JESSE MCCARTNEY, the alleged Prince of Pop, has sold 2 million records which makes me wonder if the music industry is really in the endangered position it claims to hold. A preview of some of the material from Departure confirms that I’m thankful for remixers like MSTRKRFT who transform a piece like Leavin’ into something uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, easier to swallow.
A couple years ago, the first MSTRKRFT track I heard was “Paris” - an epic banger that quenched a long thirst for growling beats. It’s funny though, now I prefer the mashup below more than the original. If you’re unfamiliar, you can change that now. Included with the bundle is a remix that MSTRKRFT cut for Toronto’s indie darlings, Metric.
If you haven’t already acquainted yourself, check out Jason Funk Permanand (AKA Lotek) and his posts on MASHUPTOWN. Jason’s last post is a brave example of reconstructionalism, an art form that will probably be documented and studied as part of the postmodern movement, or whatever that means. Okay, maybe Nirvana’s Come As You Are vs. The Superman Lovers’ Starlight won’t change the world, but it might blow your mind.
Although entirely different in scope and purpose I thought I could direct your attention to an outstanding reconstruction of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Patrick Alavi cuts up the grunge classic into a gritty electro stomper.
Wow. George get’s all the hot dance numbers this week. Tuesday Moby was on the show, and yesterday Kylie Minogue made an appearance, in the form of a re-run mind you. The Aussie superstar dropped her surname and goes by Kylie now, perhaps in pursuit of a more simple marketing scheme. Anyway, she’s undergone more transformations than Madonna could shake her somethings at. Check the rundown.
Pop Tart Princes
As a kid I was all about this song. I danced to it at a sock hop in elementary school. Werd up.
From 2001 to 2003 I worked at a software company in Vancouver. I travelled to Toronto countless times and Kylie was always the soundtrack. The CFO and I got all jiggy whenever we heard her.
When I lived in Brighton I picked up this limited edition picture disc. Unfortunately the better remixes are on the flip so I don’t get to see Kylie spinning round baby right round…er sumthin like that.
Not that all her new tunes could be called electro, it seems as though she’s sculpted that sort of image for herself. The list of commissioned and bootleg remixes help her out with this identity a bit - so does this picture.
I haven’t posted a mashup in a while (besides that Satisfaction one from yesterday) so I figured I’d direct your attention to mashuptown where I poached this piece of brilliance!
I’m a big fan of Copycat mashups so when he sent me a this gem of pop and punk sensibilities I figured the best thing to do would be to share it.
Actually, the message was filtered into my spam folder so it’s kinda lucky I found it. I don’t go through it most of the time so this must be some sort of devine mashup intervention.
Here’s what the Copycat has to say about the track.
Originally written for the next Buzzcocks album, “Homosapien” became the first solo single for front man Pete Shelley back in the very early 80s. It allowed him to explore his fascination for electronic music, while combining it with the energetic, hit-friendly, poppy punk pulse that earned Buzzcocks their well-deserved stars in Rock history. However, with its not so implicit homosexual allusions, the song promptly got banned by the rather prudish Beeb, somewhat denying it the exposure it deserved then and still deserves to this day.
Production-wise, this remix was a bit of a struggle. What with Abba’s fuzzy, groovy and not so very tight seventies style of playing and producing trying to hook up with Shelley’s clinical, edgy and cool programmed electric sound of the early eighties. Still, I hope I managed to find some decent common ground.
Simian Mobile Disco start their North American tour today at SXSW. At least I got to see them perform when Lisa and I were in France. Their live show is incredible. James Ford and Jas Shaw rotate around a pillar of gear, noodling and knob twiddling as if they were in studio. It’s crazy so if they come to your town clear your calendar.
12-Mar-2008 / Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa - Live
12-Mar-2008 / Austin, TX - Domino party - DJ
14-Mar-2008 / Austin, TX - Iheartcomix vs Mad Decent
15-Mar-2008 / Austin, TX - Mess With Texas - Live
17-Mar-2008 / Chicago - Sonotheque - DJ Set
19-Mar-2008 / Atlanta - MJQ - DJ Set
20-Mar-2008 / Montreal - Coda - DJ set
21-Mar-2008 / Toronto - Circa - DJ set
22-Mar-2008 / Acapulco, Mexico - Centra Acapulco - DJ
28-Mar-2008 / New York - Flavourpill Event - Live
29-Mar-2008 / Miami - Studio A - Live
05-Apr-2008 / Liverpool - Chibuku - DJ
10-Apr-2008 / Dublin - Spy - DJ
11-Apr-2008 / Manchester - Bugged Out - DJ
23-Apr-2008 / Vancouver - Richards - Live
24-Apr-2008 / Seattle - Neumo’s - Live
25-Apr-2008 / Portland - Holocene - Live
26-Apr-2008 / San Francisco - Mezzanine - Live
27-Apr-2008 / Indio - Coachella - Live
This is what the duo opened with at Le Showcase in Paris the most suitable opening track ever.
That genre was coined by the now defunkt G.I. Joe Killaz. You see, they murdered all the Joes, and then Cobra Commander retired taking his explosive analogue dancefloor weaponry with him. Destro and The Baroness still blast out there laser rhymes but without the Joes to battle they’re now broadening their lasergun rap empire and calling themselves The Killaz.
The point of all this is that Pauly Crush just sent me a mashup with filtered synth attacks of the Bloody Beetroots sliced with west coast gangsta rap. At first the combination sounded a bit scrambled. After a couple listens though the genres felt more cohesive and it found its way into my robotdisco arsenal.
The only rap I listened to was in grade 8 when I bought some cassette tapes in the Rap Traxx series. That’s it really. It’s funny that now at thirty, I’m exposed to a vast spectrum of music in pop culture and I see it as a turning point late night entertainment. If it weren’t for mashups and remixes aimed at the dancefloor I wouldn’t hear any of it.
There’s so much to blog about - OMG. I’ve been a bit slack. Need to work on efficiency, so to start here’s a simple playlist from tonight’s show. THE SHAKE (facebook group) airs every Friday night from 8-9 on 92.9 KICK FM in Winnipeg. Jason couldn’t make it tonight so I got to run the hour. This is how it went:
I’ve been sitting on a lot of tunes. Maybe I was waiting for them to hatch? I dunno.
Kid Color hit me up with a couple of tracks a couple weeks ago. He’s producing an ep of Bangers & Cash vs. Daft Punk mashups. I can’t wait for the rest of them because these are bang on. get it? Bang on?
