The fight for diverse and conscious voices

I've almost got enough saved items to make a themed post so let's see how this goes. Most of what we have here is smooth and wonderful electronica of one sort or another, with new beautiful vocals to enjoy.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/04/illegal-sunday-leedm101-sound-of-light.html
LeeDM101 is someone I found late last year and his best work, in my opinion, works with strong female vocalists and here he lays in another in that genre. Ellie Goulding's "Lights" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NKUpo_xKyQ) is, as I noted last month, pretty syrupy synthpop. Husky Rescue's "Sound of Love" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg7pjP9idSk) is more sophisticated and LeeDM picks out the best of both for this mix. I will probably have more to say about Husky Rescue later.

http://photek.fm/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swcDeoZR0E8
Photek unfortunately don't tend to put up full tracks. You can get a number of samples off their page via the player, and also don't miss their entry in the Tron: Legacy R3CONFIGUR3D remix set. They keep the strong thudding house bass but weave their special magic around it.

It's interesting to put that one up with the Glitch Mob entry into the Tron remixing set. The Glitch Mob don't have Photek's smoothness; what they have is incredible intensity and an ability to work with electro-fuzz in a way that doesn't set my teeth on edge. Normally it's not my cuppa but damn it works so well here. The video artistry by Khameleon808 is also tight and cut fine.

http://audioporncentral.com/2011/04/world-premiere-apc-exclusive-josephine-ft-copycat-the-darkest-side-of-me.html
If this one doesn't send chills up and down your spine then I'm not sure what to say. Josephine has a gorgeous dark rich vocal style that makes me think of elegant nightclubs, and DJ Copycat's electro-disco supports it extremely well. The result is much more vocal-trance than you'd expect - intimate and just a little bit ethereal.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=364&Itemid=36
Yes, dear readers, that is Clivester. You know, the guy who does all those fun 80s-metal remixes and hard-edged Nordic/German rock stuff? Yeah, um, took me completely by surprise too. This one takes Axwell's "Heart Is King" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyUiVCiNURw) a modernist John Williams-esque instrumental piece, and plays beautifully against Chase & Status's "Time" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWP9VvkeTmA - warning, video is about domestic violence). Chase & Status are a drum&bass DJ duo; here they're featuring Where the original is a sort of minimalist pop tune, this mash is a stronger anthem. The singer is just credited as "Delilah" and I've not been able to track her down yet.

Lots of tabs have hung about open for a while. Herewith an attempt to close the first half dozen of them. I'll save the real brain-twister for last, I promise.

http://soundcloud.com/groups/glitch-mob-remix-it-like-you-stole-it-competion/tracks?page=1
A while back the Glitch Mob announced a competition in which people would remix their "Drive It Like You Stole It" track, the remixes would be posted on Soundcloud, and people would vote for their favorite. The winner is now up, a high-hard fast scratch mix by mirkokosmos. It's not my favorite personally, but it's quite good.

I've only listened to three pages of entries so far. The Soundcloud set-up is nice in that you can just push play on the first track and it'll stream all the entries on that page. I don't recommend doing more than a few a day, or you'll get seriously earwormed, but the variety of styles and influences brought to bear shows there's some awesome talent out there just waiting to break through.

http://www.kleptones.com/blog/2010/10/08/much-better-you-than-i
Speaking of talent, The Kleptones have another beauty of a mash-up posted on their blog. "Vicarious Devil" puts together Tool's disturbing "Vicarious" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hii17sjSwfA) with Laura Marling's "Devil's Spoke". I confess I'd never heard Marling before and I must now immediately remedy this. Both tracks have a dark energy that makes them work extremely well together.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/09/duck-sauce-barbara-streisand.html
http://audioporncentral.com/2010/09/duck-sauce-barbra-streisand-the-video.html
I admit I wasn't that taken with the Duck Sauce (http://www.myspace.com/ducksaucenyc) "Barbara Streisand" track when I first heard it. It's a bit of a dance-pop confection but it didn't seem worth calling out. The video made me change my mind - it makes so much more sense when it's not taken on its own but rather as the soundtrack to a video. And what a great vid - featuring Streisand herself - for anyone who loves or even likes New York a bit. The video shows the wild variety that makes the city so interesting, and features lots of fun short snips remixing the original, including a guest scratch from Armand Van Helden.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GravitonasLABORATORY#p/a/u/1/5d1FejZJ6cs
Sometimes things get blogged because I can't stop playing them until I do. About a month ago I posted about Gravitonas' (http://www.gravitonas.net/) "Religious". That track is remixed a bunch of times on their YouTube channel, and more and more of them are being blocked by copyright claims, which is just a damned shame. The song, both the original and the remixes they've got up, remains beautiful and haunting and something I play over and over because I like the way the sounds wash over me, and move me.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/09/jamie-woon-night-air-ramadanman-refix.html
This extended remix by Ramadanman (http://www.myspace.com/ramadanman) is another one I'm loving for the lush soundscape. It's an extended remix of Jamie Woon's beautiful "Night Air" (http://www.youtube.com/user/jamiewoon). Unfortunately there are only short bits from the original online, but you can still get a sense for it. There are blues, jazz, and definite soul influences permeating this track, and yeah, it's perfect to stream out the open window after dark when you're stargazing.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/10/wax-audio-stayin-alive-in-the-wall.html
OK, I promised a brain-twister to close this out and here it is. Wax Audio (http://www.waxaudio.com.au/) have done A Bad Thing. They've taken The Bee Gees' "Stayin’ Alive" and mashed it with Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. II". Yes, really. Go listen. What's even more frightening is the video - both of these songs are not just aurally famous, but have appeared prominently in iconic movies (Saturday Night Fever and The Wall).

It's even more personally disturbing for me, as those movies both have drwex stories associated with them and both are reminders of a long-ago time when I was a very different person, who is also me today.

Most of these tabs have been open for a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d1cz16pAIc
I'm putting this one first because if I put it last you'll have the damned song stuck in your head for days. Like, say, me. DJs from Mars do their thing on Katy Perry, with the help of some seriously hair-era Van Halen. Further warning: a couple of people have found the video to be even more annoying than Ms Perry, which is going some. Personally I ignore the video in favor of imagining just where David Lee Roth would like to "put his hands up."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uozmvb3yPLc&feature=player_embedded
Toddla T (pronounced a lot like "Todd latte" - http://www.myspace.com/toddlat) is a young UK DJ who lays down here a serious boom-skank tune. High-speed, reggae-rapping courtesy of Wayne Marshall's (http://www.myspace.com/truwaynemarshall) Jamaican sounds. The video is silly but you don't have to watch it; just get up and dance.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/07/dj-earlybird-everyones-on-cocaine.html
DJ Earlybird (http://fairtilizer.com/users/DJVU) puts out an unusual mash-up by combining two older tunes. The famous Clapton "Cocaine" lyrics go with the sounds of Hot Chocolate's 1978 disco hit "Every 1's a winner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-GkwIRbLw8 - check out the PANTS!) What's interesting about this is that re-listening to the Hot Chocolate track, which I haven't heard in probably 25+ years, it sounds a lot like the guitar riffs Clapton used in Cocaine. It's worth remembering that Clapton didn't write Cocaine originally - it's a cover of a 1976 JJ Cale song, recorded in 1977 by Clapton.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/07/ben-double-ms-summer-double-pack.html
Ben Double M (http://belgabootlegs.be/) is a European DJ with some definitive ideas on what's a remix versus what's a mash-up. This here is a double sampler of his work. The first one is a slow, electro-trance feeling mash using Massive Attack's "Teardrop" and some contributions I can't identify from Waterspark (http://www.myspace.com/infynitwaterspark) an Eastern European trance DJ. Ben speeds things up a little bit and adds a beat track to give the tune a house edge that works surprisingly well below the vocals and electronic instruments.

The second track is much more "meh" - I'm not a jazz/soul fan and wrapping disco beats around it doesn't really help.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/07/the-glitch-mob-fistful-of-silence-eskmo-remix-the-remix-it-like-you-stole-it-competition.html
A much better set of beats comes from Glitch Mob (http://www.theglitchmob.com/) who have been running a remix competition to benefit Haiti. They've got an instrumental album out and have invited remixers to go at it; most put vocals on top, which is cool, but here Eskmo (http://www.myspace.com/eskmo) lays down some old-style electro and heavy sounds - shades of Jan Hammer.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/07/sunday-girl-%E2%80%93-self-control-video-and-azari-iii-remix.html
Laura Branigan's early-80's hit "Self Control" gets a very modern makeover here from Sunday Girl (http://www.myspace.com/wearesundaygirl). The single came out early this month in several remixed versions, with this one having an etherial and haunting electro texture courtesy of Azari and III (http://www.myspace.com/azariandiii). The a capella version on Sunday Girl's page is pretty thickly produced, which is a shame. I think her voice sounds better with the effects turned down and instead laid over the Azari beats.