A remarkably simple yet effective mash-up this week - The Cure’s “A Forest” meets The Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart Of Mine” to create Cure This Old Heart Of Mine. Freaking sweet and, like all my favorite mashups, so much better than you’d ever expect it to be from the description.
I’ve been looking for a good Gorillaz mash-up for a while now - it just seemed to me that their music was particularly ripe for the process, and I was somewhat dismayed that it seemed so rare. Luckily, Party Ben has stepped up to the plate with a sweet little Gorillaz vs Cake mash. It falters a bit towards the end of the song, but overall, “Never Feel Good” is a near-seamless merging of the two groups’ sounds. The website’s been hammered a bit lately, so get your downloads while you can - the link for this is currently in the upper right hand corner.
OK, now, this is freaking cool. Smash Up Derby claims to be theworld’s only live mash-up rock band. As in, they perform instrumental covers of one artist’s song while singing the vocals to another. An idea that’s absolute genius in it’s simplicity. Not to say that the execution is that simple - I can only imagine the work that it takes to get the vocals and music to mesh well in a live environment.
Okay, look, we know how most of these band bios start. It usually goes something like this: Imagine a band that mixes [insert well-known indie band here] with [insert famous pop artist here] sprinkled with a dash of [for intrigue, insert descriptive noun here]. And of course, it’s usually complete bullshit. Unless, that is, you’re talking about SMASH-UP DERBY.
That’s because SMASH-UP DERBY indeed does do all of the above – quite literally. In fact, they’re a totally kick-ass indie cover band – except the singers think they’re in a pop band. So while the band is cranking out rockin’ renditions of songs by Nirvana, Franz Ferdinand, the Sex Pistols, or Black Sabbath, the singers are belting out Madonna, Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, or Pink - at the same time.
Read more about the band and sample a few mp3s at their website, http://www.smashupderby.com/. My fave is Jet Lady Joe, though I’m guessing that Smells Like Billie Jean is probably more of a crowd pleaser.
While this is definitely not the smoothest mash-up you’ll ever hear, there’s a definite appeal in the syncopatic sound that’s generated by dropping Outkast’s rhymes over Franz Ferdinand’s instrumentals. This song really doesn’t get moving until the beat drops about midway through, but once it does, it’s a satisfying mix. I don’t have the info handy as I type this, but I believe that this was a part of the London Booted Clash tribute mash-up from a year or two back. If not, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t at least the same DJ mixing both mashes.
Outkast vs Franz Ferdinand - Bombs Over Scotland
This mash-up is the result of Trent Reznor’s jumping on the progressive thinking bandwagon and releasing his music to the public with the intent of allowing anyone to mix and remix it. Several weeks ago, Reznor made available a Garageband-ready version of his new single, “The Hand That Feeds” for anyone to download and rework. So far, the best version I’ve found was by a guy named Nathan Chase who mashed the NIN single up with Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters theme song. The result, “The Ghost That Feeds”, is wicked fun and can be downloaded here.
Sometimes with the mash-ups, 2 songs that you think will sound horrible together end up sounding amazing. This is the case with today’s selection. The resident DJ that runs bittersoundfoundation has a mash that combines Kellis’ “Milkshake” with L7’s “Shit List” and it sounds much better than you’d have ever expected. In fact, it’s almost too good. Once you get this combination in your head, it’s difficult to remember what “Milkshake” is like on it’s own.
You can give “ShitShake” a listen here, along with a plethora of other mash-ups, mixes and original tracks, with “We Will Ska You” being another favorite of mine.
Back when I was young, we just called it mixing, and the DJs did it in the clubs or on the late-night radio shifts. I have fond memories of Baltimore’s 95.5 Friday and Saturday night shows, chilling in the dorms and drinking while the various DJs spun new mixes of the music you never got to hear during the day.
Nowadays, these bootleg beats are called mash-ups, the DJ could be a professional or just some kid in his bedroom with a computer, and the internet is the way to get yourself heard. Over the last few months, I’ve fallen back in love with the concept.
One of my current favorite mixes involves perhaps the most mashed group of them all, the Beastie Boys, being merged with punk gods, The Ramones. The result is the gloriously catchy Beastie Bop, and is available for your listening pleasure at http://www.dinbot.com/ (along with a variety of other mash-ups, some more successful than others). Essentially the chorus from Blitzkrieg Bop with Alive dropped over it, this is one of the cleanest and most addictive mash-ups you’re likely to stumble across.
