The fight for diverse and conscious voices

tl;dr - in 2004 there was a concert staged in the UK for the Prince's Trust charity, to honor Trevor Horn's 25 years of work in music. A DVD of the concert was produced - it's two hours of amazing music full of memories from some of the great names in 80s pop. If you are a fan of any of the acts listed in this entry's tags you should get this DVD.

( All the rest is commentary, and stories )
( Buggles )
( Art of Noise )
( And of course, Yes )
( Other notable appearances )

I gotta say audioporn central is a dangerous place. He blogs a LOT, and there's a ton of good stuff out there. This week we'll have a couple of his links and some other goodness.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=247&Itemid=36
First up, though, old favorite Clivester comes through with a supremely rockin' mash. The mix uses three tracks that I'm not familiar with so I had to go look them up. autoKratz (like "autocrats" get it?) "Speak In Silence" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUQ-dbDOnWk) is a downbeat electronic euro-pop track that sounds like Kraftwerk and Pet Shop Boys had a love child. They've just put out their first full album in June of this year, so it remains to be seen what sort of presence they'll establish. Zoot Woman are another UK dance duo. Their "Just A Friend Of Mine" (http://www.myspace.com/zootwoman) is also male euro-pop, but somewhat more uptempo than the autoKratz. Finally Mr. Hudson's "Supernova" (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9xz57_mr-hudson-supernova_music) featuring Kanye West depending on who you ask also starts from the male Europop model, but Kanye's vocals really take over and that's what Clivester hooks into, pulling out the prot-beat and pumping it into a dance tempo with more energy than I would've expected given the source material.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr1lTtpPZF4
This video is the first of three segments recorded at a live show by Smith & Smart (http://www.myspace.com/smithampsmart) a German dance-music duo. I link it both because it's a nice mix and also because it gives you a real view of what a live mix set can be like. You've got one DJ and one drummer and the result is HOT! If you like it you can watch the other 2/3 which contains more rap and live performance, but I think segment one is the best, pulling in samples from everywhere and driving hard.

http://audioporncentral.com/2009/12/vitaminsforyou-shelter-the-xx-cover.html
The Xx have been getting major buzz for some months now. Their sound is spare and haunting, with a breathy quality that reminds me of some of Matt Johnson's vocals for The The. This track is an even more spare and subdued mix that gives me chills every time I listen to it.

http://hypem.com/#/track/993962/Z+TRIP+-+WORK+IT+OR+LEAVE+IT
Time for another of my guilty admissions: I am a huge Yes fan. I liked the whole prog-rock thing, with the silly costumes and overdone stage shows. Concept albums and orchestral arrangements? Yes, please. Of all the prog-rock groups, Yes always seemed to have the most raw talent, and I was willing to excuse Jon Anderson's silly lyrics and high-pitched vocals if it meant I got more Bruford, Wakeman, Squire, and Howe. I'm guessing that DJ Z Trip (http://www.djztrip.com/) shares some of that love because what he's produced here is a scratch mix that takes the Yes classic "Leave It" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p1kq0SnTEs) and updates it to modern sensibilities.

http://audioporncentral.com/2009/12/sissy-nobby-lay-me-down-l-vis-1990-remix.html
While I'm treating your ears gently I thought I'd pass on this beautiful ambient track. I'm not familiar either with Sissy Nobby, the original artist, or the remixer L-Vis 1990 so I haven't much to add except to say... yeah, this is the kind of thing I would want at the end of an all-night set while I sat and watched the sun coming up.

OK, enough rest. Time to wind this up with two high energy tracks...

http://audioporncentral.com/2009/12/dj-moule-the-chemical-clash.html
"The Chemical Clash" is a trainwreck mix of the Chemical Brothers' "Hey Boy Hey Girl", arguably the best-known dance track in pop music, and The Clash's classic "Should I Stay or Should I Go". DJ Moule's site (http://www.djmoule.com/) is in French, which limits my understanding of what he's saying, but I love the Franglais of "bricoleur des bootlegs."

http://audioporncentral.com/2009/12/ocelot-%E2%80%93-our-time.html
Audioporn is hosting two mixes of Ocelot's "Our Time" so you can compare and contrast. I'm having a hard time deciding which I like better. The basic track is very much a dance-floor mix, with lots of fuzz and effects. The Kap10Kurt remix strips out a lot of the effects, leaving heavy beats and more space for electronic vocals.