M Is FOR MASHUP - March 4th, 2009
New Trends In Mashupping
By DJ Useo
Yup! There're alway lots of new mashups being posted, & blimey, if'n most of them are really quite good. I remember a few years back in 2005 when you could post a sloppy track as long as it was amusing. Nowadays, a sloppily-made track will be dismissed with great fanfare. You can get a fine response by putting some drum 'n bass to an old classic rock track, but if you miss a pitch shift, or beat-placement for even a measure, you will hear about it quickly. I think the main reason for this change is that the peak mixers are incredibly-talented & very observant. I thought we'd take a look at four splendidly-made mashups & see what the direction of popular bootlegging is.
A HOT new bootleg is Rhythm Scholar's (www.rhythmscholar.com/) 'Close To The Edit' (Rhythm Scholar Deftly Diverted Remix) Rhythm Scholar vs. Art Of Noise. Not only is it burning up a big download path in the net, but the overwhelming response is massively favorable. It's not too hard to see why. When it comes to remixes, no one puts more effort into a track than Rhythm Scholar. When you hear this cut you will also be witness to a near infinite variety of breaks, glitches & samples. You'll find yourself expressing gleeful surprise when you recognize a clip or music bit you recognize. Art Of Noises' own label took note of the bootleg remix & made mention of it on their website (www.ztt.com/news/). You'll be glad you found your way to the Rhythm Scholar's site.
MadMixMustang (www.madmixmustang.nl/) is a mixer with a large output of fine tracks, but in the flood I had overlooked much of his work till now. Recently, I went by his site & stocked up on all his tracks. I soon found he had a huge gift for appealing pairings. It seems others agreed with me & his newest track 'Like A Life On A Prayer' (Bon Jovi vs Nina Simone vs The Madonna Choir) is experiencing a large following currently. The strong sound & juxtaposition of material displays a current master of the genre. When you mix Bon Jovi - 'Living On A Prayer' with Nina Simone - 'Ain't Got No' with Madonna - 'Like A Prayer' & you do it with elan, the people will notice! Check MMM's site for links to zip files of his previous work. It's a blast.
G3rst (www.g3rst.com/) has another absolute gem of a track with his 'Hyperspeed Journey' (De Staat vs Prodigy). It's been a while since I heard a G3rst track that wasn't totally fine right off the bat. I don't think I ever heard a less than great one from him. From his early 'Sgt.Pepper Jerks It Out' (Beatles vs Ceasers) to his recent 'Friends Around The CLock' (White Stripes vs Bill Haley & The Comets), G3rst has never wavered in his ability to find selections that enhance each other. You won't be unhappy when you spy the large selections at his personal site.
Sfreeman41 (sfreeman41shotblog.blogspot.com/) has years of experience mixing that he's recently brought to bear on releasing mashups. I liked his initial releases, but really fell in love with 'Get Down, Get Up To The Rocket Soul' (Sfreeman vs Plump DJ's) a track that I've now heard as much as any other new mashup. 'Is It Any Wonder It's Disturbia' (Rihanna vs Keane) is Sfreeman's newest track, & although it's a new direction for him away from the dancefloor this track is a surefire floorfiller. I've had the pleasure of hearing him mix live on internet radio & he mashes & mixes live just as well as he does in a
studio environment
(www.sound-unsound.com/forums/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=39).
It's easy to see why mashups are get to be an even tougher enviroment to post in. The standards are constantly being raised!
Mix Of The Week - John Marr (SCO) has crafted one of the best mixes I've heard recently with his DISKOKITTEN Mini-Mashup Mix made for the Edinburgh club night. (http://www.diskokitten.co.uk/). Containing fantastic SCO tracks this piece will leave you wanting more.It's 30 minutes that you can find here -
www.mashography.blogspot.com/
Mashup Tip : Leave your new mp3's in a dark, humid room to make sure they rise properly.
DJ Useos Podcast
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
20 QUESTIONS: Raul Malo (popmatters.com)
Grammy winner Raul Malo talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about his aversion to ewoks, a longing for Harlem circa 1930, and the fiercest bird on the planet post-prehistoric times.
Beaten to the punchline (guardian.co.uk)
Germaine Greer does not think men are the funnier sex. But they are better at banter, innuendo and clowning. So what's holding women back?
Phil Rosenthal: Reflections on the career of an irreplaceable radio legend (Chicago Tribune)
Paul Harvey's career - his whole life, really - was packed with the sort of surprises, superlatives, bold statements and seemingly small details that, woven together, also made up a great Paul Harvey broadcast.
Gerry Smith and Phil Rosenthal: Radio legend Paul Harvey dies at 90 (Chicago Tribune)
Paul Harvey, a Chicago radio man whose melodious voice and hearty "Hello America" were cherished by millions for more than 57 years on national broadcasts that were an entrancing mix of news, storytelling and gently persuasive salesmanship, died Saturday. He was 90.
Daniel Zalewski: " THE BACKGROUND HUM: Ian McEwan's art of unease" (newyorker.com)
Three years ago, McEwan culled the fiction library of his London town house, in Fitzroy Square. He and his younger son, Greg, handed out thirty novels in a nearby park. In an essay for the Guardian, McEwan reported that "every young woman we approached . . . was eager and grateful to take a book," whereas the men "could not be persuaded. 'Nah, nah. Not for me. Thanks, mate, but no.' " The researcher's conclusion: "When women stop reading, the novel will be dead."
Neal Justin: Welcome to the late-night landscape, Jimmy Fallon (Star Tribune)
The most daunting competitor facing Jimmy Fallon, who takes over "Late Night" on Monday with zero hosting experience and loads of public skepticism, isn't Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel or even the ghost of Conan O'Brien. It's sleepiness.
Anna Pickard: What Joss Whedon did next ... (guardian.co.uk)
As a writer, director and comic-book maker, Joss Whedon - creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- is a bit of an oddity.
David Bruce: Wise Up! (Fathers)
(This is Wise Up! weekly column number 650!) Ralph Nader's father, Nathra, ran a small-town restaurant. He raised his children to act correctly, and he wanted other parents' children to act correctly. One day, he noticed some teenagers laughing as they put pepper in the sugar bowl. He walked over to them and asked, "Why are you insulting your parents?" Then he took the sugar bowl and walked away.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Can't Take a Joke' Edition
Clint Eastwood has slammed Political Correctness, saying "I think the PC madness is what's refreshing about playing this character. When I grew up there were a lot of people like this, and everybody didn't take themselves so seriously. People would kid themselves about everybody's... whatever race they were, whatever ethnic, religious groups they were. Everybody would joke about it and everybody got along just fine,"
He continues with "But then we've come to this now where everybody has to be walking on eggshells - kind of very... sensitive. And so it's become boring, kind of, and I think everybody would like to be Walt Kowalski for about 10 minutes."
A two-parter...
Do you agree with his take about Political Correctness stifling humor?
Is PC selective in its application?
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
Results next Tuesday.
responded:
Reader Comment
Re: Spinal Tap
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny spring day.
Logo To The Rescue
"Sarah Silverman"
"The Sarah Silverman Program" will be back for a third season on Comedy Central, following the resolution of four-day day standoff over planned budget cuts.
The cable channel has ordered a 10-episode season of its signature live-action series, which will now be co-financed with gay-oriented sister cable network Logo.
It's a happy ending to a drama that threatened to make "Sarah Silverman" the first major primetime casualty of the economic crisis after the cable network was forced to slash the budget of the series by more that 20% and its executive producers refused to continue at those terms.
Details on how the financial responsibility and the window sharing will be divided between the two partners are still being worked out, but sources said with the combined financing, "Sarah Silverman" will have a budget a tad higher than last season's $1.1 million per episode.
"Sarah Silverman"
Zimbabwean Refugees
Matt Damon
Matt Damon listened emotionally Tuesday as a Zimbabwean woman described how she was raped while pregnant during a perilous journey to cross into South Africa from her troubled homeland.
The Hollywood actor was visiting refugee centers in this border town as part of his work with Not On Our Watch, a human rights group he started with other celebrities such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney to draw attention to the world's suffering peoples.
An estimated 3 million Zimbabweans have fled economic collapse and dire humanitarian conditions at home, and Damon said he was "shocked and saddened" by the plight of those he spoke to.
Matt Damon
Manhattan Street Temporarily Renamed
U2 Way
This street does have a name - U2 Way.
Part of Manhattan's West 53rd Street was temporarily renamed after the veteran Irish rockers Tuesday.
Scores of fans cheered from behind barricades as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn presented the band's four members with street signs bearing the name.
Frontman Bono said U2 was honored to join Manhattan's musical map, which also features Duke Ellington Boulevard and Joey Ramone Place.
U2 Way
Tour Without Wigs
Spinal Tap
The amps won't be turned up to 11 for Spinal Tap's reunion tour.
Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer - the actors who portrayed the faux heavy metal rock band in the 1984 mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap" - are leaving their wigs and costumes in their closets for the "Unwigged and Unplugged" tour.
"When we were doing the Tap show, it was 90 minutes to 120 minutes of really, really hard work and running up and down the rafters, and we had big special effects, and we played electric instruments, and we had wigs, and we got very sweaty," said McKean, who played lead singer David St. Hubbins. "This is none of that."
Tickets go on sale Friday for the 30-city tour, which begins April 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Spinal Tap
Score For Sale
'Psycho'
A British auction house says it is selling the heart-stopping score to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."
Bonhams says Bernard Herrmann's autographed manuscript would be among a collection of the composer's works and books being offered for sale in London on March 24.
The 1960 thriller racked up huge box office figures, was nominated for the Academy Awards and revolutionized the horror genre.
Bonhams said Tuesday that the score was expected to sell for up to 40,000 pounds ($56,000). It has been put up for sale by Herrmann's third wife Norma.
'Psycho'
UK University Offers MA
The Beatles
The city already has a Beatles museum and a Beatles-themed hotel. Its airport is even named after John Lennon. Now a Liverpool university says it rolling out a graduate program entirely devoted to the Fab Four.
Liverpool Hope University said Tuesday that its new master's program, "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society," would give students the opportunity to analyze popular music and culture through the band's work.
"There have been over 8,000 books about The Beatles but there has never been serious academic study and that is what we are going to address," said Mike Brocken, who is directing the program at the university, which is in the band's hometown in northwestern England.
Brocken, who said he learned to play his favorite album, "Revolver," on his tennis racket as a child, said students would be expected to study the Beatles' songs, stardom, hometown and cultural impact through four 12-week courses and a dissertation.
The Beatles
Takes Oklahoma Rock Song Prize
The Flaming Lips
A song by the alternative rock band The Flaming Lips has been given a big statewide kiss in Oklahoma.
Their tune "Do You Realize??" was named the state's official rock song, beating out more famous songs written or recorded by Oklahomans such as "Heartbreak Hotel," co-written by former Oklahoma school teacher Mae Boren Axton, and recorded by Elvis Presley.
"I never gave it that much thought," Wayne Coyne, the lead singer of The Flaming Lips, said of winning the competition in what many considered an upset.
Others nominated included "After Midnight," by Oklahoman J.J. Cale, which was rereleased by Eric Clapton, and "Never Been to Spain," written by Hoyt Axon and recorded by Three Dog Night.
The Flaming Lips
Pleads No Contest On 3rd Strike
Gary Collins
Actor and former TV host Gary Collins faces 120 days in jail or home detention after pleading no contest to misdemeanor driving under the influence.
Because it was Collins' third offense, a 120-day jail sentence is mandatory, but Santa Barbara Senior Deputy District Attorney Lee Carter said the actor may apply for electronically monitored home detention instead.
Collins also was given three years of probation and a violation of the terms could bring a total of 365 days in jail.
His sentence also included a three-year suspension of his driver's license, mandatory attendance at a multiple-offenders school and a 90-day vehicle impoundment.
Gary Collins
ABC Cancels
"Life on Mars"
ABC's "Life on Mars" won't return for a second season.
The network has decided not to renew the time-travel series, which stars Jason O'Mara as 2008 Detective Sam Tyler working as a cop in 1973 New York.
The show will complete its 17-episode freshman-season order with an episode written as a series finale, wrapping the loose story ends, explaining how Tyler was transported back in time and perhaps bringing him back to his own time.
Filmed in New York, the series boasts one of the strongest acting ensembles on TV with O'Mara, Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli and Gretchen Mol.
"Life on Mars"
Sued Over 'Charm School'
Sharon Osbourne
A former contestant on Sharon Osbourne's "Rock of Love Charm School" has sued over an altercation with Osbourne during an episode of the VH1 show.
Megan Hauserman's suit filed Monday in Los Angeles claims battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She seeks a jury trial and punitive damages.
The December incident can be seen on VH1's Web site billed as "Sharon and Megan's big fight." In the video, the women exchange insults, Osbourne pours a drink on Hauserman and then the two are surrounded by a rush of people.
The suit claims Osbourne hit Hauserman, pulled her hair and scratched her.
Sharon Osbourne
Widespread Resistance To Flu Drug
Tamiflu
Virtually all cases of the most common strain of flu circulating in the United States now resist the main drug used to treat it, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday.
CDC researchers said 98 percent of all flu samples from the H1N1 strain were resistant to Roche AG's Tamiflu, a pill that can both treat flu and prevent infection. Four patients infected with the resistant strain have died, including two children.
This year, H1N1 is the most common strain of flu in the United States, although the flu season is a mild one so far, and still below the levels considered an epidemic.
Last flu season, only 19 percent of H1N1 viruses tested were Tamiflu-resistant, Dr. Nila Dharan and colleagues at the CDC reported.
Tamiflu
"tamiflu" + "rumsfeld" - Google Search
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Feb. 23-March 1. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "American Idol," (Wednesday), Fox, 24.54 million viewers.
2. (X) "American Idol," (Thursday), Fox, 20.89 million viewers.
3. (6) "NCIS," CBS, 18.27 million viewers.
4. (4) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 17.72 million viewers.
5. (X) Movie: "Jesse Stone: Thin Ice," CBS, 15.24 million viewers.
6. (20) "House," Fox, 14.86 million viewers.
7. (10) "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.23 million viewers.
8. (11) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.93 million viewers.
9. (17) "CSI: NY," CBS, 12.56 million viewers.
10. (12) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 12.07 million viewers.
11. (14) "Survivor: Tocantins," CBS, 12.05 million viewers.
12. (30) "Brothers and Sisters," ABC, 11.98 million viewers.
13. (23) "Eleventh Hour," CBS, 11.7 million viewers.
14. (20) "24," Fox, 11.68 million viewers.
15. (30) "Ghost Whisperer," CBS, 11.54 million viewers.
16. (27) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 11 million viewers.
17. (28) "The Bachelor," ABC, 10.93 million viewers.
18. (40) "The Amazing Race," CBS, 10.6 million viewers.
19. (14) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 10.06 million viewers.
20. (25) "Lost," ABC, 10.05 million viewers.
Ratings
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