Comments on: A real cut-up

A real cut-up

flatluigi — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:54:39 -0800

You've probably seen (and heard) his version of Alice in Wonderland, but have you seen The King and I, Harry Potter, The Sword in the Stone, or Mary Poppins?

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:05:50 -0800

I was impressed until I realized that the pads and percussion weren't sampled from the films.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:05:51 -0800

That Mary Poppins clip is either the best or worst drug trip ever.

By: flatluigi

flatluigi — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:08:04 -0800

Sys Rq: I was impressed until I realized that the pads and percussion weren't sampled from the films. If I recall correctly, all he adds is a minimal bassline and percussion. Everything else is straight from the film.

By: robinhoudt

robinhoudt — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:13:06 -0800

He put all the music up as free download (128k) on his last.fm page. I was going to file it under "not so interesting without the visual", but then it came up on shuffle and I was surprised how good it sounded. Of course random music collage is my cup of tea so YMMV.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:24:14 -0800

I've already seen the Alice one, but I just wanted to say these just blow me away.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:25:06 -0800

And of course the best thing is they're all very, very illegal.

By: litleozy

litleozy — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:30:42 -0800

Alice clip is the best thing thing that ever happened to yoooouuutuuube.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:35:29 -0800

Great stuff, but this has been out for quite some time. I'm surprised Disney hasn't had these pulled by now.

By: Chuffy

Chuffy — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:44:14 -0800

Maybe if enough people post how illegal it is, and we /. the youtube page, it will go away.

By: egypturnash

egypturnash — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:58:00 -0800

Hm. All of these disrupt my thought processes in exactly the same way the Alice one did - they make it impossible for me to focus on anything else. They are interesting pieces but I could never put these into general rotation in my library. I feel like I should applaud this kid for managing to make something that makes a lover of Difficult Electronic/Concrete Music like me feel like an ol' grandma shaking her cane and railing at how this new-fangled JAZZ is all discordant, brain-rotting, and will be the death of civilization. But on the other hand I also feel like this kid needs another trick in their bag; chopping the attack and decay off of samples of syrupy string chords is cool once, but by the time I listen to three or four of them I'm like, okay, I get it, you have a bunch of old movies and like the way it sounds when you butt the middle of the strings up against each other at random, now surprise me again.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:00:18 -0800

Cool. You know what? God damn if Marry Poppins isn't a subversive film on Class Struggle cleverly disguised as a child's classic.

By: Catblack

Catblack — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:00:25 -0800

Brilliant stuff. He has a short film up on the youtube account as well as a video that includes the artist in a darth vader mask. Also, his myspace is here, and there's an extra track on there I'm digging called 'go out and love someone'.

By: hillabeans

hillabeans — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:15:36 -0800

I checked out his last.fm tracks and must say I absolutely adore the Go Out And Love Someone track.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:22:03 -0800

> chopping the attack and decay off of samples of syrupy string chords is cool once He's building melodies and structure out of snippets of spoken and sung words, and manages to make it disorienting and catchy both at once. No mean feat.

By: now i'm piste

now i'm piste — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:26:11 -0800

Here's his last.fm page, which has free downloads of his audio only.

By: now i'm piste

now i'm piste — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:29:11 -0800

It's a good thing I didn't snark at Catblack.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:43:47 -0800

And of course the best thing is they're all very, very illegal. Alice told me she was 18, I swear. </Dodgson>

By: nomisxid

nomisxid — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:45:15 -0800

I posted this guy as an answer to someone's askme just last week. I love the "Go Out and Love Someone" track, but the only video I've found for it is some fan's please-don't-leave-me-plea to his girlfriend. Blockbuster totally teased me with claiming they had the source material (a British sitcom series, Carry On, not some Audrey Hepburn movie I spent hours combing thru scripts of, looking for the phrase "helplessness is the last thing I'm looking for in a man" ), but sadly don't actually have it in stock for rent.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:48:12 -0800

To be clear, Carry On... is not a sitcom, but a series of feature films; you'd probably have better luck looking for each individual one than the full set.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:49:21 -0800

(It also helps to go anywhere but Blockbuster.)

By: sloe

sloe — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:43:42 -0800

Alice is still my favourite - but overall this guy's work is so impressive. I was discussing with a buddy about how such remixes would be made - and while I think anyone with the right equipment and an infinite amount of time could eventually make this by methodically chopping up and sorting the soundtrack, this dude must have a preternatural sense of what bits will sound good when reduced to blips and resorted; the end product is just too good to be trial and error based. Another example of someone with this extra sense is Aphex Twin does who does alot of chopped up/recycled stuff on the Richard D. James album. While most electronica contains it to some degree, the guys who can construct pretty much the whole song (harmonic progression and melodies - whether carried by percussion or not) by this method always blow my mind.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:31:49 -0800

I like the Mary Poppins remix way better than I like the actual movie. I actually hate the movie. I always have. I remember being eight years old and wishing I could jump into the TV and tell Bert to get a g-ddamn job already. Also, every day was NOT a jolly holiday with Mary who went and told people to get *down* from the ceiling. Not very jolly if you ask me. And yet, here I am, joining Ms. Poppins' own ranks as a nanny. I have at least once caught myself asking a child to stop doing something fun and at that moment, I want to hit myself in the face.

By: Ian A.T.

Ian A.T. — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:44:12 -0800

It's not an exact fit, but those of you who really like this would probably also like the work of Jan Jelinek: My Favorite Shop, Do Dekor, Rock In The Video Age, Modell Stadt Berlin.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:46:55 -0800

Huh, having watched the Mary Poppins video again I have to admit that, as long as he doesn't open his mouth, Dick Van Dyke was a very good looking man. . I don't know how to feel about this.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:16:16 -0800

If you sync this up with Dark Side of the Moon the universe implodes.

By: crinklebat

crinklebat — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:17:27 -0800

I feel like if Disney hasn't hired this guy already, they're really screwing up a good thing. They could do all KINDS of cool stuff with this. Back when I was a lass, the Disney channel used to have all kinds of random three-minute clips they'd stick in between TV shows or movies, and this work would be totally perfect to randomly show on the Disney Channel late at night during a break too long for just commercials. I can picture using this music at Grad Nites or having him do live DJ sessions at Tomorrowland Terrace, releasing a special edition DVD with never before seen videos...it doesn't take a freaking rocket scientist to think up half a dozen pretty excellent ways to monetize this guy's talent. It's conceivable to me that he works for them already and that's why his stuff is still up on Youtube, but I doubt Disney would be that subtle.

By: bettafish

bettafish — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:42:50 -0800

Does anyone else think this is the musical equivalent of saying a word or words over and over again until you can't think of anything else but how alien they sound?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:52:02 -0800

It's conceivable to me that he works for them already and that's why his stuff is still up on Youtube, but I doubt Disney would be that subtle. We were thinking the very same. It might help introduce "classics" to a new generation, which would otherwise pass on these films.

By: dilettanti

dilettanti — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:29:52 -0800

"Go Out and Love Someone" has been one of my favorites for some time, but I hadn't seen/heard "Expialidocious" before. Quite catchy. Thanks for the post!

By: Mastercheddaar

Mastercheddaar — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:25:49 -0800

Interesting take on techno music. I could actually hear it out and not know it was from a Disney movie.

By: reventlov

reventlov — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:36:21 -0800

Other film-to-music conversions: The MFF vs The Evil Dead (YouTube, age verification required.) Addictive TV have also made a bunch.

By: flatluigi

flatluigi — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:14:22 -0800

New track: Mary's Magic