The fight for diverse and conscious voices

A collection of different and distinctive sounds this time around.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/William_Fitzsimmons/track/The_Tide_Pulls_From_The_Moon_Acoustic_Versionc
A few of you know I was raised in a folkie household. I remember being taken as a child to see a Pete Seeger concert and somehow we were invited up on stage. I distinctly remember that I was small enough that I could stand upright and the top of my head didn't touch the bottom of Seeger's banjo. That was a bit intimidating.

That said, William Fitzsimmons is far and away the scariest-looking folk singer I've ever seen. His music, though, is the same sort of gentle comfortable folkie melodies I used to fall asleep listening to. Even when the songs are laid over a modern dance beat, he still seems to be whispering in your ear. He's got a lovely voice and the arrangements on these tunes are low-key and minimal. Very pleasant listening.

http://cargocollective.com/girlwalkallday
Back in January I pointed to Girl Talk's new mega-mix album so technically this isn't a new sound. Instead, it's a new concept - an attempt to produce an album length video to go with "All Day". It's a Kickstarter project, meaning they're trying to crowdsource funding. Some of the dancing is quite good and I like the concept, though I'm not taken with the cinematography. Maybe if they get enough funding they'll hire a better cameraman. If you aren't taken with the album after these 8 minutes I don't know what to say; it's some brilliant remixing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd6p8CSP0aQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSfWOT5JaRY&feature=relmfu
Clare Maguire is another of those singers whose voice is WAY the hell better than her music. The first track I heard from her (yes, I know I'm late to this party) was overproduced, autotuned, and generally not that interesting. Except, there's something her voice. She's got a ton of power in there, which makes her interesting. You can hear it better in the first video, which is a live recording, than you can in most of the official heavily edited tracks. It's sort of soul and sort of southern, and whoever is trying to force her into an Enya-esque mold should cut it the hell out. Fire half the string players, give her some brass backing, and turn the volume WAY up.

The second one ("Ain't Nobody") is better in part because those strings are muted way down and she gets more sultry and earthy with her vocals. The annoying part is that I can't figure out whose song this is - it's a cover but my google-fu is failing to turn up the original author. I expect a voice like this to give me real chills and she's very close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUFCzL6aJKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmnHN8BZLg0&feature=relmfu
Aroraborealis linked to the first song - El as part of a note on dubstep (oontz!) and there's definite downtempo feel, along with the heavy hard bass and electronica fills that I expect in dubstep, but Elli Goulding's voice gives this a much more vocal trance feel than traditional dubstep. And that's OK - I like her voice a lot; in particular I like this dubstep mix better than the original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NKUpo_xKyQ&feature=related) which is a bit too synthpop.

I was surprised to see that I hadn't linked to her "Starry Eyed" before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PULdPep_xfs&feature=related) since I was listening to it a lot this time last year. The second link is to a fairly popular remix of the tune. I don't think Goulding is in the same class as Maguire, but she's still got potential.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/02/bat-for-lashes-%E2%80%93-strangelove-depeche-mode-cover.html
Bat For Lashes covers a Depeche Mode classic. I like this cover in part because she's vocally keeping true to the eerie emotionality of the original while her use of novel instruments like the harpsichord give it a unique twist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vEStDd6HVY&feature=related
Pomplamousse is a cover artist like few others. The indie duo have a unique brand - small space, single-camera Web vids of them performing the songs they're covering - and a peculiar style. He seems unable to sit still, ever, and as far as I can tell she doesn't actually blink. At least, not on camera. Her voice reminds me of the clean, tight female harmony groups such as The Andrews Sisters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andrews_Sisters) that were popular in the middle of the last century. It's kind of amusing to hear modern pop hits like Gaga's "Telephone" and Beyonce's "Single Ladies" rendered in that style.

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.