T w e n t y S i d e d
The other day in the post on creativity, several people mentioned what they listen to when their creative juices are flowing. I thought I’d mention this:
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This is what I’ve been into lately. There is apparently an entire subculture of these mashup artists now. I remember hearing my first mashup years ago, and I thought they were amusing but limited in what could be done with them. Since then the number of artists has really grown, they have developed better techniques, and gotten their hands on better software. Now there is just a whole lot of really impressive mashups out there. The artists seem to thrive on unexpected or challenging combinations. Like, Kanye West vs. Beethoven vs. Walter Murphy. Or Jay-Z vs. Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. If you want one song with some of everything, try Chemical Brothers vs. Velvet Underground vs. U2 vs. Sugababes vs. MARRS. Note that these don’t sound like an overlapping mess. The mashup artists take these songs apart and make something amazing and new from the components.
I can’t explain why I’m so fond of this stuff. It tickles my brain the same way They Might Be Giants and Weird Al do. The music is clever and unexpected. I never listen to Metallica, and I haven’t listened to Run DMC since I was junior high, but I can’t stop listening to the Enter Sandman + Tricky mashup. Often I’ll enjoy a mashup even if I hate the source songs.
You can download any and all tracks for free. It’s likely to be very hit-or-miss, and the favorites will most likely vary from one listener to another, but for what it’s worth my favortie tracks are #3, #4, and #12.
I love the internet.
The Game That Ruined Me
Be careful what you learn with your muscle-memory, because it will be very hard to un-learn it.
Black Desert Online
This Korean title would be the greatest MMO ever made if not for the horrendous monetization system. And the embarrassing translation. And the terrible progression. And the developer's general apathy towards its western audience.
How I Plan To Rule This Dumb Industry
Here is how I'd conquer the game-publishing business. (Hint: NOT by copying EA, 2K, Activision, Take-Two, or Ubisoft.)
The Witch Watch
My first REAL published book, about a guy who comes back from the dead due to a misunderstanding.
This Scene Breaks a Character
Small changes to the animations can have a huge impact on how the audience interprets a scene.
Thanks for the tip.
I look forward to hearing Mark Vidler’s offical album of mashups called, fittingly, Mashed. His website is Go Home Productions. Search the p2p networks for GHP or Go Home Productions and you’ll find dozens of great ones.
Here’s a few classic mashup titles to look for, if you haven’t already heard them:
– Aguilera, Christina vs. The Strokes (Freelance Hellraiser) – A Stroke of Genie-us
– The Beatles vs. Queen (GHP) – Crazy Little Fool
– The Beatles vs. The Monkeys (GHP) – Paperback Believer
– The Doors vs. Blondie (GHP) – Rapture Riders
– Sir Mix-A-Lot vs. Yes – Owner of a Lonely Butt
And some other good mashup links:
– WHA?! compilations
– MashUpTown (new mashup every day
– Party Ben
you’re probably aware of this but just in case you aren’t, best of bootie 2005 is here:
http://www.bootiesf.com/bestofbootie_2005/
I think my favorite mashup is Snoop Dogg vs Guns & Roses.
Don’t forget Q-Unit…which is 50 Cent and Queen.
Look for The Kleptones – they do some amazing mashup concept albums. My favorite is A Night at the Hip-Hopera, which mashes up anything and everything with Queen.
Wow. This is amazing. I’ve spent the morning going out and finding some of the ones listed above, and it seems that it’s easier to mash Hip-Hop/Rap with something else than two non-Hip-Hop songs. In most of what I’ve heard so far, I’ve only known half of it, not being a fan of Hip-Hop, though I had actually heard a parody of “Gold Digger” by ApologetiX (self-described as Weird Al meets Billy Graham. http://www.apologetix.com), so that helped.
I’ll be interested to hear Paperback Believer as I always enjoyed both the Beatles and the Monkees.
My wife is a big ApologetiX fan. They are realy talented and, like Al, have a knack for reproducing styles and sounds. Often they take on songs I don’t care for, and reproduce them with such fidelity that I don’t like the result, either. Still, I give them full points for pulling it off.
Awesome find!
:D
I still haven’t been to a Bootie, but it’s on my to-do list. Also note that if you want to always be up-to-date in the mashup scene, you’ll want to browse GYBO (http://www.gybo-v3.co.uk) every so often. You’ll, of course, find me there if you do. The one thing even greater than listening to a mashup that turns a crap song into one that’s fun to listen to: making a mashup that turns a crap song into one that’s fun to listen to. I make no claims that I’m anywhere as good at it as the greats (Aggro1, partyben, DJ BC, etc.), but it’s still fun. Note: http://www3.hmc.edu/~afield/music/mashups.html
And yeah. If you want help finding more good mashups, or finding old mashups you might have heard mentioned but that aren’t available anymore… I might be able to help; I got the genre a couple years ago. God, I feel old.
Black Sabotage kicks serious gluteus.
Well, Shamus, not to name-drop, but J and Karl were at my wedding. . .