Subterranean Time Warp Blues
July 8, 2009 12:12 AM   Subscribe

 


Sorry for that stupid comment. Knockin on Ziggy's Door is quite good.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:32 AM on July 8, 2009


Nice! I liked the flawless combo of firestarter and M.I.A.

But then again, I'm a total sucker for mashups.

Oh, two songs I recognize, at the same time!? [claps hands like idiot, giggles]
posted by mnsc at 12:47 AM on July 8, 2009 [4 favorites]


God, this is terrible.

Some talentless putz decides he likes two good songs, and ruins both. All his talent extends to is a) starting both tracks and b) hitting "record". And "Let Me Follow You Down" starts with a spoken word intro ("....Rick von Schmidt..."); the mashing putz doesn't even treat the intro any differently from the body of the track; he just records over both.

I like Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth and I like West wing. But I'm under no delusion that I could "improve" Shakespeare or Aaron Sorkin by "creating" a work that interleaved lines from both, much less one that interleaved them arbitrarily and indiscriminately lke shuffling two packs of cards together.

There's no art, no real creation in just sticking two things together -- two year olds experiment with that, but only the most doting parents would claim that as art. I like Cajun catfish and I like chocolate pudding, but the mere act of throwing the whole catfish into the pudding improves neither, and indeed renders both less palatable.

Bob Dylan's a great artist, who puts real though and soul into his writing and performing, he deserves better than this mashing up excretionist.
posted by orthogonality at 1:35 AM on July 8, 2009


Tell us how you really feel, orthogonality.
posted by flatluigi at 2:33 AM on July 8, 2009 [2 favorites]


Yeah, and what about that Andy Warhol dude. He used frickin' stencils to make his so-called "art". Anyone could have coloured those things in!

Mash-ups get crapped on by some people who feel that their favourite music is being slaughtered. I can understand the feeling, but I think that a mash-up at least can be a delightful recontextualisation of a song. I haven't had a chance to listen to this album more than a few bits and pieces, and while there are some songs that are so-so, there is some interesting stuff in there as well.
posted by bjrn at 2:34 AM on July 8, 2009 [1 favorite]


Prefacing this by saying that I do enjoy the work of the Kleptones, and a little bit of Danger Mouse's work, too. Not really into the DJ scene—I don't have any interest in seeing any artists in the genre perform live—but I appreciate the production of the recordings.

I think the whole "mashup" genre really shoots itself in the foot thanks to the nomenclature. It's always X artist vs. Y artist. "Versus" implies the two are in competition. I'd rather hear two artists whose songs work together, and it seems like these mashup producers don't think that's possible because they're always pitting one against the other.
posted by emelenjr at 3:12 AM on July 8, 2009


Doing a tasteful, creative mashup allows the opportunity to listen to artists such as Bob Dylan in a context that is new and exciting (i.e. a dancefloor). I think it is important not to presume that the mashup artist is making any claim to personal glory. Obviously, writing an original song and creating a mashup of a song are two completely different feats of incomparable measure, but that's no reason for someone not to share something cool that they came up with. Creativity is creativity; Bob's songs have great messages in them, and putting them in a fresh, new context has great potential to get the message out there - at the end of the day, it's helping people hear great music.

To hold the attitude that classic recordings are sacred ground and should not ever be manipulated or experimented with serves only to limit their exposure to music listeners. I mean, we've all heard "All Along the Watchtower" about 8 million times; when I hear a cover band start to play it at a bar, I usually head home... but maybe if I were on a dance floor and the DJ threw it down alongside a crazy house beat, I would suddenly appreciate the song in a whole new way.

Case in point: Super Mash Bros
posted by CarrotAdventure at 3:39 AM on July 8, 2009 [1 favorite]


You know when you walk behind someone squeezed into a pair of pants that are four sizes too small and three decades too young for this person, and there are rolls of flesh hanging out over the belt? That Dylan/Police stuff is that kind of mashed up. You just know the rest of the camel must be around here somewhere.
posted by pracowity at 4:29 AM on July 8, 2009


These were not really all that successful, despite my endless fascination with Dylan interpretations. A big part of the problem is that the genres were pretty incompatible. I love, for instance, London Booted, but the Clash wrote around a beat, so it worked well.

Thanks for the post, though.
posted by OmieWise at 4:41 AM on July 8, 2009


Meh.
posted by Go Banana at 5:07 AM on July 8, 2009




I'm with CarrotAdventure on this. I was almost out of my seat dancing in the library.
posted by mareli at 6:14 AM on July 8, 2009


I mean, we've all heard "All Along the Watchtower" about 8 million times; when I hear a cover band start to play it at a bar, I usually head home... but..

But how often have you heard Voodoo Chile mashed with 99 problems?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:06 AM on July 8, 2009


Mashups are always interesting to me - these were great and would have stopped me in my tracks had I heard them in public.

I love the idea - the referentiality of it. As a DJ myself, I love finding new ways of interpreting sounds and mashups are always fun. Music is a malleable art form, probably the most malleable. I have a radio show that features old-timey music cheek-to-jowl with deep breaks, house, and Cornelius-style experimental electronica. And it works! It's always a good thing to see how different musical styles and rhythms can play off of each other.

I think mashups help to see music you've grown up with or heard a gazillion times in a fresh light that help you appreciate the source material further, and also appreciate the possibilities within it.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 8:10 AM on July 8, 2009 [1 favorite]


I don't like Bob Dylan, really. I like these.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:03 PM on July 8, 2009


Down with this sort of thing.
posted by luckypozzo at 8:34 AM on July 9, 2009


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