6: The Number of the Beats

Full Mix/Podcast Format:

6: The Number of the Beats
27:55 minutes, 38 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/6_full_mix.mp3

Track-by-Track/Burnable Format:

6 Part 1
Jesus Intro / Music for Golden Musicians
4:05 minutes, 3.9 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/6_part_1.mp3

6 Part 2
The Greatest Dramamine on Earth (Incredible Dewel)
4:10 minutes, 3.9 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/6_part_2.mp3

6 Part 3
Another Way Around / Hexagram
4:10 minutes, 3.9 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/6_part_3.mp3

6 Part 4
Ethiopian Star / Hank's Broken Waltz (Threemo)
4:01 minutes, 3.8 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/6_part_4.mp3

6 Part 5
Radio Goo Goo / Jesus Interlude / Simply A Joy to Rule the World
5:47 minutes, 5.4 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/6_part_5.mp3

6 Part 6
Right Round Apples / I Kissed the Right Brigade / Jesus Outro
5:42 minutes, 5.3 MG
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/6_part_6.mp3


Sampled artists, in order of first appearance:
Tortoise, Depeche Mode, Outkast, Art Blakey, Jill Scott, Steve Reich, Modest Mouse, Aceyalone, Mulatu Astatqe, John Coltrane, Swervedriver, Max Roach, Breadwinner, Hum, Slayer, Design Flaw, The Winstons, Blonde Redhead, Sunny Day Real Estate, Hank Mobley, Feqadu Amde-mesqel, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Tears for Fears, Death from Above 1979, Frank N Dank, Flo-Rida, Candy Machine, Katy Perry, Bad Brains, Helium, Metallica

Note to iTunes users:
For best playback, go to Edit --> Preferences --> Playback and untick the Sound Check box.
For best burn, Burn Disc --> untick Use Sound Check for best burn.


Thanks as always for listening.

tracks from Sixfreak

Long time no type. I'm surprised I remember my login...

So I'm working on this new thing, working title "Sixfreak". Everything on it is in 6 (nothing in 4). So far a couple of tracks are worth posting, so here's a little preview.

Sixfreak Megamix
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/sixfreak_megamix.mp3

Yeah, maybe listen to 6 Part 5 and 6 Part 6 instead.


I entered this in the acapellas4u megamix contest. Something more danceable with like a million more samples will win (prove me wrong, Cut Up Boys, prove me wrong! : ), but the contest gave me an opportunity to think seriously about how some of these tracks will go together on the final/full version. It turned out pretty well, though I probably could have messed around with it for another month... which is why I'm glad it was due today.

Tracklist as follows:

01 -- Your Own Ethio-Jesus
02 -- Simply a Joy to Rule the World
03 -- F&D Slayin' It
04 -- I Kissed the Right Brigade (and I Liked It)
05 -- Whole World Loves Jesus


Another Way Around
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/another_way_around.mp3

I've had this up on FB and MySpace for a minute, so if yr friends with me either place, you've probably already heard it. First time posting the mp3, though. As with anything, so far, no one's even paying enough attention to ask me to take it down but... you never know. Get it now just in case.


ethio dnb
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/ethio_dnb.mp3

I decided -- it's called Ethiopian Star (http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/six/ethiopian_star.mp3).


No idea what to actually call this. Suggestions? (I'm feelin Ethio-jazz these days, if you didn't notice.)

Real Thang Remix

Erykah Badu, "Real Thang"
Noddable "Fudge Thang" remix
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/fudge_thang.mp3

Since July, I have been waiting for Erykah to call Tyrone. And by "Tyrone" I mean me. And by "call" I mean e-mail. And by "Erykah" I mean whoever is judging the Erykah Badu Remix Contest. The deadline (extended at least once) was July 30, and the winner was to be contacted by e-mail.

I was sure I wouldn't win, but I figured I had a good chance of placing. From the sounds of it -- "Creativity is key, so all types of remixes are welcomed (hip-hop, r&b/soul, house, broken beat, rock, reggae, etc.)." -- they were looking for something a little different, and I gave them that (see "etc."). Oh wellz. That e-mail is apparently not forthcoming (it makes me feel a little better to know that no one on Okayplayer has heard back either), so I'm posting this now.

I started on this track before I knew about the contest, and I made exactly the track I wanted to make, so I'm pleased with the outcome regardless. Hope you enjoy.

"Quiet, Honey": Smashing Pumpkins vs. Erykah Badu

That's all you need to know, really.

"Quiet, Honey"
Smashing Pumpkins "Quiet" vs. Erykah Badu "Honey"
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/quiet_honey.mp3

Or hear it streaming at myspace.com/noddables.

Who's Nodding Now: Elmattic

I "met" Elmattic over at acapellas4u a while back. He has been bringing the heat for a while, and this time is no different, but I'm posting about it because he used "Respect the Name" in his latest mix. Many thanks for the nod.

It's always nice to hear my stuff in the mix, especially because that means a fellow producer gets what I'm doing. In Elmattic's case, he even gets the much maligned "So Emo". ("On some Minor Threat Bodyguard tip" might be the funniest description of it I've ever heard.) I'm still feelin it myself, so I've posted an extract from the podcast on my MySpace page: It's a (some would say mercifully) short version of "So Emo" mixed into my other Fugazi mashup, "Celebrity Break". Head here and click on "Celebrity Emo" in the jukebox.

While you're at it, check out Elmattic's page. the one finger of victory is a particular favorite of mine.

Tracks from Bootie-to-Go mix

I was corresponding with a fan on MySpace (that's right, wise guy, I have a fan) who was asking why some tracks that appear on the Bootie-to-Go mix are not posted anywhere as stand-alone tracks. Truth is, I'd been thinking about posting those and just never got around to it. They are now linked up to the podcast playlist.

I redid some tracks because I always thought they were excellent in concept, but I didn't have the technical skill at the time to make them as good as they could be. Others I did specifically for the podcast. Still others I used it in an unaltered form, or the altered form was worse. So you won't read about those below, but the original tracks are still linked up on the podcast page.

(BTW, if you want to know track and album information, go here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R1S4KI149OM1LK)

True Spit
Broken Social Scene vs. Spandau Ballet
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/true.mp3

"Connective tissue" for the podcast, this is a case of never hearing the BSS song without hearing the SB song. BSS drops the beat near the end, so you'll hear the two tracks go out of sync. I guess click tracks haven't made it up to "The Frozen Nort'" yet. Just joshin'. I love you guys.

The Scene and Cake
Broken Social Scene vs. The Sea and Cake
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/scene_and_cake.mp3

More BSS (seriously, I love you guys) and also new for the podcast. I planned at some point to do an EP or LP around these two artists and call it The Scene and Cake. But you know how plans go. I guess it'll have to wait until I win the MacArthur genius grant (or, far more likely, the lottery).

Step into Flint
Sufjan Stevens vs. Archers of Loaf
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/flint.mp3

I almost called this "Flint with Drums" cause that's basically what it is. But it is a mashup, so I've got nothing to hide. And if it gets one more person to check out Archers, that's cool. When I told The Review Committee (aka, my wife) that I'd added drums to "Flint", she was curious to hear it, probably thinking I'd made it more upbeat. Then she heard it and said, "Wow, I didn't think you could make 'Flint' even more depressing." It's a talent of sorts.

Hated for Hipster Qualities
Blonde Redhead vs. Tortoise
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/blonde_tortoise_v2.mp3

Redo for the podcast and another foray into the "depressing mashup" genre. Just always heard these two songs together. Little touch of Fugazi there at the end, if you hadn't noticed.

Rock Ya Bono
Justin vs. U2
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/rock_ya_bono.mp3

OK, this is an old one, and I didn't redo it, but I didn't release it the first time either (unless you're a reader of the Tweak section of GYBO). Fair warning: Sound quality on the DIY Justin pella is awful (thus the Tweak section), and I think the chorus is the only part that's really worth hearing (that's all that's on the podcast). But, hey, download and decide for yourself. If you take things like the lyrics in pop music seriously, this one is pretty blasphemous.

Last Look of Love
Slum Village vs. Jeff Buckley
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/love.mp3

New for the podcast. This was never a full composition, so it's all connective tissue here. Also blasphemous, if you're a listen-to-the-lyrics type.

Sunny Day of Tha Month
Sunny Day Real Estate vs. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/sunny_month_v2.mp3

Redo for the podcast. This one continues to be one of my favorites. Urban jubilation meets (in my case) exurban angst. It's never set anyone else's hair on fire, so I don't think some analysis will ruin it for anyone.

The chorus is a classic example of the comic's cliche, "black people do it this way, white people do it this way." The "wake up, wake up..." part of the Bone chorus is syncopated (i.e., emphasis is on the one-and), whereas the corresponding SDRE "juh-nuh, juh-nuh..." guitar part is right on the beats, so I had to shift the vocal chorus back a bit.

I love both the source songs, though for years I wouldn't have admitted to liking Bone (I'm over it). I never could understand why it's un-hip to like Bone, who basically invented this style of rapping, but it is hip to like other tongue-twisters like Blackalicious or Twista, who came along later. Oh well. I like all those cats. Obviously.

Loro Circles an Angel
Pinback vs. Sunny Day Real Estate
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/loro.mp3

New for the podcast. More SDRE, this time with Pinback. They often remind me of each other, though I can't say why (they're not much alike).

That's it. I hope you enjoy.

Woo!

Woo!
instrumental
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/woo.mp3

My daughter was born two weeks ago today. "Woo!" pretty much describes my feelings about it... and it just so happens I have an instrumental by that title that I haven't shared yet. It's just a little pop tart (the track, not the girl) but I wanted to commemorate.

Noddable Industries is, for the most part, an ironic moniker for one guy who makes not-always-noddable music at a decidedly non-industrial pace and posts it on the internet. But around my house, music is most definitely a family affair, and I am so pleased about our latest addition. Welcome little one.

"Bed Lady" and some instrumentals

"Bed Lady"
Erykah Badu "Bag Lady" vs. The Police "Bed's Too Big Without You"
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/bed_lady.mp3

Been off the blog for a while -- I apologize if you've stopped by looking for something to hear. Haven't done a mashup in a while, so I thought I'd share. Have been wanting to do this one for a while and finally got around to it. Your basic A+B but with some breaky cutups in the middle just for grins.

I've also got some new instrumentals -- links and blah blahs below. BTW, I always post stuff to myspace with a bulletin (http://www.myspace.com/noddables) before I ever get around to posting it here. So if you want to hear this stuff streamed you can go there (add me while you're at it why don't you).

"Respect the Name"
instrumental
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/respectthename.mp3

Your basic beat. Lots of samples, but I ain't tellin.

"Cello Joint"
instrumental
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/cello_joint.mp3

One possible answer to the question: What would happen if D'Angelo traveled back in time and crashed Nick Drake's recording session?

"Ready Already"
instrumental
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/ready_already.mp3

Most sounds by Don Cab. J Dilla, Aesop Rock, and Lungfish on the hooks. Verses are wide open -- would love to hear someone set it on fire.

Two Theme Songs and One Podcast

"One-Minute Seinfeld"
Missy Elliott vs. Seinfeld theme
MP3 audio, 1.1 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/one-minute_seinfeld.mp3

MLS Theme
Noddable remix
MP3 audio, 872 KB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/MLS_theme_noddable_remix_v2.mp3

Noddables Bootie-to-Go Podcast
playlist and download here: http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/

The two latest additions to my oeuvre are both theme-song redos. Combined they will take you approximately two minutes to get through.

One is a mashup of the Seinfeld theme and Missy's "One-Minute Man". I did it to get it out of my head and didn't plan to post it, but then I found WFMU's one-minute remix competition and submitted it (I don't even know who won, but I'm sure I was robbed). I haven't done "artwork" for it so, if you're reading this (ha!), you like this mashup, and you like doing photochops, send one in (noddables at gmail) and I'll post it.

The other is a remix of the MLS theme. This was done on request (I do take requests, though I usually take forever to finish them) for The Offside Rules. I've mentioned SF in this space before, in the context of This New American. From what I can tell, he's let that one go and just does TOR now. It's a seriously entertaining read, and I don't even know what he's on about half the time. (Sort of like when I'm up early on Sunday morning on my way to Pilates and I hear the sports update at the end of BBC World News [So I'm a yuppie and a metalhead. Problem with that?] only much funnier. What's a wicket again?) Helps if you follow soccer, but read it anyway. Seriously.

Compared to those, my Bootie-to-Go podcast goes on forever. (Partly, I think, because more often than I would've guessed, I work in an uncommon genre: the depressing mashup. ) I buried a mention to this in my metal post, so I'm mentioning it again, in case I lost you at "metal".

It's got nearly everything I've done to this point, even the early stuff, which I "freehanded" in Audacity without using a click track (much less a beatmapper). I redid a few tracks that were just too wobbly and/or out of key, even for the likes of me, and you might see those on their own in this space at some point (or just ask).

I put much of it together in Acid Music, though at the time, I clearly wasn't aware of some of its limitations, either. (I read on GYBO much later that Acid doesn't handle tempo changes well... no kidding... and they were referring to Acid Pro!) So some of it sounds like your transistor radio is not quite tuned in. It's crapalicious, to be sure, but I hope it's crapalicious in some vaguely charming way. I never bothered to fix it because, at the time, I thought I was on deadline. It's obvious now that I had all the time in the world, but I'm ready to move on.

I'm using Acid Pro now, and I must grudgingly admit it's far superior to anything else I've used. For the time being, I'm making some forays into actual production, and trying to collaborate cross-country with my brother. And you can hear that... when it's finished.

New Year, New Look

After Mysterious D left a comment recently, I had to admit that maybe someone reads this thing. Why punish those of you who do stop by with an unreadable template, and why not spruce up the place with a few pictures? There you have it.

I even posted "artwork" for mashups I did long ago. It seems that sometimes it just takes a while for people to come around (be it to your point of view or your music). A MySpace comment has sparked some interest in my very first mashup. (Thanks Pat, whoever you are.) And my third mashup ever is available streaming on Project Playlist (though I have no idea how people are finding it), also a MySpace thingy. (Thanks Rupert Murdoch?)

On a final MySpace note, Erock posted the jowler above as a comment on my MySpace profile. (What's a jowler?) While I appreciate his portrayal of the dark side of steroids (Just say no, kids! The homeruns aren't worth it!), that's just not noddable. In fact, I'm shaking my head (quickly, in front of a camera), which is the opposite of nodding, if you think about it. Enjoy it now -- I could go into a roid rage at any time and lose my sense of humor. As for Erock... let's just say I got a digital camera for Xmas... and I know where Erock lives... and I'm not above revenge ...

Update: So, I found myself on Project Playlist, but my track was not properly labelled. So ~700 people were actually trying to get Whitney Houston's "So Emotional" and got my "So Emo". Kind of different. As nice as it is to have a captive audience, people should get what they expect. So I moved my file to a different directory, and now the link on Project Playlist is broken. Anyone seeking out "So Emo" can find it relatively easily, so I'm not worried about it.

Is Metal Dead?

Here we go again: You can't kill a genre.

The latest to claim that you can is Anthony Lane in The New Yorker: ""Spinal Tap" ... not only assaulted the rock documentary and left it for dead but practically killed heavy metal as a musical species. (Not that hard-core metal heads would notice. They can’t hear you anyway.)"

At least he parenthetically concedes the point I made before: After a genre's "dead", practitioners of the genre somehow carry on making music anyway. So, once again, what can it really mean for a genre to be dead.

What's weird is not that Lane thinks Spinal Tap is Christopher Guest's most successful film (it is, far and away) but that Lane wasn't onto Guest a long time ago. Of one unsuccessful part of For Your Consideration, Lane says, "“Entertainment Tonight” is already so close to self-parody that it requires no further assistance." And metal isn't? It's as though Lane thinks metal was an important (or at least self-important) institution before Guest came along and -- zing! -- exposed it for what it really is. The fact is that metal, like all the marginal activities that Guest "documents", was/is important to practitioners and listeners and absurd to everyone else. Isn't the central conceit of every (not just the latest) Guest movie, "Hey, look at these freaks. Aren't they daft? Let's make fun of them!"

Lane accuses Guest of "rigging the evidence" in only his latest film… as if that’s not what he was always up to. Don’t get me wrong -- I love Spinal Tap -- but it's of a piece with every Guest film that came after it, better though it may be. They may not show up in a Lane review or a Guest film, but there are intelligent metalheads who are conscious of how absurd or stupid the rest of the world thinks they are -- and have a sense of humor about it.

All right, so I’m a metalhead. Sue me.

Just for fun, let's just say you could kill a genre. If you're going to call in a hit on metal, you'd be much better off sending a real documentary -- Some Kind of Monster -- to do the job. Forget the bologna-doesn't-fit-the-bread scene from Spinal Tap. Almost any scene from Monster is likely to be more damning. But, especially for mashup fans, I’m thinking of two interludes from the film in particular. One shows Kirk Hammett in full jogging regalia running down the street, and one shows James Hetfield driving an absurdly long hotrod (insert Freudian cliche here), and both are paired with a Metallica song. These are images of what money and California can do to even one of the most venerated metal bands paired with the incredibly heavy music for which they are venerated. The juxtaposition is powerful (and hilarious).

I hear the new Deftones album is good. Even The New Yorker thought so. And I recently found that Emusic has my two favorite metal albums: Sleep "Volume 1" and Confessor "Condemned". They also have a bunch of Don Cab stuff.

Speaking of Don Cab and Metallica, both make an appearance on my podcast. The problem is the podcast has yet to make an appearance on iTunes. World Famous Audio Hacker has been incommunicado. (Maybe he’s in jail again.) His site is down, and iTunes won’t connect to Bootie-to-Go. All this has gone on since my mix was supposed to air. Coincidence or not, it feels like a letdown. I didn’t want to steal WFAH’s thunder, but I really want to post this thing, so here goes.

This is sans interview -- which hasn’t happened yet, and which will no doubt be incredibly witty and insightful -- but all the music’s here if you care to check it out.

Noddable Industries Bootie-to-Go podcast
MP3 audio, 38 MB
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/bootie_final_mix.mp3

playlist:
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts

Edit: I heard from World Famous Audio Hacker. He wasn't in jail, just working (can seem like the same thing sometimes...). Long story short, podcast is forthcoming after WFAH works out some technical bugs with iTunes. Stay tuned.

Noddable Industries Bootie-to-Go podcast

The Bootie Blog is doing a podcast called Bootie-to-Go, which features a different U.S. based mashup artist each week. This week it's featuring me!

The podcast is scheduled for release on Tuesday. It will have an interview with me followed by a continuous mix featuring all "original" material. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes -- just search the podcast directory for "bootie" and you'll find it. There's more information about subscribing to or downloading the podcast here: http://bootie.fm/togo/.

I posted a playlist here: http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/podcasts/ If you've been following my music, most songs on the playlist will look *eerily* familiar. But there are a few surprises, one of which I'll let out of the bag now: "Celebrity Break" (Fugazi vs. Twista). It's sort of a B side to "Overnight Superman". You can hear it streamed at my MySpace page or download the mp3 at my "official" page.

Thanks to World Famous Audio Hacker and the Bootie Blog for putting this together.

Two More Swervedriver Mashups

Here are two Swervedriver mashups I did this summer.



"Overnight Superman"
rap = Twista, "Overnight Celebrity"
rock = Swervedriver, "I Am Superman"
beats = Outkast
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/overnight_superman.mp3

leave a comment at Get Your Bootleg On

leave a comment at Swervedriver.com




"Incredible Duel"
Swervedriver, "Duel"
Slim Thug, "Incredible Feeling"
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/incredible_duel.mp3

leave a comment at Get Your Bootleg On

leave a comment at Swervedriver.com

I'm on the... Radio!

On the Who's Nodding Now tip, I found out recently that "Whole World Loves Jesus" was featured on Canadian radio this summer. How cool is that?

The show is called Impending Loom. It airs on Radio Malaspina, CHLY 101.7 FM, Nanaimo, British Columbia. The hosts are DJ Doc and MC Mic Control. The playlist for the night on which I appeared features some amazing artists. (Like... how did I get on this list? Not that I'm complaining!) I wrote in, and the guys kindly offered to try to get a stream of that night's show for me. If they post it, I'll post it here. Otherwise, I'll find out if they mind me sharing it.

Impending Loom and other cool links that turned up in the net were added, as always, to the Who's Nodding Now post, but I thought this was worth calling attention to. Thanks again, guys, for putting Noddables in the mix.

Are Mashups Dead?

I posted a response to a post on the blog Touch That Dial. (By the way, my brief response did not do justice to the vast wrongness of the post -- I just hit the high points.) To summarize, in typical hipster fashion, TTD declared mashups dead. Submitted as evidence is the Jay-Z vs. Linkin Park mashup album. My point was that genres are declared dead all the time, but somehow people keep making music.

To be honest, I had basically dismissed out of hand the possibility that mashups are dead. But then -- after seeing the recent attempt at a live mashup at the Grammies -- my man SF called and asked me to stop making mashups. (He wasn't the first!) He said that after the Grammies (I didn't see it, but apparently it involved the aforementioned offenders and a slew of others), mashups are over. I respect SF a lot, so I was forced to reconsider the argument. Here's what I came up with.

As mentioned in my response, every genre is declared dead at some point. According to Kundera, classical music was dead after Schönberg. After going electric, Miles declared jazz dead. And remember when Tortoise and co. rendered rock obsolete, to the point that they spawned a "post-genre," post-rock? Despite these genres being dead, musicians still work within them.

I haven't changed my mind. I still think that declaring a genre dead -- beyond being a hipster's way of seeming above it all -- is just a weird thing to do. I'm not certain what it means for a genre to be alive, but I assume it means that music made under its name is vital or relevant. So, right off, declaring a genre dead is a way to dismiss some music you've heard and a whole lot you haven't. The problem here is the same problem with genres in general -- it reduces music to types and cuts people off from a lot of (possibly good) musical experiences.

When it comes down to it, genres are irrelevant. There's music. People experience music and they think it's good or they don't. Whether someone declares a genre alive or dead is also irrelevant. To paraphrase Michael Chabon, it's a cop out to pass off your own limitations as the limitations of a genre. It's also a cop out to blame bad art on the category into which it happens to fall.

I do agree with SF and with TTD insofar as it's disheartening to hear bad music -- mashups or otherwise. But bad corporate mashups don't signal the death of mashups. If anything, they reinforce why mashups were ever "alive" in the first place.

In the music business, music is exactly that -- business. To even get The Strokes and Christina Aguilera in a room together, you'd have to overcome a huge list of obstacles that have nothing to do with how good or bad they would sound together musically. Luckily, they don't have to be in the same room. But, to bring them together, you have to bypass an entire industry that, ultimately, cares about money, not good music.

So far, to my knowledge, no one working from within the industry has produced a good mashup. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) And, to me, that is no coincidence. Having said that, home remixers rely on the industry, and sometimes an industry artist like Jay-Z blatantly does them a favor. No, I'm not talking about Collision Course. I'm talking about the Black Album acapellas. Jay-Z could not have predicted what other people could do with his music, and he didn't try -- he just made the acapellas widely available and let people go at it. (Obviously, Beastie Boys eventually did him one better, since their acapellas are available free.) Collision Course was a misguided effort to cash in on a DIY phenomenon. The acapellas illustrate that the more free/accessible music is -- and the more free people are to make it -- the better music can be.

The TTD post to which I responded is a terrible piece of writing. Does it follow that "writing must stop"? Of course not. People make bad mashups. Does it follow that "mashups must stop"? Of course not. It does follow that everyone who writes needs to write better, and everyone who makes music needs to make better music.

Who's Nodding Now

Ameba
Mashup and Music
http://ameblo.jp/mashup/theme-10001427849.html

Bootlegs, Mash-up & Bastard Pop
Du bon son
http://www.bootlegsfr.com/blog/index.php?post/2005/11/15/259-du-bon-son

Depeche Mode Remix Collector's Reference
http://www.dmpire.com/remix/info_mix.php?id=5549

DJ Engineer
If you make it, I'll mash it

djuseo
Qradips 5

dm_Dan
Mixography | Remixers

Elmattic
when you meet the perfect beat, kill the perfect beat
http://elmattic.podbean.com/2008/06/06/a-rhythm-runs-through-it/

French Violation
le fanzine français sur Depeche Mode

Impending Loom, June 2, 2006
Impending Loom, August 25, 2006
hosted by DJ Doc and MC Mic Control
Radio Malaspina, CHLY 101.7 FM, Nanaimo, British Columbia
http://www.chly.ca

Mashculture
>>>rechts klikken en saven<<<
http://www.mashculture.nl/mash_035.html

Puritan Blister
http://puritanb.blogspot.com/2005/12/overs.html
http://puritanb.blogspot.com/2006/03/hunky-fedhunter.html
http://puritanb.blogspot.com/2006/09/ol-chaptercrotch-unbearable-elders-of.html
(How awesome is Puritan Blister: three links. Triple thanks!)

The Offside Rules
Spilling red wine on soccer's social fabric since 2007.
http://theoffsiderules.blogspot.com/2007/06/mls-anthem-remix-verve-pipe-dreams.html

This New American
Life in the so-called space age.
http://tinyurl.com/bgjkh

Strawp.net
GYBO tracker
http://www.strawp.net/gybo/start/871

wrongdimension's Journal
http://www.livejournal.com/users/wrongdimension/27753.html

This New American

My man SF, who figures into the story about the Whitney vs. Fugazi mashup, has a blog now. You can read This New American here (http://thisnewamerican.blogspot.com).

I'm not ready to take back all the nasty things I said about blogs and those who read them, but you could certainly be forgiven for reading TNA (no entendre intended). It's way more interesting than this, and SF doesn't subject you to advertising, shameless self promotion, and weeks on end without a post (at least not yet...). If anyone could take the "blah" out of blog, it would be SF.

SF gives his take on the aforementioned mashup here. My recollection of our ancient kerfuffle differs slightly. As I recall, the debate (such as it was) went something like, "But dude, Depeche Mode sucks." "Dude, Fugazi sucks." [mutual angry stares] Despite this and other equally mature and relevant fallings out, SF stuck around, cause that's how family do. Besides, now I make Depeche Mode mashups and SF goes to punk rock shows, so I guess we both got the last laugh. Speaking of family, even Monty showed up in this post. What's up, Monty? The blogosphere is a funny place -- you never know who's going to show up.

J, who also figures into the story, is now the future Mrs. SF. Congrats -- I could not be happier for them.

Lastly, I'm not sure who "This New American" refers to. SF's people, like mine, have been here for a minute. Maybe he will grace us with an explanation in a future post.

Dean Gray Tuesday

Dean Gray Tuesday is December 13, one week from today, and I'll be participating. You can read about this to your heart's content elsewhere, but here's the skinny --

Dean Gray is the moniker for a team of producers who created a mashup album entitled "American Edit." Green Day's album "American Idiot" supplies much of the source material. (The name Dean Gray is itself a mashup of the name Green Day.) Ten days after "American Edit" was posted on the Internet, Warner sent Dean Gray a cease-and-desist letter.

Out of protest, for 24 hours, a group of DJs, home producers, and mashup enthusiasts will play the album on the air and post it on the Internet. I'll be one of those posting it on my site. However, if you're interested in taking part in the protest by downloading the album, go to the American Edit home page (http://www.americanedit.org) next Tuesday instead of my page. That way, the organizers get a somewhat accurate count of how many people participated.

I'd like to think I would take part in Dean Gray Tuesday even if "American Edit" were a crap album. It so happens it's not: It's a masterpiece of the genre. To me, this case is about a lot of things -- artistic freedom, corporate control of music, narrow conceptions of art -- but it's not about copyright infringement or piracy. It's obvious five seconds into it that "American Edit" is not "American Idiot," and it's certainly not competing for album sales. "In fact, the only possible profit to be made from the release was a plea from the creators of the album... for fans who enjoyed the creation to donate to one of three possible charities that Green Day have been known to support" (http://www.americanedit.org/home/ae).

In any case, people should be able to hear it and judge for themselves, and that's what will happen next Tuesday. I hope you'll join in.

Depeche Mode vs. Outkast

"Whole World Loves Jesus"
http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/jesus.mp3

I wouldn't say the whole world loves this mashup. But, to my surprise, it has made the rounds.

I posted it at Get Your Bootleg On (http://gybo.org) on Sunday and, at last count, my posting had 660 views (that's a lot for me). So far, three listeners -- from Denmark, Germany, and "West of France," respectively -- have left replies.

After googling myself (a favorite pastime), I found two sites have linked to this mashup as well, which is awesome. One is in France (http://www.bootlegsfr.com) and one in the Netherlands (www.mashculture.nl). I'd never visited these sites before, so it was cool to find one of my "compositions" there.

Thanks to everyone who gave this a listen, and especially to those who linked to it!


EDIT: More than 7000 people have downloaded this mashup. Wow! If you haven't already, get on the bandwagon. (What else are you doing for the next 30 seconds?) Also, you can see all links to Noddable Industries (that I could track down) at the post Who's Nodding Now.

Support the Artists

This is probably obvious, but it bears repeating:

Copyrights to all the songs I mash up belong to the original artists. Mashups are just demonstrations, and they're just for entertainment -- they are not intended for commercial distribution, by me or anyone.

If you like what you hear, by all means check out the originals. I've made it easy for you with these Amazon.com: So You'd Like to... lists.

Notable omissions:
"Pick Me Up" off the album Gazelle by Marianne Hyatt. To find out where you get the album, click here.

"Stomp That" remix by Beat Chemist. His MySpace page is here.

New Home and Ads

As you may know, my mashups have a new home: http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/
TinyUrl did a valiant job of making the urls from my personal pages look like less of a joke, but I vastly prefer this setup.

And, as you know if you're looking at this page, there are now ads on this blog. As I've mentioned before, if you're reading this or any blog, you already have a high tolerance. A few ads won't kill you. If you just want to get to the music already, just click on the link above. It's still clean and ad free. Basically, I'm trying to get love from Google in any way I can. It seems like the long way around to optimizing my site, and I'm not even sure if it will work, but I'm giving it a shot. Maybe I'll make enough in ad revenue to pay for Web hosting.

Jay-Z vs. Swervedriver

"Rave That Dirt Down Off Your Shoulder" (http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/so_emo/dirt_down.mp3)

My first ever attempt at a mashup was far too ambitious for my nascent skills. It would take actual musical knowledge--you know, of keys and stuff--to complete. (I have worked on a scaled-down version, but you may not ever hear that one, either.)

Anyway, Jay-Z vs. Swervedriver is the first mashup I actually completed. I must admit, a lot of credit (or blame) goes to Jay-Z for making these acapellas widely available. If I hadn't actually finished this mashup, I may have long since quit altogether.

I think, were Jay-Z's fans to hear of this mashup, they'd be like, "Great...another Jay-Z mashup." I haven't actually investigated that--it's just a strong hunch. On the other hand, unlike Jay-Z remixes, I don't think Swervedriver remixes come out every other minute.

So, when I had this in a halfway listenable form, I ran it by the good folks at Swervedriver.com (http://www.swervedriver.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=372) who provided some helpful comments. (In all fairness, WTS also made many of the same comments. However, he is half deaf, so you can't blame me for seeking a second opinion.)

Whitney Houston vs. Fugazi

"So Emo" (http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/so_emo.mp3)

"So Emo" is a mashup whose origins are complicated and rambling.

One day, my buddy SF called me and told me he had a mashup I had to hear. He played it over the phone, and I recognized Fugazi's "Repeater" but couldn't tell what the vocal over it was. I got the idea that it was Whitney Houston's "So Emotional." Because I couldn't hear it clearly, I had to figure out how it went in my head. Then I told LS about it. Not knowing the Fugazi song, she asked me how the mashup would go. We sang it as a duet--her on the Whitney part and me on the Fugazi part. (LS has a fantastic voice when you can get her to sing.)

The two of us had the acapella version pretty well down by the time we visited SF in Jersey, and we couldn't wait to hear the real thing. I'm sorry to say that, when we did, we were disappointed. It was actually Fugazi vs. Mariah Carey. Maybe SF had it mixed up--it was a white label, and therefore the record wouldn't have the information on it. Or maybe I had it mixed up. Either way, I think the Mariah song being mashed up was "Emotions," so the mistake was understandable.

(No disrespect to the person who put together the Mariah mashup--it's a fine mashup. It's just that we were expecting something else.)

SF wanted to know how we thought it would go, so LS and I rocked it live. He and J were cracking up. At this point, I knew it had to be done, but it would be another five months before I could. I had it finished around midnight on 12/22. Dare I say it was a Xmas miracle.

Liz Phair vs. Jaylib

"Canaryz is Out Tonight" (http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/so_emo/canaryz.mp3).

Jaylib is a collaboration between Jay Dee (aka J Dilla) and Madlib, probably my two favorite hip hop producers. The Jaylib song is called "Starz" and in this case, it's Dilla on the beat and Lib on the verses. The Liz Phair song is called "Canary" and it's one that, years ago, I brooded over a lot. It just popped in my head again for no good reason.

This was my second successful attempt at a mashup (the first was Jay-Z vs. Swervedriver). When I started this one, I realized I had a self-control problem. I didn't even like it--the piano sounded nice over the beat and that was about the extent of my curiosity--but I kept at it anyway.

The first draft was passable. Lib took a verse, Liz took a verse, that was about it. (And on the Liz verse I was trainwrecking all over the place.) But it was everyone else's favorite, which made its incomplete state all the more annoying. So, this weekend, I finished the second (and, I hope, final) draft. It's now got a few more things that every song should have: an intro, a chorus, and reversed-out piano at the end--and I fixed the trainwrecking, for the most part. Now I actually like it. Dare I say it's a song.

Mashup Page

Mashups are taking over my life--or, at least, my brain and a lot of my free time. I appreciate that they are not taking over your life so, instead of sending you an unsolicited e-mail every five seconds about something new I've done, I'm using this blog as an outlet for my compulsion.

Make no mistake--I strongly dislike blogs. I am fully aware of their literary limitations (and my own). I'm not trying to take the "blah" out of blogs--I'm not sure it's possible. However, I want to keep the design of my mashup page clean, and put all the useless information over here, where it belongs. Not to mention that Google does not look for personal Web pages like the one I use. But maybe Google will find it if I use it's blog and link it all up.

So, the mashup page is here (http://noddables.cannedoxygen.com/). I'll be updating it and providing the running commentary at this blog. I sincerely hope you enjoy it.