The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Insert various excuses here. Now let's listen to something more interesting than excuses.

http://soundcloud.com/clownandsunset/csp06-nicolas-jaar-essential
This is the stream for Nicholas Jaar's BBC One Essential Mix, but without the BBC "edits". Basically the Essential Mix is a two-hour commercial-free stream but the BBC has to remind you what you're listening to, so there are intro/outro bits added as well as random places during the mix where the music itself is turned down so you can hear the BBC announcer's voice-over. This annoys the crap out of some of the performers, who then release the un-edited mixes so people can hear them as intended, really without interruption.

This is a very typical Jaar mix, so it's heavy on the melodic, with very strong jazz influence, orchestral and ambient segments, and electronica throughout. I mostly enjoyed it - I'm on my third play-through - though I could have done without the synthesizer whale songs.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/STARS/track/Theory-of-Relativity-Diamond-Rings-Remix/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta1xEMypk2Q
Stars (http://www.myspace.com/stars) are an indie act that is well known in Canada and almost unknown in the US. This is a single off their fifth album release from this year, and the Diamond Rings remix for it. The original is heavy synth, slower-tempo electro-pop, with a good helping of fuzz. The remix drops out almost all the base synth stuff and replaces it with female vocals and sped-up beats to create a more dance-floor-friendly track. Both the original and the remix are good listens and it's an interesting example of what a remixer can do.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Chevin/track/Champion/
The Chevin (http://www.the-chevin.com/) are another male vocal-driven indie-rock outfit. Like Stars they're not much known in the US, despite appearing on Dave Letterman's show (see the vid on their site) - though they're still quite new. I think that's a shame as too much of the US-based male-lead stuff slants heavily toward emo, which this is definitely not. It's got strong production values, and is pretty heavily mixed, but Coyle's voice still comes through OK.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Miike_Snow/track/Pretender-Dem-Slackers-Remix/
http://www.earmilk.com/2012/07/10/rihanna-where-have-you-been-dem-slackers-remix/
I haven't mentioned Miike Snow in a couple years. As before, I continue to listen to their new stuff but none of it grabs me. Tracks like "Paddling Out" and "Animal" got a lot of attention and remixes, but again... enh. This one, "Pretender", really stood out as a cut above. Dem Slackers is still doing standard techno dance-floor stuff (like, I think the whole first 40 seconds of the remix are disposable) but once he gets going you want really to crank it up and when he starts to cut in the vocal sustain bits it's really good.

The second link has several more Dem Slackers remix but the one that got me up and dancing was his stomping treatment of Rihanna's "Where Have You Been". Awesome!

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Icona-Pop/track/I-Love-It-Style-of-Eye-Remix/
Icona Pop (http://www.iconapop.com/) are usually too much disco for me to take. But they're so much fun and this track is so hot I couldn't resist. I seem to be in the mood for hot dance music this week and this fits that bill perfectly. It's got tight beats and all the techno that can reasonably fit. Yes, it's still a little bit disco, but not too much.

This entry has a couple of old favorites and some stuff from people I haven't found likable enough before to blog.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/06/miike-snow-the-rabbit-stuart-price-mix.html
Miike Snow has done a bunch of things that were... good, or OK. RCRD LBL likes to promote him (http://rcrdlbl.com/search/miike+snow) so I listen and think... eh. Nothing really moves me. This one is just that extra bit better that makes me want to blog it, and it's not just because of those hot writhing chicks in the video (though they don't hurt). Stuart Price is a UK remixer whom I've not heard before and I really like what he's done here. The song is catchy without being syrupy and it's still got Miike Snow's trademark slightly-off-kilter weirdness.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=315&Itemid=27
Marc Johnce is someone I've also wanted to blog several times. His remix style hasn't appealed to me as much in the past. This one... whoa. It doesn't hurt that he's starting with the legendary Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water". And putting up against Christina Aguilera's recent "Not Myself Tonight" is brilliant. I really like the mix - it is true to both the hot scratchy vocals of the C.A. tune and that signature Deep Purple riff (bomp bomp bomp, bomp bomp ba-bomp bomp). The extended edit has a few more house thumpy filler bits than I'd like, but I'd drop this into any club set for sure.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=314&Itemid=27
If the Jonce mix goes long, the worst thing I can say about this awesome smash from DJ Schmolli is that it's too short. He's got two classics - Queen's "We Will Rock You" and Cypress Hill's "Insane In The Brain". Neither one is that long of a track and both are ridiculously simple. The best bit is near the end where he's using Brian May's guitars over Cypress Hill rhythms.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/06/big-nuz-ft-dj-tira-umlilo.html
Hey spinners, check this vid out! Big Nuz is a South African rapper who just won their Best Album of the Year award. There's not much else of his out on the Web that I could find to check out, but I like this track - it has obvious hip-hop styles but uses the down-beat rhythms I associate with traditional south African music.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/06/dj-earworm-like-omg-baby-capital-fm-summertime-ball-mashup.html
DJ Earworm has been remarkably quiet this year. Since releasing his "United States of Pop" in January his blog hasn't updated. He plays a part in the student documentary "Walking on Eggshells" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0ASo_6Sdg&feature=PlayList&p=6DE7C8C33450E9CC&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=7) about remix culture, but this appears to be his first big new track in months. It's a 15-source mega-mix showcasing bits of the artists who played at a London concert. As before, this track stands out because of the level of detail in the work - he's mixing down to the word/beat level and reassembling something wholly new. It doesn't quite rock as hard as the previous megamix, but it's still very danceable and an impressive piece of work.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/lcd-soundsystem-%E2%80%93-bye-bye-bayou-turbotito-remix.html
LCD Soundsystem (http://www.lcdsoundsystem.com/) gives up an extra-cool electro-rave tune. It's got basic house beats and trippy vocals but a second rhythm layer makes this more of a drive/dance mix than you'd expect initially. This is the sort of thing I like to have on the car sound system when I have a lot of miles to cover.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/robyn-fembot-live.html
http://audioporncentral.com/2009/12/i-blame-coco-ft-robyn-caesar.html
http://audioporncentral.com/2010/01/i-blame-coco-ft-robyn-caesar-miike-snow-and-diplo-remixes.html
Robyn (http://www.robyn.com/#) is a far too white, far too cute and poppy of a singer chick to be producing these funky sounds. This is no Ace of Bass, trust me (also, she's way hotter). Robyn's been around for a while, doing more standard pop things, so I was wondering where I'd heard her voice before when I realized she'd been the featured backup singer with Coco Sumner (http://www.myspace.com/iblamecoco) on Coco's release earlier this year of "Caesar". And for extra-bonus coolness, Coco released not only the original track but two remixes - one by Diplo and one by Miike Snow. I love these side-by-side remixes; it's a kind of dueling turntables, giving you a feel for how very different two DJ styles can make the same base track sound.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/simon-iddol-dirty-like-dat-the-young-punx-vs-michael-jackson.html
http://audioporncentral.com/mashedpoppedpunked
http://audioporncentral.com/2010/04/simon-iddol-%E2%80%93-infinity-sunset-mix.html
Simon Iddol is the force behind APC and he's such a prolific blogger that it's easy to forget that he also does his own projects. Here we get a full-on dose of some of his best.

The umbrella project here is called The Young Punx (http://www.theyoungpunx.com/site/) and it features some of Europe's best young DJs, producers, and remixers doing their thing live and available for download. There are literally hundreds of MB available for free download at the site and if you like what you hear you can buy more through Amazon and iTunes. The new album is called MASHED POPPED PUNKED and it has 12 tracks of The Young Punx vs everyone else from Vangelis to the Pixies to opera. Yes, really. Some of the Young Punx names will be familiar if you read my music entries - lobsterdust and schmolli for example - and other names are new to me.

Finally, the third link is to a four-track set on Soundcloud that Iddol put together. It's very Euro-pop and much lighter than the Young Punx tracks.