If I were to put my musical preferences in a category this year I'm pretty confident my appreciation fro a quality mash-up would be at the top of my list. While my warmth certainly started with who I would consider the godfather of the mash-up, Greg Gillis (girltalk) I definetly have an expanded repertoire that I call favorites by now.
Now before I go farther I understand that gT wasnt the innovator of the mashup and obviously other people did it first blah blah blah. to me girl talk was my first love so nothing is going to change that. sorry. im biased. deal with it. For a better part of the last 2 years I have havent gone more than a day and a half without listening to something hes created. Night ripper and Feed the animals are undoubtedly two of my most played albums of all time and "live at Yale" and "Murders Seattle" kept painting every day all summer a fun job that got my booty shakin. no one takes such quality crump and straight 80's classics and makes it sound like elton john and biggy smalls planned to have such a beautiful love child.
A great documentary on girl talk is on hulu and it might be on youtube right now. its called " Rip: A remix Manifesto" My friend dustin showed it to me when he first saw it and I watched it a work one day and really nejoyed it. It gives you a a really througout examination on copyright laws and the ideas of fair usage and what it means and what Greg hasnt gone to prison yet. (also why he doesnt sell his records but gives them away) check it out. its a great documentary and certainly worth your time.
But i can go on about girl talk forever and ever. matter of fact I would really love to do that someday when I get some free time. Compile some of my experiences. him wearing my wig. wishing me a happy 21st birthday in dublin. helping pull me up. letting me stay on stage with him. more than my fair share of unforgettable moments.
But the real gist of this post was because I was inspired to just throw some thoughts down about the number of mashup songs that I have listened to this past semester. When i logged onto facebook today I was pumped to see how my friends had sent me the dj earworm remix of this years top 25 billboard songs mashed up together.
First off I give it alot of credit because it has literally taken the internet by storm and has like a million youtube views in its first day. so clearly people are diggin it a little. Tons of people that have never heard of dont really listen to mash ups are into it so thats great.
I think its a great concept for him to include the top 25 songs and its a great way to remember the year in pop music. (what might it sound like it we had an alt or a hip hop or electronic or rock version instead.....) I like my mashups to flow pretty flawlessly so i will give him credit at the 1.45 mark when he goes from justin with a piano slow down into a mellowed out will I. am before turning to the dude from the fray for a single line. I usually dont like when a mashup trys to use words from different songs to tell a story but in this song that concept represents the backbone of earworms work. Its tough to make something sound like it wasnt pieced together when you jump form the black eyed peas-> lady gaga->flo rida-> beyonce->kanye->B.e.P.->drake-> Jamie Foxx and then back to Fergie all in a matter of 15 seconds. i think its a little bit much. I much prefer what he does with the Beyonce and Miley lyrics (did i just type that) I will give that (.50-1.00 mark) two thumbs up. When you give a song a chance to evolve for that amount of time you dont seem so jumpy and pieced together. While I dont have first hand experience i hear that it is much easier to create a faster paced mashup than it is the alternative that we see for that brief amount of time with beyonce and miley.
With that being said I guess my first impression of this song was probably a little bit harsh. While it probably not make its way onto my most played its not bad for a quick little 2009 throwback memory when that time comes.
Along with that throwback though I guss I have to include my favorite mashups that I heard this year. I wish I had some sick nasty all night ragers at my apartment this semester when I could have released these to the masses but o well. They'll have to solidified on here forever instead. Im ok with that I guess.
to start with all im going to say is miley and notorius by hathberger. this was the origianl remix that came out and I remember hearing it on hypem minutes after it was posted. check out a little blurp from a few weeks ago i posted.
One of my favorite techno mashes involved some guys I saw this summer in williamsburg combined with some Justice and a little bit of RaTatat..I guess its by a guy named bearbot who suprisingly I never really looked into any of his other work. I dig it. just always puts me in a good mood. "we are your friends. youll never be alone again." speaks to me... its like their inside the music. there forever for the listener. thats a little over the top but dig it.
Another good one I like and that a bunch of my friends enjoy is a little bit of jay z and the verve. one of those songs holds some serious significance for me so i especially dig anything with bittersweet symphony mixed together. if you get adventurous do some searching for don diablo and jay z remixes....
Xaphoon Jones is pretty popular for his remix of mgmts's kids and bob marley but i dont really dig it too much. its one of the few mgmt kids mashups so i guess thats why it gets alot of play but i actually much prefer what he does with Clipse and my all time favorite rockers. I couldnt find a youtube video but the blog i heard it on has the link saved over here so you can check it out if you want.
http://www.musicalpairings.com/2009/11/single-serving-chiddy-bang-swelly.html
along with the "you need"/clipse remix you can also see links to the xaphoon jones mixtape and someone that my brother actually told me about, chiddy bang bang. if you like rapping over epic techno songs youll surely want to check out what they have to offer over at this site. my brother (whose music choices really are actually fantastic....hes introduced me to a pretty fair amount of quality tunes) has this link favorited on his toolbar so i should definetly include if for anyone who feels like a listen.....
"somebody tell roth that i dont love college"
If you feel like bumping something at your next house party then look no farther than P-10. found this guy off of earmilk one day and listened to his entire album (2 long tracks) instead of doing something that probably could have been deemed more valuable at the time. I know pass him on to you. this is the kind of thing you hit play-repeat on and your party shouldnt even realize you did it for a least a few run throughs. that way the late night party thieves dont strike and steal your xbox and wii or hookah or ipods. sorry cb and stoher and joey and poo you aftab.
go to this link if you want to find his album to download.
basically what I just linked you to is a goldmine of mashups as well. for some reason i cant find this guys myspace or anything on him anymore. that site still has him up though. him and about a hundred other magicians.
those are some of my muy favoritos. if youd like to go on a little blogospher journey googles some dj schmolli or clivester.
represent bostons own Dj BC.
my advice is to watch some videos on youtube and read some of the comments people leave after the videos or on other artists mashups. Alot of these guys are pretty low key until they get one of there songs on the greatest site ever and people like you and me find them and "like" them
anyway I guess this was kind of a lengthy post but I hope at least someone enjoyed it. It felt good to get some stuff typed. I feel like everyone has these end of the year blog entries going so I might as well do my part. maybe i could come up with a top song list or something. thatd be cool. until then. tip back a glass and enjoy the night. i needed an excuse to show off these sunglasses my brother found under the couch in the basement.
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