The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Had to leave work early on Friday to pick the kids up from camp. Thus, music today. Two fantastic long-form listens and a couple favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxgxWRKuFRk
Beats Antique are going on tour again. (This fall in Boston with Shpongle at House of Blues - I have my tickets, do you?) This is the first single from what I expect will be their new album and it's classic Beats. Strong percussive Middle Eastern-influenced dance sounds with a good dash of crunk thrown in for variety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdFMYlB-kQ
Mashup Germany did this excellent complex mash about a year ago but I just found it. This one feels largely like a "Men at Work" mash even though the vocals are primarily P. Diddy/Skylar Gray's "Coming Home" (with a nice appearance from Sting). It's low-bpm and relaxed - feels like an end-of-summer thing to me.

https://soundcloud.com/katermukke/1-rey-kjavik-dirty-doering
https://soundcloud.com/katermukke/2-rey-kjavik-dirty-doering
Two very similar remixes by Rey & Kjavic of Katermukke tracks. Both are heavy electronica, with a slinky twang throughout. I like the "Black Cat" one better because the sound really reminds me of a black cat prowling. Yes, really, this is how my brain works.

https://soundcloud.com/bootie-dragon-con-mashups
OK, time to get your SERIOUS NERDGASM on. Here is a set of nerd-themed, nerd-inspired, geek-tastic remixes from DJ BC's Dragoncon set. It includes favorites DJs from Mars, Deadmau5, DJ Schmolli, G3RST, and Party Ben. Ben's "Dr Who on Holiday" is hilarious fun but for sheer nerdy goodness "We No Speak Cantina" from G3RST takes the prize. I also have to mention "Haunted Bela" by DJ Fnord because I love "Bella Lugosi's Dead" so much.

https://soundcloud.com/source-addiction/sets/djs-from-mars-bootzilla-2014
Saving the best for last, here is Bootzilla Volume Two from DJs from Mars. Nineteen tracks of absolutely fantastic electronic dance fun from the Martians and friends. I'm on my fourth listen through of this and I can't pick one favorite. The lead track is an AC/DC mashup that rocks SO HARD and it keeps on giving from there. I suspect people will like various tracks based on the source material; for example, I love the "Depeche Doors for Fears" (track 4) because I'm a big "Personal Jesus" lover - I've always thought that was a song about phone sex. Anyway, let it play and tell me what rocks your world.

Lots of backlog to clear. Herewith some stuff...

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=353&Itemid=36
http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=354&Itemid=36
Britney Spears puts out a new single ("Hold It Against Me") and we get two remixers take on it. The first is Marc Johnce's "Rolling Sassy Against Me" which puts Britney up against Kat Graham's "Sassy" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9xCSMPj02k) and Adele's "Roll In The Deep" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZUbIrf_xOA). Graham's highly auto-tuned vocal dominates this mix which is something of a sadness because I think Adele is a much better vocalist than either of the other two. My preference for throaty Motown sound has nothing to do with this judgment, really.

DJ Schmolli then gives us "Not Gonna Hold It Against Me" which brings in the hot Russian duo t.A.T.u. doing "Not Gonna Get Us" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HL-N9oOjcs). As is typical for Schmolli's style, the mash-up emphasizes the energy and beats underlying the melody and yet it's hard to miss how much better t.A.T.u.'s vocals are than Britney's.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=350&Itemid=36
Speaking of Schmolli-style, here's him doing "T.N.T. Bass", a mash of AC/DC's "T.N.T" - one of the beloved metal tracks of the 70s - and Egotronic's "Mehr Bass (vs. JA!KOB)" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTZOGPDUPQI) which is itself a highly thump-tastic tune. What's interesting here is that Schmolli has released two versions of the track and I find myself liking the extended version better. It's more BPM, which I usually don't like but in this case I think it works because it sounds less like the AC/DC tune and my brain doesn't get jarred as much. Or something - just listen for yourself.

http://members.quicknet.nl/gerardstroomer/mashup/g3rst_-_venus_whip.mp3
http://members.quicknet.nl/gerardstroomer/mashup/g3rst_-_sugar_water.mp3
http://members.quicknet.nl/gerardstroomer/mashup/g3rst_-_red_hot_rude_boy.mp3
http://members.quicknet.nl/gerardstroomer/mashup/g3rst_-_hey_baby_bug.mp3
I promised a week or so ago to go through more of G3rst's work of which there's quite a lot at http://www.g3rst.com/. Here are some things I pulled out because they're innovative and interesting.

The first one is "Venus Whip" and it composes Devo's "Whip It" with Disrupt's "Wir Rufen Die Venus" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufl59mrBi14) which is a heavy bass dubstep number that is notably down-tempo. Why it works to put that against the frenetic Devo track is anyone's guess. Like I said... INTERESTING.

"Sugar Water" pits Peter Fox (ft. Vanessa Mason)'s "Zucker" against Justice's "Waters Of Nazareth" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqJu_3CPhC4). Again it's an interesting and unexpected combo as Peter Fox is smooth and supple where Justice is raw, rough, and fuzz-heavy. I have to admit I'd never heard Justice before but they're definitely going into my Darker Thrash mix station on Pandora.

"Red Hot Rude Boy" is another combination that just makes you sit up and take notice. From the name you can probably guess it's Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California" and Rihanna's "Rude Boy." Except not quite. G3rst is mixing against the classical cover of Rude Boy by Aston who I tagged back in June as being Made Of Awesome. I like Dani California - it's probably my favorite RHCP song and G3rst has slowed it down so that Anthony Kiedis's vocals match well with the Aston adaptation.

"Hey Baby Bug" is No Doubt's "Hey Baby" vs. Shakalabbits' "Phasemeter Trippin' Bug Shake" (yeah, I never heard of them either). The remix touches a little bit on frenetic because Shakalabbits are Japanese ska punk. Yes, really. I can't make this stuff up. But the No Doubt tune is solid and the remix holds together nicely.

Next time we'll probably have more G3rst, an hour-long French remix set, and a surprise re-appearance.

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.