The fight for diverse and conscious voices

I stumbled across an old DJ's From Mars mix that got my music juices flowing. We'll revisit several favorites and guilty pleasures here.

https://soundcloud.com/housemusic/somebody-do-something-by-dem
Dem Slackers turn in a fun prog-house track with heavy electro influences. Nothing revolutionary here, but a good stompy set of beats. I particularly like the way the track accelerates about 2:45 in.

https://soundcloud.com/monarchysound/disintegration-vox
A bit over a year ago I pointed to Monarchy's super-sexy "Disintegration". The track notably featured the vocals of Dita von Teese and now we get an acapella version with just the voices of Von Teese and another singer who goes as Ra Black. I've been completely unable to track down who that is, which is a shame.

https://soundcloud.com/koricosky/hello-barbaras-love-shack
A couple years ago Duck Sauce's "Barbara Streisand" was all the rage. I kind of got burned out on the remixes but since I haven't heard the tune in a while I found I enjoyed this old mash with the B-52's "Love Shack". Korico Sky is a remixer who doesn't seem to be doing much currently - kind of a shame.

https://soundcloud.com/siyen/lose-yourself-fool-eminem-vs-evanescence-vs-kelly-clarkson-mash-up
Two of my old guilty pleasures (Eminem and Evanescence) mashed by someone called Slyen. If you like the sources I think you'll enjoy this take; if not, not, and that's OK too.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/mumford-sons-i-will-wait
And now your weird for the week. cthulhia this one is for you: Bloombox and Sam Feldt remixing Mumford & Sons' "I Will Wait". I'm not a huge Mumford fan, and certainly their stuff isn't the typical fare of remixers. But I rather like this one. It feels true to the original and I love the horn bits.

I found two links that I meant to put into the last post and a bunch of good new stuff has streamed past recently, so it's time for another collection of aural goodness and one video I think you should take the time to watch.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/01/featurecast-run-for-cover-remixes-vol-2.html
I meant to put this into the funk section last time. This is four funkalicious tracks from Featurecast (http://www.featurecast.co.uk/) featuring four different remixers. All four tracks are excellent but for sheer bebop mothership madness I have to go with "Jump", though "Get Lovely" is a close second for its authentic Motown feel.

http://bootiemashup.com/bestofbootie2012/Best%20of%20Bootie%202012%20-%20Bonus%20Tracks/Titus%20Jones%20-%20Dance%20Alarm.mp3
Also missed is this cutie of a floor-smasher from Titus Jones. It was listed on Bootie Blog's "Extra Tracks" and I forgot to mark it last time around. As usual, Jones is mixing pop female voices from Nicki Minaj and Carly Rae Jepsen to Britney Spears. What saves this mix from being just another pop confection is what he salts the mix with, including some Etta James.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JhkZGqkIjPg#!
This one I think you should watch because, hello Dita Von Teese! Also, the video is a really mind-mess thing. It's clear that some of it is in her brain, but how much? It's an interesting example of female gaze, which you don't see often. All the writhing figures are male, this time. Monarchy (http://soundcloud.com/monarchysound) have a number of remixes up on their Soundcloud so that's on my to-listen list now. I do like Dita's voice and the basic beats of the track so it'll be fun to see what the remixers do.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/01/boys-noize-ich-r-u-van-she-remix.html
I'm normally not a huge fan of either Boys Noize or Van She but somehow this disco-y remix works if you're in the mood for a heavy dose of chop-mixed electronica. I know that's not everyone's thing, but that's OK.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/01/pyramid-wolf.html
Speaking of electronica, this "Wolf" track is an intense bit of electronic rhythm structuring. It changes complexion several times, which makes it more interesting than usual. Pyramid (http://soundcloud.com/pyramidhall) is a French remixer. I'm starting to feel like most of the really interesting non-vocal remixes these days are coming from France.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/01/arlissa-sticks-and-stones-joe-goddard-remix.html
Arlissa is a new vocalist who's just dropped her debut EP full of mixes. The page lets you listen to four of them as well as a snip of the original. All the remixes are OK, but to my mind the Friction remix is the clear winner because you get a much better feel of her vocal skills from it. I think it's a little frenetic, but not bad. The single won't be out for several weeks so I may go back to it in March and see how it holds up.