The fight for diverse and conscious voices

OK, that's a bad joke. Some of this is new and some is older stuff I just found. Also, I'm listening to some so-called "nu disco" about which more in a future blog, I expect.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/08/audioporn-central-on-big-city-beats-%E2%80%93-august-show-hosted-by-simon-iddol.html
APC did another of their multi-hour shows on Big City Beats. Quite a lot of good listening in here. The first part is a recap of a dozen of the remixes that appeared on APC in the past month. There's then an interlude of live mashing by Simon Iddol himself, but the best part is the last third, which is Copycat doing a live set with a bunch of his favorite mashes from the past few months. Copycat's style is hip and lively with a heavy dash of tribal and rhythm, making a good couple hours of listening.

http://official.fm/tracks/293550#
Ruinmytune, which appears to be another name for Pheugoo, puts together a nice bounce mix. Given that it's built in part with Rozalla's "Everybody’s Free"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YgAw1G-4zY) which is one of my favorite vocal trance tracks. Pheugoo takes out the vocals, dropping the cheesy electronica in favor of a double dose of Calvin Harris's "Bounce" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZwmeUfuXg). Kelis's vocals on the original Bounce are good, but I like the Rozalla/Harris combo better.

http://soundcloud.com/madmixmustang/holiday-of-choice
This mix is about a year old and I thought I had blogged it, but apparently not. Madmixmustang remixes two classics - Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" which gets remixed all the time - and Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia". I don't think I've ever come across a DKs remix before and this one is insanely catchy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9qW6HEBo_c
Norwegian Recycling (http://norwegianrecycling.net) is a guy with a talent for multi-track mashing. He eschews the simple A/B pairings in favor of blending 4 or more related tracks into a new thing entirely. The YouTube page has a bunch of links to his stuff. Some of the more interesting pieces - like the "Don’t Stop Believin" currently on his site's home page - have almost conventional song structures, sometimes the same structures as one of the original pieces. As such they are less like the megamixes done by Lobsterdust and more like traditional pop songs.

http://marcjohnce.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/flex-gym-duck/
Another one from about a year ago, Marc Johnce taking the then-popular "Duck Sauce" and Dizzee's "Flex" and putting together a remix workout song with Ray Krebbs' "The Gym". I've always thought Duck Sauce made more sense as backing track than as a stand-alone and Dizzee can rap above most anything.

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy's latest mix is "Downhome" and it's a nice blend of bluesy, funky, and danceable tunes. Lots of good phat horns.

Time for another of my infrequent visits to Bootie Blog. They seem to post only about once a month, top-10 lists. So there's a lot to review and some of it is quite good and new to me. Herewith five:

http://bootiemashup.com/aplusd/AplusD_GucciGucciGirlPower.mp3
A+D put together a six-way all-girl mashup that's a lot of fun, built mostly around rapper Kreayshawn's "Gucci Gucci" and the Ting Tings. Paradoxically, by not featuring any particularly strong vocalist it works pretty well as an ensemble mash.

http://bootiemashup.com/top10/aug2011/3LAU%20-%20All%20Night%20Long%20(LMFAO%2C%20Ellie%20G%2C%20Mann%2C%20Darth%20%26%20Vader).mp3
3LAU's "All Night Long" by contrast, builds around the strong and smooth vocals of Ellie Goulding. I'm not familiar with most of the other tracks that are mixed in here, and it's a valiant effort to give someone with a good vocal-trance sound more of a house club thumpy feel. I think the start of the mix works better than the end, but overall not a bad effort.

http://bootiemashup.com/top10/aug2011/marc%20johnce%20-%20who%20dat%20addictive%20bad%20s%26m%20girl.mp3
Marc Johnce proves he can play the mega-dance-mash mix game, too. DJ Lobsterdust is kind of the defining sound here and I don't think Johnce has tried this before. Here he's got at least 6-7 major sounds going, and all heading for a high-energy pop-dance finish. I can even put up with the Katy Perry in here, though I continue to feel that mixing Perry with something only makes something slightly worse. But I digress. Johnce's mash is good, and it's fun picking out the bits you know and then going back to see which bits you missed.

http://bootiemashup.com/top10/aug2011/dylanvasey---omg-you-changed-the-way-you-kiss-me-example-vs.-usher.mp3
Dylan Vasey (http://www.mashstix.com/Dylan.php) is a new name to me and this is a pretty simple mash of Usher's "OMG" which is a pretty lame spin on its own with Example's "Changed the Way You Kissed Me." Example's tune is a pretty hot club banger on its own with a fast-rap backbone and the mash relies heavily on that. Almost everything lame from the Usher tune is stripped out and he becomes a guest vocalist on the Example track, which would be an awesome idea in reality, too.

http://bootiemashup.com/top10/july2011/MashMike%20-%20Pump%20Up%20The%20Party%20Rock.mp3
Mashmike out does both Lobsterdust and Johnce in the mega-mash department. Seven contributors (plus samples) including current pop stars backed by classics like C&C and Salt-n-Pepa. This is one of those tracks you drop at the start of a set to get people up and moving

I've had a bunch of tabs open for days and want to get them cleared up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDOPNLzEFH0
This is a must-watch. The song is pretty standard Japanese male-pop by someone using the name Genki Sudo. But the vid is brilliant. It's a group called "World Order" that is... um, how to describe this. Roboto sarariman? Um, yeah. Just watch it. They're doing a nicely synched dance routine to the tune and the video editing is tight, but what really makes this one rock is that they're doing it in Manhattan and the non-response of the blase' New Yorkers amuses the hell out of me. Particularly pay attention around 2:11 in when one of the dancers nearly smacks some chick in the face and she's so engrossed by her crackberry she can't even glance at them. This is New York, buddy. We get weirder things than you in our breakfast cereal.

(h/t to minerva42 for the link)

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Ladytron/track/Ace_of_Hz_Punks_Jump_Up_Remix
I keep thinking I should have said something about Ladytron before now. They've been around for at least a decade now (Wikipedia says 12 years) and their new wave/electro style was heard a lot in the last half of the 00's when they were remixing for a lot of big-name artists. This stream showcases their new "Ace of Hz" (pronounced 'hearts') track and a couple remixes of "Ghosts" - though I still prefer the original radio edit for its rich, eerie, and haunting feel.

http://www.djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy has been incredibly busy of late and his mixes have been fun to listen to. Back in January he did one called "Four on the Floor" that starts off with a version of M.A.N.D.Y - Oh Superman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7liQx92aoKk&feature=related). Yes, THAT "Oh Superman". I like the Steveboy version better than this YouTube version, but I'm mostly pulling it out because - hello - Laurie Anderson? Electro-House? Rock my little world!

(It has been said that you may be able to determine your musical compatibility with me by your ability to listen to and appreciate Laurie Anderson, particularly this track. I leave the readers to judge for themselves.)

His Jan 28 mix was called "This Old House" and featured a number of house favorites. I particularly liked the crossover house-world tracks like The Fort Knox Five's "Bhangra Paanch" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7mdbSlnE28). It's a bit down-tempo as befits dub, but with the minor-chord strong rhythm styling that characterizes bhangra for me. Again, the YouTube mix isn't exactly the one Steveboy uses, but it's as close as I could get.

Also in the dub house (ha, see what I did there?) is Chocolate Puma's "Back Home" (http://www.4shared.com/audio/6W8U3xW5/Chocolate_Puma_-_Back_Home_fea.html)

There's a new mix up today, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=352&Itemid=36
Some things sit open in tabs for a while because I am not sure I like them on first listen and want to come back to them. This one's been sitting for a while and I think I've decided I like it. Dan Mei's "Down With The Precious Sickness" combines Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness" - which I really do like - and Depeche Mode's "Precious". Which is OK, but far from their best. And I'm not entirely sold either on Dan Mei's innate skills or on the wisdom of combining metal with emo, except for the lulz. This, however, works.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=36
Dan Mei and Marc Johnce contribute a mega-mash of six tracks ranging from the excellent Ting Tings to the pop Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne. With guests spots from Willow and The Police. One of these things is not like the others! It's a bit of a brain-bender but I wanted to point to it because I tend to like the bigger mash-ups when they work and this one may force me to revise my opinion of Dan Mei's skill.

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.

Between traveling and some big heaping doses of Do Not Like in my random musical samplings I've not had enough material to be worth a post in a while. I still have a bunch of tabs open on things I might blog about but let's start with a few clear winners.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Chk_Chk_Chk/track/AMFM
The group's official name is "!!!" - yes, three exclamation marks. I'm just going to call them Chk Chk Chk, particularly since that's how their site (http://www.chkchkchk.net/) is found. I'm having a hard time classifying the sound here. It's got some high-BPM beats, very strong electro influences, but overlaid with a mellow almost trancy vocals. The AM/FM track is a real throwback style to early 90s electro; the second track, a Hot Chip (http://www.myspace.com/hotchip) remix has a thumpier house beat, fast-rap lyrics and a much funkier groove. I like both of these, but in very different ways.

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy's latest mix has a goofy name ("Lotion") and he plays it as a lighter mix, but he's found some excellent tracks with a lot more energy than he lets on. It's got definite danceable funk lines and wicked cool rhythms. Unfortunately his sources are hard to duplicate. For example, there's a track -- Tone L0c- Wild Thing (Punx Squad Mix) -- that just rocks my socks but damned if I can find it. Apparently it's known as Moguai vs Tone L0c elsewhere (http://www.moguai.com/?a=457) but still no MP3 I can point you guys to. However, see below.

http://www.nuttymp3.com/mp3/608863
This track, known mostly as The Bongo Man - Ugwanga (Vortex Remix) is probably the best item off the Steveboy mix. Turns out The Bongo Man (aka Tony Thomas) has an EP of remixes of this track. Five of 'em are on iTunes for $5 and you can find others around with some searching. Of all of them I love this one best. It's a DEEP deep house mix with a lot of energy but not too many BPM and some excellent electro riffs over the bongo sounds. The MP3 linked above is about a 1:30 teaser for the longer track, which you should definitely get.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=317&Itemid=27
What if you took Rihanna and Cyndi Lauper, feed them some speed, and threw them both into Benny Benassi's studio? You'd probably get something like this. It's goofy and if you don't like the original artists you're not going to like the mash any better, but I do and I did.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/06/world-premiere-dj-schmolli-no-good-cockeyed-tiger.html
OK, more confession time. I used to listen to "Eye of the Tiger" more or less obsessively. It was a great track to put on Really Freaking Loud while trying to pound out a big block of code. Here DJ Schmolli has built a six-track mash including Survivor's one hit. The most prominent elements are the various vocals that he's pulling in, primarily the chorus from Monosurround and The Prodigy's looped lyrics. That said, one of the best parts is about halfway through the mix when he swaps in the Survivor lyrics over other melodies, and then swaps things back again.

I write a lot about dance music, mostly because I find that to be an interesting set of genres. One of the surest metrics for 'goodness' in music I listen to is "does it move me?" If I'm moved then there's a much higher chance I'll like it. What measures 'goodness' in music for you?

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/We_Have_Band/track/Honeytrap_Co-Pilots_Flying_High_Edit
We Have Band have a gorgeous tribal rhythm thing going, and a sharp-edged electro-dance thing going and I'll be damned if I can classify them. They've appeared at several festivals and have single tracks on a bunch of compilations and their "debut album" was just released this month. The stream on RCRD LBL gives you a wide-ranging sample of what they can do. I'm guessing most people will find something to like here.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=277&Itemid=36
http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=278&Itemid=27
The DJs at Mashup Industries do so much work in English that it's easy to forget they're European. Then they pull out mixes like this that I can't even begin to parse the lyrics for, but man does it have beat!

The first one is Clivester putting Skero's Kabinenparty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I-I6yMx23g) up against David Guetta & Kid Cudi's "Memories" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px3_wP2LQj0). Watching that first vid will give you a good idea of what a "kabinenparty" is, even if you don't speak any German. Both of these are pretty standard house-dance tracks and the mash doesn't do much that's original, but it's still moving me.

The second is Marc Jonce promoting a local (to him) German band called Rosenstolz. You can find the original for "Blaue Flecken" on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhtD5we5sCg) which really lets you sink into the luscious vocals and rock piano arrangements. Jonce has stripped that down, pitch- and beat-shifted it, and tightened everything up to give a much more techno-dance result. From what I can find on the Web, Rosenstolz has been performing for almost two decades and it's really a shame their music hasn't made it over here before now. AnNa R. (as she is apparently known) is really worth a serious listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnefUaKCbc
I think I'm indebted to 'song for this one. Janelle Monae (http://www.jmonae.com/) blends together some of the best elements of at least four musical styles - R&B, funk (dig that horn section!), rap (with help from Big Boi), and hip-hop. If you said there were gospel influences in here you probably wouldn't be far wrong. Of course all of these styles are woven together at least to some degree. Anyway, one of the fun things is watching the video, which is a straight-up dance vid that itself plays around with several styles. And yeah, makes me want to dance.

It's Friday, so we've got some odd dregs and leftovers. I didn't think much of the first new mix on Mashuptown today, but this...

http://viprhealthcare.typepad.com/files/marc-johnce---weapon-of-mista-boo.mp3
This works. Unfortunately the mix is something of a rough cut - you can hear a few places where it skips rather than matching beats cleanly. For reference, you want to (re)watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Ky5R-vxns - the original Fatboy Slim video featuring Christopher Walken. The Fatboy Slim tune itself steals very heavily from Pfunk, and this remix plays that up a little.

(Fun trivia bit: the video was done by Spike Jonze, whose adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are is coming out soon.)

http://fairtilizer.com/tracks/4502
While I'm on the remix side I wanted to blog this dancey house mix. It's been sitting in an open tab for long enough that I've forgotten the chain of events that led me to find it. The basic track, Don't Believe The Hype, has been remixed at least six ways I could find and none of them seemed to be much improvement on this.

OK yesterday I promised you some odd German stuff...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdtLCfEcPL4
Peter Fox's "Alles Neu". The song isn't that odd, but the video is pretty bizarre and features some nice work by a Cold Steel Drumline. Watch the stick-passing in particular. I'm pretty sure I'm indebted to KJC for the first pointer to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgd1QmjCzEA
Far and away the weirdest of the set. This is one of those idiotic catchy things that gets into your brain and sticks and you wish for some mental floss. It's not as bad as Gummibar but it's up there. Also? Very gay!