I’ve had many conversations with friends about what we call “yeahrhh rock.” You know, the stuff that was sparked by the love-child of Eddie Vedder’s and James Hetfield’s vocal stylings? The stuff that eventually led to abominations like this and beyond:
I was reminded of these conversations after reading a hilarious article in Wired magazine about the music website Pandora. The question is weather Pandora can actually help someone with their bad taste. Here’s an exhertp:
I was 10 when I realized I had lousy taste in music. Billy Joel’s “An Innocent Man” was my gateway drug: I listened to it on infinite loop, in perfect contentment, for days. Later, in high school, I began huffing a deadly theater-nerd mix of piano-driven rock balladry, pseudo-political folk-pop, Danny Elfman soundtracks, and Enigma. College, the place where most people atone for the sonic sins of their youth, was a haze of Ben Folds Five and Dave Matthews Band. And things haven’t really improved since. Bad taste was less of a problem when our playlists were private affairs. Today, however, our personal soundtracks broadcast who we are, and it’s simply not acceptable to swan around with the Indigo Girls’ “Galileo,” Annie Lennox’s “Walking on Broken Glass,” or (God help me!) Billy Joel’s “Big Man on Mulberry Street” blazing across your iPhone screen. (One is ironic, two is quixotic, but try all three and you can hear the NSA giggling on the other end of the line.)
It was bound to happen eventually. Dancehall’s been so good and so hip for so long, but it also tends to take itself so seriously. Well folks, the comedy world it pushing back:
“Ras Trent” from SNL:
“She’s So Hot - Boom” from Flight of the Conchords:
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Last time I was touring around Europe DJ Elected invited me to play at one of his Harlem Jungle parties in Amsterdam. I can’t remember exactly how we made contact, but I hadn’t been aware of his music before that. Since that time I’ve become a big fan. He’s been producing and releasing some serious tunes on his Sirkus Recordings label, in addition to making some great bootleg/remix tracks and dope DJ mixes. Here are some examples:
(Ohm, 31 NW 1st) DJ C got a couple of big breaks a few years ago. First, legendary BBC radio host John Peel named C’s Mashit Records label of the month, citing the ability of the first few releases to burn up just about any dance floor while mixing any and all genres. Shortly after that Diplo asked C to remix a track he was working on for M.I.A., which proceeded to completely explode, giving a boost to everyone involved. Aside from running and producing music for his own label, C has released tracks on Shockout, Ninja Tune, and Community Library. He appears in Portland for a special “Ragganaught” edition of Reactionary Tuesdays, a new breakcore and dubstep weekly at Ohm. Although DJ C makes it a point to represent a very wide variety of styles, expect a focus on jungle and ragga sounds this time around. - AVA
This video’s a little cheezy but it’s also a nice primer about how Creative Commons works. CC is a Copyright alternative that allows for remixing and sharing of media, which we here at Mashit think is of utmost importance.
Some of you might find CCMixter.org of interest. It’s a website where you can upload and download samples, accapellas, remixes, and collaborate on projects. Like Archive.org’s audio site, it’s a great place to get open-source samples for productions you’re working on.
These projects are a big step in the right direction, but they don’t solve the problem that most of pop culture has not yet opened up to open-source and commons ideas. Digital media and the internet have unleashed a “torrent” of remix and collage culture, and creativity is running wild in the best way, but a large portion of the output is technically illegal. In the immortal words of Peter Tosh, “You’ve got to legalize it.”
I’m noticing an emerging theme; M.I.A. has been inspiring some hip-hop activism on her remixes. I’m glad to see her and Jay Z (!) taking the lead by talking about leadership. Jay seems to realize that his piece of the bling-pie will be eaten by someone much more wealthy than him if he doesn’t speak up and push for change.
Gotta get Bush out the chair.
Give Obama the floor.
Lets bring back Ragen,
at least we were gettin’ that raw.
These Politicians don’t give a s***
The hood’s still gettin’ ingnored
Then there’s this Paper Planes remix by Rock City that I posted recently.
I ride for Obama
I ain’t messin’ with McCain
Stop the War on Terror
Cause we ready for a change
Gas prices to high
Plus these jobs ain’t payn’
I ain’t a politician
But my N**** I’m sane
Obama ‘08
Doesn’t that sound great
My president is black
Yours is a disgrace
Over the past year DJ C has produced and released a whole slew of mashups and remixes, many of which have been available as part of our Free Tunes series. For this release we present those mashups all together as a free download album entitled “Mas Hits.”
You can preview and download all the tracks below, or download the full album .zip file and you’ll also get a few secret, extra-special bonus tracks. If you missed the teaser mini-mix (leaked by Time Out Chicago), and music video check them out - >
I’ll be back on the decks Monday, Oct. 6 for our bi-weekly Chicagoland radio series — Joystyxx Radio. I’ll be dropping some of the faves from my set with The Bug and Ghislain Poirier last week, and will be joined by special guest DJ GC.
Joystyxx Radio: Every other Monday evening from 8 to 10 pm we kick it old-school, new-school, and everything in between-school over the airwaves of Loyola University’s WLUW, 88.7 FM in Chicago and on the web at www.wluw.org.
I’ve had many conversations with friends about what we call “yeahrhh rock.” You know, the stuff that was sparked by the love-child of Eddie Vedder’s and James Hetfield’s vocal stylings? The stuff that eventually led to abominations like this and beyond:
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