it "...the perfect pop tune." I don't know about perfect but it is DAMNED good. It's catchy and danceable without being cheap or overly auto-tuned; I like it more every time I play it. I also adore the video, which is simple and yet has absolutely brilliant lighting design. I've been searching for the right way to categorize this band. It's got some of the glam-rock sound of Invisible Light, but it also has a more ballad-like feel over some pretty straight-up rock-metal drumming (check out the raised drumstick twirl straight out of GNR or Def Leppard). I'm having a hard time thinking of another band with good male and female vocal leads (B-52s?).

http://audioporncentral.com/2009/10/aggro1-rage-against-the-machine-aeph.html
Aeph (http://www.myspace.com/aephsound) is a UK DJ who lists himself as drum & bass but whose tracks have a much slower and more heavy metal sound than I usually associate with d&b. Here Aggro1 (http://aggro1.com/) takes a classic d&b feeling track from Aeph and weaves it with Rage Against The Machine's thundering classic "Bulls On Parade." The result is slamming sound that needs to be turned up LOUD!

http://www.mashuptown.com/2010/05/dj-lobsterdust-knock-out-eileen-ll-cool-j-vs-dexys-midnight-runners.html
DJ Lobsterdust is back! This is another one of those mixes that probably only works if you like the underlying tunes. He's taking the classic piano-rock tune "Come on Eileen" from Dexy's Midnight Runners and facing it off against LL Cool J's "Momma Said Knock You Out." I don't know how he managed to match these two up, and the concept alone is amusing enough but the execution works. Trust me.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=309&Itemid=27
Also back in fine form is Clive$ter who complains he's gotten too busy because of his "Kabinenparty Memories". The price of success I guess. Here he's using the beautiful vocals of 7th Heaven's "This Is Your Life" and Yordis's track "Tonight". Yordis is a heavy-beat electro-house DJ I've not heard before and though I like the original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNKUz4Kr1gI) I think Clive$ter really improves the track by stripping out the electronic voice and using the 80s harmonic sound from 7th Heaven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li580259YwU
Finally, let me close out with this bit of video from Marc Webb for the group Godhead. They're covering the Beatles' classic "Eleanor Rigby" which is one of those tunes whose lyrics always seemed a little... off, to me. Throw in Godhead's vocal death-metal feel and the whole thing becomes screamingly disturbing, and yet you want to play it cranked up to proper volume.

Sorry folks, this one is full of Gaga and disco. If that makes you cringe just skip on. But I do have to talk about a couple things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbQHvUObMbA&feature=player_embedded
I'm certain that I'll be inundated with Gaga remixes for the rest of this year, too, and most of them will suck as much as the original or worse. This, however, just WORKS. It's disturbing, really, when you think about it. How DJs from Mars (http://www.myspace.com/djsfrommars) managed to mix up Metallica's classic heavy metal anthem "Enter Sandman" with Gaga's ultra-pop "Telephone" hit is completely beyond me. The video isn't bad, either, but what really works is the underlying hard thunder that made Metallica famous which somehow pushes this track to the next level. (h/t to 'Song for the original pointer to this one.)

http://www.vevo.com/watch/christina-aguilera/not-myself-tonight/USRV81000022
Gaga's vid is not only heavily remixed and heavily played, it's getting responses. This here, the latest from Christina Aguilera, is not a mere shot across the bow - it's a direct slap back at Gaga from C.A. First, she's using the same production team as did the "Telephone" video. Then there are some very direct copies of dance moves, and a not-at-all-subtle use of a telephone and serious digs at Gaga's cheap product placements. Then there's the content - C.A. is basically all over the latex thing, and ALL OVER several men and women (take _that_ ambiguous bisexual Gaga). The blonde wigs are also a pretty out-and-out "Yeah, you did it but I was here first and I am way nastier than you" get-your-freak-on challenge.

The song? It's OK. Uses the f word somewhat gratuitously. It's danceable and I like C.A.'s voice somewhat better than Gaga's. It'll be remixed, too, but I don't think this is going to de-throne the queen of the moment. There will, as DJ Purple said to me, be war. Should be interesting; I'm reminded of the way male rappers dis each other - taken to a whole new level. Who was it said women always fight nastier than men?

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=281&Itemid=27
OK, disco. I don't do... sigh, I can't say that anymore, can I? I mean, I really don't generally like disco. But damned if KrazyBen hasn't put together something altogether likeable out of two disco tracks overlaid with the reggae-rhyming Dizzee Rascal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUPleuj42w0). Arabesque's "In the heat of a Disco Night" are to blame for starting this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcEssAf1cXE - if you can bear to listen) and it somehow has mutated from godawful to... y'know, not bad. Not bad at all.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/einmeier-ovenbrod-i-feel-o.html
And if you're going to do disco you probably can't overlook the queen of disco herself. Here Einmeier & Ovenbröd (http://mimu.eu/) turn out an acoustic electro-disco stutter-mix using Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TBmeK9Abg). The track does a great job of taking the floaty bits from Summer and layering them over hard, high-BPM house rhythms.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=283&Itemid=27
The latest Clivester mash, which is another synthpop confection I have to confess I like. (Synthpop is the disco of the last 15 years, trust me on this.) The beats of the mash are pretty standard club stuff, built around German boy-pop-band Polarkreis 18's "Allein Allein". And I had to close with this one just so you could marvel with me at how this guy manages NOT to explode into flames: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsHV4i59RaM

Seriously, watch that vid. I swear they had a brace of techs standing just off camera with extinguishers in hand.

Next time, I think, we'll be back to more usual stuff.

Last time I said I would review the Bootie Blog Top 10 for February. Here's my review: it sucks. Skip it. Too much Gaga and Ke$ha who, as I said to MizA, bears approximately the same resemblance to good music as a K-Mart plastic tube with a lightbulb in it bears a resemblance to a real light saber. Even when they're nodding to The Kleptones they picked one of the worst bits of Uptime to link.

In replacement of which, I give you
http://www.kleptones.com/blog/2010/02/10/video-violence/
The first entry in The Kleptone's "Videotones project", an invitation to video mash-up artists to produce visual materials that go along with Uptime/Downtime. This piece by Instamatic renders out the "Welcome Back" mash that they built around Def Leppard's "Welcome To the Jungle".

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
Also back in excellent form (finally) is DJ Steveboy with his latest stream titled "New Ground." He's moved up north to the SF Bay area and clearly the name is a tip of the hat to the new studio he has set up. The start is a bit slow, but it's got plenty of good funky stuff and the ending of the mix is some of his best work in a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3stsDXki__U&feature=fvw
OK, I'm probably the only one here who doesn't watch the Grammys. So you've probably all seen and heard this performance already. But I hadn't. If I ever said anything bad about P!nk I take it all back. This piece combines great vocals with excellent costuming and fabulous staging. Yes, it's true she's not doing all that difficult a silks bit. But who the hell cares - she's doing it herself, and singing at the same time. Smokin'. Also, I could point a finger about half a hundred performers who should study that costume for pointers. H/T to heinleinfan for the link.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/02/simon-iddol-we-are-in-the-go-go-club.html
APC's Simon Iddol hasn't posted anything of his own in a while and I've missed his particular style. Here he's got Empire of the Sun's "We are the People" going up against Vybz Kartel's "Go-Go Club" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1YjnfU8xcc). Iddol has stripped out the reggae vocals of the latter but kept the dub clicks and bumps. It's a neat combination.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=36
Mashup Industries changed its site organization and along the way linked to a video for this track, which Clivester did back in 2007. The vid is OK, but the track is... haunting. You'd think it was a Beatles mash, and it sort of is, but some of the real chills come from Erik B and Rakim's contributions, and strategically chosen samples from Duran Duran's "Come Undone" (http://www.tsrocks.com/d/duran_duran_texts/come_undone.html)

Days have been crazed and nights lack in sleep. I fear I may be losing one of my superpowers. Listen with me, then.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=258&Itemid=36
This track makes me ridiculously happy. "Funkytown" was a disco tune originally done by one-hit wonder Lipps, Inc. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlmTELeLRwI) It's cheesy, done with cheap 8-bit electronics, and yet it has something - maybe it's the catchy riffs and R&B vocals - that have kept it being covered for decades. There's even a Funkytown iPhone app (http://www.funkytown.com/) - yes, really. I can't make this stuff up.

So what Clive$ter has done is take one of these many covers, and use it to underlay Empire of the Sun's "Walking on a Dream." The cut-ups are clever, and add another bit of life to a fun tune.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Editors_/track/Papillon_The_Japanese_Popstars_Remix
The Editors (http://myspace.com/editorsmusic) - if they're known for anything - are known for brooding, dark, modern music. Not quite emo (thank goodness) or goth (more's the pity) but still not the kind of material you'd naturally link with Japanese pop, which tends to be synth-heavy, high-pitched, and overwhelmingly female vocal. Still, it works reasonably well. I'm actually more fond of the second mix, which I mentioned last month.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Poirier/track/Enemies_feat_Face-T
Skip the first track, which I think is a bit too herky-jerky and disjointed. I want to talk about "Enemies". Now, I'll be the first to confess that riddim style isn't everyone's cuppa. But I like reggae and I don't mind the way it has been transposed into electronic styles and the stuttering bass of a good riddim gets me moving. Poirer (http://www.poiriersound.com/) is a white Canadian DJ who brings in some very authentic voices to drop Caribbean hooks over the riddim beats.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Shy_Child/track/Disconnected_Ocelot_Remix_
Shy Child (http://shychild.com/) are a synth-pop duo with a fun, experimental style that's hard to pin down. There's a lot of break-beating and vocal back-and-forth that keeps the tracks fresh. It's not my usual stuff, but I think they're interesting to keep an eye on.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/02/hurts-wonderful-life-arthur-baker-remix.html
Also in the synth-pop camp are Hurts (http://www.myspace.com/ithurts). I don't like their cheap drum machine tracking, but the vocals in front of it remind me of the best of early Tears for Fears or New Order.

Next time, the best of bootie...