Mashups were first conjured millennia ago. Upon their initial public hearing, the people arose as one shouting “WTF?” and “Cut-teth thee shite.”
These forced couplings of different races of songs and styles were deemed unholy alliances. Moses requested “Thou Shalt Not Mashup” as an Eleventh Commandment, but G-d felt the tablets were already crowded. So due to design concerns, mashups persisted thru the ages, reviled, outcast, and living only in the dark places: teenagers’ harddrives and eclectic radio playlists.
Until recently. Now a new threat has emerged. Mashups have crawled out of their audio underworlds and slithered into the video realm. Witness, friends, how the hour is again at hand for G-d to consider an anti-mashup memo. From Mark Vidler’s Go Home Productions “Supreme Evil” (ELO vs Diana Ross & Supremes):
HV Podcast-This week’s HV cast is A Christmas audio postcard sung by Zulu children in a South African orphanage. A story by Jake Warga, “Zulu Kids Xmas” (2:14 mp3):
dj BC has his latest compilation of people’s mp3 Christmashups up, Santastic III in 3-D. From it, mojochronic takes Led Zep a caroling in “Yuletide Zeppelin” (5:14 mp3):
Christmas in Frisco Square 2007 Light Show: Jeff Trykoski‘s 65,000 computer-controlled music-synced lights are in Frisco, TX. The music is broadcast to passing vehicles over a low-power FM transmitter. More xmas moving lights after the jump. More…
From the 90s Australian comedy show The Money Or The Gun, the Beatles cover band, The Beatnix, do an ooooo-so-fab4 cover of LedZep’s “Stairway To Heaven”:
At last count WFMU had climbed 101 steps up their mp3 collection of Stairway covers.
Yesterday on NPR Day to Day, Arthur Jackson is a Bell Ringer for the The Salvation Army. This former crack addict found God, stays off drugs, sings and rings bells at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Produced for HV by Todd Melby of 2 below zero, “Arthur Jackson: Singing Salvation Army Bell Ringer” (3:28 mp3):
Was listening to Lukas on KGLT this weekend playing all kindsa insane and inane Xmas-isms. Called him up and he pointed me to Otis Fodder’s three free mp3 free collections, Holiday Freak Out & In. I knew the Otis’ name from his 365 Days Project. But didn’t realize, till Lukas, informed, he’s also the music sampling phenom The Bran Flakes.
Holiday Freak In 1 includes one of the best Christmashups ever; it’s Corporal Blossom assembling bits of Satchmo, Elvis, Bing and The Supremes all wishing for a “White Christmas” (3:19 mp3):
Seattle Times sez “Music dies at renowned Crocodile.” The legendary indie-music venue has closed its doors. It’s one thing for CBGBs to shut down. But the Crocodile? WTF? Next you’ll be telling me the Rat(hskeller) in Boston is gone. What’s that? When? Damn.
Big blow-out memorial down the road in Butte last weekend for Evel K, with fireworks, evangelists and thousands of mourners. Leave it to WFMU’s Blog to have Evel Knievel’s LP Always Wear A Helmet with his poem “Why” (5:26 mp3):
An Xmas fave from the Vinyl Orphahage (aka “Our Lady of Perpetual Obsolescence Vinyl Rescue Mission and Orphanage”) comes this Xmas fave Christmas at C.P.H. – , a recorded performance by the Children of the Inpatient Music Therapy Program, University of Michigan’s Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. One of the best on the LP is this audience sing-a-long “Oh Come, All Ye Faithful” (2:16 mp3):
Turns out all those Bollywood dance videos were in English all along. You just haven’t been listening close enuf to the lyrics. YouTuber- buffalax trascribed for us this “Crazy Indian Video… Buffalaxed!”:
“Have you been high today?”
A while back Found Magazine asked musician friends to craft songs out of their finds, debris of notes and letters that people send in. Several songs appeared on their Found 7-inch vinyl release. But my fave is not on disc, nor any longer online. So, here ’tis, Devon Sproule with “Julie” (3:06 mp3):
(Just heard from Davy Found himself: “we ARE eventually gonna release a CD with songs based on Found notes by awesome musicians, including devon sproule’s “julie” song… we welcome all submissions!”) More…
If you wanna good dose of coordinated noise-phonic instrumental rock-guitar symphonies, catch Kinski (Sub-Pop artist and my frens) on their East Coast dates:
12.05 thru 12.08 Scoring a live dance performance for robbinschilds called C.L.U.E in NYC. We’d recommend getting tickets in advance. More info at PS 122.
Kinski, Airs Above Your Station, “Semaphore” (6:06 mp3):
Bullion bounces beats on back of Beach Boys. The UK producer Bullion took the music of hip-hop producer J Dilla and layed it under Beach Boy interviews and songs from their masterpeice Pet Sounds.
The results vary, but I do like a couple of the spoken-word tracks, like “Pet Sounds” (1:03 mp3):
Every once in awhile you hear a new band and think: “What is that?”— in a good way. That happened the other day with Akron/Family. Not sure what to think about their music, or I should say musics, cuz every song is a different style; hell, there’s often several styles in the same song.
The press on them only deepens confusion, like these descriptions in an emusic review:
“band of itinerants, wandering between the Pacific Northwest, upstate New York, and rural Pennsylvania…” “came together in Brooklyn in 2002 under the freak-folk banner.”
From their latest Love Is Simple, “Ed is a Portal” (7:32 mp3):
And “Wino” even adds some sound effects (2:08 mp3):
Wagoner “conducted field research by visiting the Skid Rows of Chicago and Minneapolis, dressed in disheveled attire, the better to soak up the seedy atmosphere.”
Voices of the Streets has some “artistic activism” called “Land of 10,000 Homeless,” a music/doc/vid– “Every day, approximately 10,000 people in Minnesota will sleep outside or in temporary shelter. This video allows us a chance to see the world from their eyes:”
Stephin Merritt stays in NPR studios until he comes up with song. The song is inspired by a Phil Toledano photo (right). Two days later, from a shaky start, he gets a fine tune. The process is all captured on video and in an NPR-ATC report : “NPR Music: Stephin Merritt: Two Days, A Million Faces.”
Memorable quotes from Merritt’s studio incarceration: “Normally I would sit around in a bar…” “The last two snare hits, Agnus and Billy, goes Agnus, Billy, Agnus, Billy…”
This week’s 
dj BC has his latest compilation of people’s mp3 Christmashups up, 
Yesterday on NPR 
Seattle Times sez “
Big blow-out memorial down the road in Butte last weekend for Evel K, with fireworks, evangelists and thousands of mourners. Leave it to WFMU’s Blog to have Evel Knievel’s LP 
An Xmas fave from the Vinyl Orphahage (aka “Our Lady of Perpetual Obsolescence Vinyl Rescue Mission and Orphanage”) comes this Xmas fave 
This morn on 
A while back 
Dear Nor’easters,
Bullion bounces beats on back of Beach Boys. The UK producer Bullion took the music of hip-hop producer J Dilla and layed it under Beach Boy interviews and songs from their masterpeice Pet Sounds.
Every once in awhile you hear a new band and think: “What is that?”— in a good way. That happened the other day with 
WFMU’s blog has a collection of albums cover and mp3s by country music giant “
Stephin Merritt stays in NPR studios until he comes up with song. The song is inspired by a Phil Toledano photo (right). Two days later, from a shaky start, he gets a fine tune. The process is all captured on video and in an NPR-ATC report : “