I spent last night surfing the internet for ‘Mash-Ups’. I don’t remember what sparked this off, although I think it was probably down to the StumbleUpon plugin for the Mozilla Firefox web browser. Whatever the reason, I came across loads and loads of remixes and bootlegs ranging from genius to downright average.
A lot of people will be familiar with The Legion of Doom. Their bio is available here so I won’t go into too much detail, apart from the fact that their work consists of the near legendary emo/rock bootleg remix album ‘Incorporated’ and their contributions to the ‘Saw’ and ‘Underworld: Evolution’ soundtracks. This was what got me into the evil and time-consuming world of internet bootlegs, and every now and then, I spend an evening falling deeper and deeper down this hole. ‘Incorporated’ is well worth a listen, featuring artists such as ‘My Chemical Romance’, ‘Atreyu’, ‘Funeral for a Friend’, Coheed and Cambria’ and ‘KRS-1′. Even if you’re not necessarily a fan of the ’emo’ genre (which I’m not), it is entertaining listening from a technical perspective.
There are a number of projects out there, seemingly featuring the same mashup mafia on the production side, remixing albums by Arctic Monkeys, Rage Against The Machine, Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Depeche Mode, Portishead and Green Day. There are also some semi-official albums that are actually commercially available, such as ‘London Booted’, a Clash remix album (or ‘Clash-up’), procedes from which go to charity.
One of the best sites I’ve found is that of DJ Tripp. There are loads of links to all the best sites in the mashup scene, mainly around the San Francisco area, which is where the best bootlegs seem to hail from. If you’re new to the mashup scene, this is an excellent place to start (also an excellent place to get free tunes – free stuff=good).
Best mashups found so far (in no particular order) are:
1. Behind These Cannonball Eyes (Kelly Clarkson vs The Breeders) – RebelDJs.com.
2. Gnarls Barkley vs. Donna Summer – I Feel Crazy – Party Ben.
3. Torero – Let The Shadows Play (Shannon Vs. The Rasmus) – Torero.
4. Crazy Adidas (Buckcherry vs Run DMC vs ACDC vs Black Crows) – c.h.a.o.s. productions.
5. Love Will Tear You Apart (She Wants Originality) (She Wants Revenge vs Joy Division vs Bauhaus) – RebelDJs.com.
6. DJMaXEntropy – Beastie Boys Spittin (The Beastie Boys vs The Prodigy) – DJ Max Entropy.
…and the best sites so far are:
1. DJ Tripp
2. MashCulture
4. Party Ben
Type ‘mashup’ in Google and find some for yourself. There are thousands out there. Post your findings here and spread the love of mashups back to us here at PopTunes.
Peace/Out.
CPH.