The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Half my meetings today have been cancelled, so while I wait for the gaps to fill let's have some sounds. A couple of different things, a couple you'll be expecting.

https://soundcloud.com/thegoldenpony/the-sound-of-silence-the
I forget exactly what wandering took me to this remix from last year. It is, as the name says, The Golden Pony's remix of "The Sound of Silence". So if you're me get ready for a huge rush of nostalgia. It's wrapped up in modern electro-funk but very respectful of the original. I really like it.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/of-monsters-and-men-little-talks-thomas-jack-remix-free-download
I've mentioned Thomas Jack a couple times in the past. Each time he's brought gentle beats and a lighter tone to my day and this is no exception. It's his take on "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghb6eDopW8I), toned and quieted, but still bouncy fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCiQ7Lm8Jag
I found this one in a DJ Steveboy mix and liked it enough to pull out and blog separately. The is The Beatangers doing "What's That Sound." The first commenter (at least as of this writing) has it mostly - the track relies on the classic Rapper's Delight and a lyrical couplet from "Stop Children What's That Sound"?" though it's the Les Rythmes Digitales version, not the original.

https://soundcloud.com/djschmolli/insomnia-rhythm-satisfaction
DJ Schmolli has been uploading some of his older mixes. This one just went up a few weeks ago, but it's from 2011 and highlights some of the great dance tracks that were popular around then. It's a little bit of a trainwreck but the source materials are great and it's fun to remember them.

https://soundcloud.com/steyoyoke/skena-waiting-in-the-wings
I remain not a huge fan of Italian nu-disco but the electronic scene there has spawned some variations I do like. This, Skena's "Waiting in the Wings" is one such. It's darker and more ethereal, taking disco beats and looping them into a driving vibrato.

https://soundcloud.com/looandplacido/house-of-pain-x-gta-x-dj-kool-x-fatboy-slim-x-chardy-x-dooze-jackers-loo-placido-bootleg
https://soundcloud.com/looandplacido/tjr-vinai-x-ac-dc-x-metallica-x-lluke-diplo-loo-placido-bootleg
Here's a double shot of Loo & Placido multi-mashes in similar but different styles. The first one is a "Jump Around" moombahton mash with a number of scratch-based styles built around it. The intro is a little longer than I'd like but once it gets going it's a lot of bouncy fun.

The second one is a bounce-metal combo, which seems appropriate today since Nicky da B died this week. RIP Nicky. Twenty-four is way too soon.

Meeting cancelled, can I sneak in a music post? With the business of work lately I haven't had time to listen to a lot of things, but still there are some tabs. Several of these tracks are

https://soundcloud.com/londongrammar/london-grammar-devil-inside-1
I'm hoping to see London Grammar this Friday and I'm stoked for the show, so let me share with you a cover they posted a few weeks ago of my favorite INXS tune, "Devil Inside". This is so different from the original it's startling. But beautiful. What made INXS work for me was Michael Hutchence's voice, and here Hannah Reid takes it on beautifully. The music is mostly transposed to piano, as you'd expect from London Grammar and if I have any quibble it's that they wait too late (3:30 or so) to bring in the full orchestration.

https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-i-am-who-i-am
Another brilliant track from Mashup Germany. Seven tracks, largely built around Mark Morrison's "I am what I am". It's smooth and gentle, as befits the component tracks. He even manages to throw in some Ke$ha without it spoiling things.

https://soundcloud.com/djschmolli/upgrade-the-casbah
DJ Schmolli starts off with a fairly basic "Rock the Casbah" mix and then starts pulling in other things. Around 2:00 he grabs some Ofra Haza to float over the bongos, which works surprisingly well. Unfortunately it then swaps back to Beyonce, which doesn't do her much credit in the comparison.

https://soundcloud.com/scottscottscott/do-it-again
Scottscottscott pulls together five tracks in a mix that I kept thinking was going to go off the rails as a trainwreck but he manages it brilliantly. It's got good energy but never goes off into frenetic.

https://soundcloud.com/sebwax/indochinevsgossip
Sebwax - a French DJ I had not heard before - does something awesome here. He's taken Beth Ditto's vocals from "Perfect World" - which I really like - and laid them over a the instrumental track from French rockers Indochine's "College Boy" (I was going to link to the video, but it's pretty disturbing; find it if you must).

https://soundcloud.com/djmightymauz/dj-mighty-mauz-your-blessed
DJ Mighty Mauz turns in a fully respectable house dance mash-up, using one of the few Christina Aguilera tracks I like and the Avicii standard "Blessed". As with most of these mash-ups the question is "has the mix improved things?" and in this case I think the mix is an improvement on both the originals. This is my kind of "dance around the room when I need to get stuff done" music.

https://soundcloud.com/neash-sddbmusic/slynk-vs-soundboy-tom-vs
You call something "The Funk Mash-up" and you know I'm there. This is labeled "ghetto funk" which as far as I can tell involves mixing up classing funk tracks with some of the more contemporary rap/hip-hop tracks that were inspired by the original funk masters. This mix ends up being a little more disjointed than some of the smooth mixes I've linked to here, but it's a good effort using some of my favorite music.

https://soundcloud.com/thomasjackmusic/israel-kamakawiwoole-1
I mentioned Thomas Jack a few months ago - back then for a beautiful symphonic house track. Here he's got a huge winner of a remix. The original is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's famous ukelele rendition of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World". This track has been used in at least half a dozen movies and it's hard to see how it could be improved on. What Jack does is something he calls "Tropical House" and that's just the right fit. It keeps Iz's gentle vocals and uke work but gives it an up-tempo feel and house touches. Gorgeous.