The fight for diverse and conscious voices

LJ says it's only been about three weeks since I posted music but it has felt like longer. Right now it's on my mind a lot because the latest round of sound driver updates to my home Realtek sound engine hosed the speakers. I can get sound via headphones but I can't use my PC to play music to the room anymore. Grr. Still, I have tabs and will share them.

https://soundcloud.com/divideandkreate/echosmith-cool-kids-divide-kreate-remix
Divide & Kreate remixes the extremely popular indie pop hit "Cool Kids" from a couple years ago. D&K has spiced it up a little and made it beat faster but it still has the essential spare sound of the original.

https://soundcloud.com/gldncollective/romance
Following on mizarchivist's original pointer I continue to find Tove Lo mixes. This one is Flipboitamidies doing an A|B with clean bandit, a rather unusual UK duo (http://cleanbandit.co.uk/). The mix is OK - better than most of the Tove Lo mashes I'm coming across - but I'm actually more intrested in the discovery of clean bandit. I love you, so I share.

https://soundcloud.com/fissunix/5-deaths-of-king-kong
This one keeps coming up in my stream and I'm still not entirely sure if I like it, but it's an interestingly original idea. Fissunix is A|B mashing Mano Negra and The Prodigy. Most Prodigy mixes tend to use things I don't like - this one is "Wall of Death" which I think has the best sort of energy that Prodigy produces. And Mano Negra gets mashed up approximately never, so here you go.

https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-cheerleader-freaks
Mashup Germany again, with a really nice five-way mix of tracks I'm not familiar with. It fronts Timmy Trumpet and I loves me some brass horns so that's nice. I think the vocals work less well than they might, but perhaps I have too high an expectation of what M.G. can do. From anyone else this would be an excellent track - for him it's just average but the track radiates a kind of fun joy that makes it infectious.

--- We now enter the Ummet Ozcan zone ---

https://soundcloud.com/djphase/zedd-ft-selena-gomez-vs-ummet-ozcan-i-want-daftizer-to-know-phase-bootleg
Someone going by djPhase has mashed up an Ummet Ozcan track that I think is his super-popular "Daftizer" (https://soundcloud.com/ummetozcan/daftizerfree) with Zedd's "I Want You to Know", which features the vocals and (ahem) appearance of Selena Gomez. Yes, THAT Selena Gomez, who is now all growed up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X46t8ZFqUB4) and who's doing a respectable job of turning her childhood Nickelodeon image into an adult singing/acting career. Of the three tracks I think I like the Zedd original best, but that might be influenced by watching the video.

https://soundcloud.com/ultrarecords/02-double-exposure-my-love-is
Msystem's remix of Double Exposure's "My Love is Free". It's definitely an electro-dance track, but it draws on soul and disco roots heavily. I picked it out because it features Double Exposure's all-male vocals in a genre that often fronts female vocalists.

https://soundcloud.com/ummetozcan/ummet-ozcan-presents-innerstate-ep-33
Another episode of Ozcan's "Innerstate" pod/setcast. This one has a lot of really nice tracks in it, of which I picked two to feature because they spoke to me particularly.

https://soundcloud.com/nathanc/nathan-c-felix-leiter-this-is-our-night-preview
Nathan C and Feliz Leiter do a trance track that starts out mostly instrumental and then brings in "This Is Our Night" by Sander Kleinberg (http://www.vevo.com/watch/sander-kleinenberg/TION-(This-is-Our-Night)/NLL331100021). This is a track I heard many years ago and had almost completely forgotten about. Then it showed up this rework and I was like, "wait, I know that..." This version is much more high energy, higher BPM and more electro than the original but it's really nice to hear an old favorite getting some new life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH51g1L0i14
Saving the best for last, here's some truly superb vocal trance from Killogy. "Awake" is a showcase for singer-songwriter Angelika Vee (http://angelikavee.com/) whose vocals absolutely soar in this track. My only complaint is that it's too short, but it's definitely got me following Ms Vee to see what else she's doing. It's been a while since I heard a new voice that really got my attention and this track is a great way to finish out a set.

Oh holy cow have I got music for you. I'll break it up into more consumable chunks. Some new things from known names, and I've been unpacking the Dzeko & Torres EDM mega-sampler I linked to a few weeks ago. Let's start with the new and the unusual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6V_jP0sX04&feature=youtu.be
It's been a while since I linked to anything from steampunk music idols Abney Park. The band has gone through a couple of minor line-up changes and their material has wandered through sea shanties and more circus styling both of which were OK but I didn't think they were really noteworthy. They've started releasing singles from their latest CD, titled "Nomad" and I think this is my favorite. It's got some of the good dark energy that got me into their music years ago and whoever did the production here really knows how to make Captain Robert's voice sound its best.

https://soundcloud.com/francesca-belmonte-music/francesca-belmonte-stole
Francesca Belmonte's first solo single is gorgeous. Those who recognize the production style will go "wait, doesn't she sound like..." and the answer is "yes." Belmonte has been collaborating with Tricky and he's helping produce this, her first solo effort. It's an interesting mix of minimalist sound and harmonies with a kind of chop-cut style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUHxJI7ve1M
https://soundcloud.com/benny-benassi/dance-the-pain-away-feat-john-legend-eelke-klejin-remix
Benny Benassi is another artist I haven't talked about in a while and I sort of backed into this one by accident, when I was looking for more Eelke Kleijn music after noting his track in the Bootie end-of-year best. So, back in 2013 Benassi did a track with Grammy-winning American John Legend. It's an interesting mix of Legend's powered vocals (listen for the two-octave jumps) and Benassi's signature nu disco-influenced Italian beats. Then in 2014 Eelke Kleijn picked up the baton and produced the remix at the second link. It downplays Legend's vocals in favor of a more electronica style. I'm hard-pressed to say one is better than the other; both are interesting interpretations of the material.

https://soundcloud.com/fissunix/grace-downfall
Fissunix's mixes are notable for having clever, non-standard elements. At least the ones I choose to blog. Here he's taken Placebo's breathy and minor-key cover of the Kate Bush anthem "Runnin' Up That Hill" and woven in some of the best of London Grammar's "Hey Now" vocals. If this doesn't give you chills then you might be reading the wrong music blog entries. It's like part of the score for a post-apocalyptic love story.

https://soundcloud.com/djschmollimusic/revolution
https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/top-of-the-pops-2014-days-and-nights
I want to close out this entry with two excellent big mash-ups from two of the best: DJ Schmolli and Mashup Germany. The Schmolli entry is a nine (or 10 if you allow for the vocal segments)-way mix promoting love and revolution. There are some of Schmolli's trademark metal accents but the track mostly rides on the rock energy of P.O.D's "Youth of the Nation".

Mashup Germany continued his reign in 2014 of being the best and most underrated masher I know. This track is his top-of-the-pops for 2014, touching 70 different hits from the past year. It's a virtuoso effort, not simply a layering of a lot of sounds over a standard dance beat. The track weaves from orchestral to dance to electronic to pop.

My next-to-last Thursday-as-Friday so let's see what I can clear out. One long set, some loving remixes and we'll close out with a great new band from Europe. If there's a common thread to this set it's that all the selections are rich and reward multiple listens. There's a lot going on here.

http://soundcloud.com/looandplacido/loo-placido-retro-future-shock
This hour-long mix has been responsible for holding up a whole lot of other music listening as I've enjoyed it so much I played the whole thing through four times and select bits more than that. All the items here are Loo & Placido (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Loo-Placido/43248313667) remixing others' work, doing their own bootlegs and mashes. It features a wide variety of electronic styles, of which my two favorites are probably the very first track, "Skrillex Rock" and, about a third of the way in, "Funky Dragula". This is volume 1 and I can't wait for the next volume.

http://audioporncentral.com/2012/03/illegal-sunday-fissunix-hitzbreaker.html
Fissunix does some really clever thing with some of the great classic guitar licks and vocal samples from Zeppelin's classic "Heartbreaker". Of course anything that deals in James Brown and Sugar Hill Gang is likely to get thumbs-up from me, but I think what makes this work is that it's not a simple A|B mash, but rather a more complex layering and re-pacing of the track.

http://audioporncentral.com/2012/03/kavinsky-road-game-f-o-o-l-remix.html
Kavinsky's "Road Game" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3lb_m1Eopo) gets a pounding remix here from F.O.O.L. The track is still mostly instrumental, but the remix gives it a driving intensity that makes me think of movie chase sequences. The remix amps things up and makes the whole track more bombastic and urgent-sounding.

http://audioporncentral.com/2012/03/orbital-new-france-tom-middleton-cosmos-mix.html
Orbital has a new single out, New France, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qV-KwBfszc) and it's good. It puts me in mind of the best of their early stuff, with heavy electronica and near-trancey vocals mixed up and soaring the way they used to do it. Tom Middleton's mix is much more down-to-earth and substitutes low bass trance beats for the high-end vocals. The result feels much darker, but not in a black or negative sense. It's like the Orbital original celebrated the sunset and Middleton's remix celebrates the night that comes when the sun is fully down.

http://thedomusic.com/
Finally, one total change of pace. The Do is a French/Finnish collaboration that features intense vocals and extremely rich instrumentation. I recommend that you listen to the first track at the top - Gonna Be Sick! - first, to get a sense for the vocals. Then scroll all the way to the bottom and watch the extended video for their live studio session doing "Slippery Slope". The live session features some intensely awesome horns and percussions. The singing on Slippery Slope isn't bad - it's got that same full-throated intensity - but the big brass sounds are what make the track great.

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.

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 found a whole new set of good mashes and it's crushing my browser, so you get a third music post this week.

http://www.mashuptown.com/2011/01/mashup-germany-i-just-came-to-say-hello-katy-perry-vs-coldplay-vs-martin-solveig-ft-dragonette-vs-pe.html
Mashup Germany turns in a GREAT 9-track mix. Despite using Ke$ha and Katy Perry as components it manages to do awesome things built largely around Vitamin String Quartet's "Clocks" and a couple of other great guest bits. Given how disappointed I was in the lobsterdust megamixes it's nice to have someone doing well with large sets of source material.

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/5175931/Peter_Fox_Haus_am_See
Contained in the aforementioned Mashup Germany compilation is Peter Fox. I first noted him back in 2009 for his odd but catchy "Alles Neu" and the awesome drumming of the Cold Steel Drumline backing him. This track, "Haus am See", is much less intense, but still catchy fun German pop, and yes the drummers are still there.

http://www.culturebully.com/best-mashups-2010
http://www.culturebully.com/2010-mashed
Boingboing pointed to this blog, Culture Bully, because it created a list of top mash-ups based off suggestions by mashup artists themselves. It contains some real gems, such as Schmolli's "Enter Telephone" which is my vote for best mash of the past year. It also includes DJs from Mar's "Alors on Dance" mix which I had blogged about back in May and Schmolli's Joan Jett homage "Cooler Rock 'n' Roll" also from May.

The second page is a set of ten new tracks, though it's not clear what "new" means. I don't think I've heard any of them before, but who knows. I'll pull out a couple of good ones from that list as well.

http://ompldr.org/vNm51cQ/Fissunix%20-%20Whole%20Sex%20Lotta%20Machine%20%28James%20Brown%20vs.%20Led%20Zeppelin%20vs.%20Run%20DMC%20&%20Aerosmith%20mashup%29.mp3
Fissunix (http://bootleg.fissunix.com/) a French bootlegger, turns in a rockin' mash built around James Brown and Led Zepplin, with help from Aerosmith/Run DMC. Hard to go wrong with that material.

http://ompldr.org/vNm8xNA/Gaston%20-%20Cooler%20Bites%20The%20Dust%20%28Queen%20vs.%20Crookers%20feat.%20Yelle%20mashup%29.mp3
Gaston mashes Queen against the Crookers tune used in Schmolli's "Cooler Rock 'n' Roll" and comes up with something weird and wholly different. This one teeters on the edge of being a trainwreck mix but never falls apart, which is really nice.

http://www.culturebully.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/G3Rst%20-%20You%20Outta%20Know%20Danger%20%28Slash%20vs.%20Alanis%20Morissette%20mashup%29.mp3
G3rst (yes, that's really how he spells it - http://www.g3rst.com/) does something scarily impressive. He mashes Slash against Alanis Morissette. Yes, really. Angry women rock and roll! I'm not a big Alanis fan but she is so much better when she's being angry than when she's being whiny and emo and "You Oughta Know" is one righteously pissed-off tune.

http://www.culturebully.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Slaptop%20-%20Animus%20Vox%20%28Nelly%20Furtado%20vs.%20Ludacris%20vs.%20The%20Glitch%20Mob%20mashup%29.mp3
This is a great mix, not least because it's a mix-of-mixes including The Glitch Mob's "Animus Vox" against Nelly Furtado and Ludacris. Nelly contributes some non-FCC approved some words and the whole thing rides on The Glitch Mob's signature heavy electronics and thuddy beats. Slaptop (http://slaptopmusic.com/) is another new-to-me name that I'll need to check out further.

http://ompldr.org/vNm52MQ/Mighty%20Mike%20-%20Cocoon%20People%20%28Village%20People%20vs.%20Cocoon%20mashup%29.mp3
It's been a while since I posted a WRONG mix. This is WRONG with a side order of Wrong Sauce. No, really. Mighty Mike is a very bad person and if you listen to this I am not responsible for any drinks you snarf or keyboards you ruin.