Separating the wheat from the chaff in the world of mashups can be a tough task, but every now and again a real gem springs itself on us.
Gummy Soul’s Amerigo Gazaway has done just that, pairing De La Soul with Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti to create Fela Soul. It is a very enjoyable 33 minute journey into the world of afrobeat rhythms, funky horn riffs, and classic hip-hop gems which seamlessly intertwines into something completely new, fresh and original
Listen to Fela Soul below or you can download the album for FREE from Bandcamp.
Sifting through the tripe in the world of mashups is tough work but when you find a special one, it’s worth it.
Minneapolis duo Doomtree (aka Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy) have decided to embrace the art of cut & paste by pitting the post-rock noisemakers, Fugazi, with the works of Wu-Tang Clan.
Aptly titled Wugazi, 13 Chambers, the duo set out a thirteen song collision course of extraordinary proportions, which really shouldn’t work but it does, oh how it does!
You can grab it for FREE from Wugazi.com. Here’s three reasons why below!
New York producer Max Tannone, the brains behind Mos Dub, Dub Kweli and Jaydiohead projects is back, with a genius new mash-up record.
This guy needs no introduction, his previous work speaks for itself. The new project is called Ghostfunk and on this occasion Tannone pairs Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah, with vintage African funk, high-life, and psychedelic rock music. A daunting to task to most but as we’ve seen from his previous work, Max Tannone can pull it off
Fresh from their inclusion on Kitsune Maison Compilation 10: The Fireworks Issue, Aussie duo Flight Facilities embark on a whistle-stop European tour in Denmark, Sweden, England, Portugal, Georgia, Spain, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Italy.
Building on that inclusion they have dropped a new reworked mash-up of their track ‘Crave You (Feat. Giselle)’. It sees Friendly Fires & Aeroplane being added to the mix to create wonderfully upbeat electro-pop, who’s head nodding cheeriness knows no bounds. Also check the equally great c90s remix too, all seven and a half minutes of it.
Both of these have been getting repeat treatment around these parts, you can too if you grab ‘em below.
Over Christmas the little known DJ Wick-It the Instigator (aka Andrew Owsley) introduced us to The Brothers of Chico Dusty. The project pits together tracks from the Black Keys’ Brothers album and Big Boi’s Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty.
The end results are really quite impressive, feels remarkably organic with nothing sounding out of place. Let this be DJ Wick-It’s formal introduction.
You can grab it for FREE from SoundCloud. Here’s two fine reasons to below!
For the past 24 hours I’ve been sinking my teeth into the Girl Talk’s latest album All Day, hence the delay.
Girl Talk (Aka Gregg Gillis) announced yesterday via Twitter that his new album and follow up to 2008 mash-up master class Feed The Animals, had been released for free.
Guess what? It features absolutely tones of mashed-up samples as you’d expect, it’s excellent so I’d strongly advise you to get it now! All Day is available to download for free right here courtesy of his label, Illegal Art.
Fancy streaming if before you download? You can do it after the jump.
Max Tannone the brains behind Jaydiohead and Mos Dub is back, previously he’d mashed Jay-Z over Radiohead and Mos Def over old school reggae and dub cuts. The New York mix specialist has returned with Dub Kweli, yeah you guessed it, this time he’s turned his attention to the other half of Blackstar, mashing Talib Kweli with classic dub and reggae tracks.
This fusion of Kweli’s rhythmic delivery of intelligent, insightful and political lyrics with the old school Jamaican reggae and dub vibes feels honest and fresh, with Tannone’s eye for mixing and timing coming to the fore. The end result isn’t too dissimilar to Mos Dub, excellent feel good vibes and rhythms that you can nod your head to, a must have for fans of hip-hop, reggae and mash-ups, and, oh did I mention it’s free?
Here’s three very good reasons to grab the entire album from his website
I’m off to Oxegen for the weekend so won’t be posting anything until Monday I’d imagine but here’s two super bootlegs that’ve been distracting me all week. Hopefully they keep you going while I’m gone, I’m nice like that.
First up is a super mash up by Dutch Dj Don Diablo of his new single ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ and The White Stripes ‘Seven Nation Army’. I’m hoping to get a good listen to his forthcoming debut album ‘Exit Studio Sweatshop’ soon.
This super mashup of Jay-Z’s ‘Pray’ and Focus’ ‘Hocus Pocus’ from Trafik was dropped into my inbox this week. It’s a brilliant bootleg which further compounds the theory ‘I love Jay-Z bootlegs’, weird that. Trafik released their album None But The Brave on Global Underground last month.
With squads finalised yesterday the World Cup in South Africa is almost upon us but for French hand Ireland could be there in all their sunburnt glory but what’s done is done. It’s an excellent opportunity to see what we’ve really missed out on, great world cup songs. By and large football songs are an awful breed but sometimes they’re pure novelty gold, World Cup songs can be even worse but in 1990 two classics appeared to spur on the ‘Irish’ team attending its first ever World Cup.
‘Put em Under Pressure’ and ‘Give it a Lash Jack’ are football songs par excellence – dodgy samples, stolen riffs and choruses, what more could you want? Perhaps you’re glad we didn’t make it now. Oh well to stave off the hunger for a new generation of songs we have a mash-up of Justice and Put em under Pressure from USA!USA!USA!, lovely stuff!
I wouldn’t be a big fan of either Radiohead or Jay-Z but mash them together and add a dash of brilliance from producer Max Tannone, the man behind Mos Dub, and you have yourself a winner. The album came out last year but this excellent and stylish video produced and directed by Jason Cacioppo has just been released. If you like what you hear you can pick up the full mash-up album Jaydiohead for free.
Summer has arrived and it’s got a new best friend, Mos Dub. The album is the brainchild of New York producer Max Tannone who has by now a pretty solid reputation for mashups. It can be an arduous task trying to find great mashups and mixtapes sometimes, due to the sheer volume on the web these days, fear not, this guy doesn’t disappoint.
The idea of pitting the lyrical stylings of Mos Def against the classic sounds of old school Jamaican reggae and dub is nothing short of genius and would be littered with pitfalls for most. Mos Dub cares not for pitfalls and strides majestically forward fusing the finest elements of styles and genres, capturing all the feel good vibes and rhythms of reggae and rap to give an honest and fresh feel. Max’s skills for timing, mixing and mashing are impeccable without doubt. Similarly chosing the intelligent, political and insightful lyrics of Mos Def’s which aren’t too far from what you would see from actual reggae artists gives it a true authentic Jamaican feel.
Whether or not like me, you’re a fan Mos Def and all his musical guises be it solo or in Blackstar with Talib Kweli, this blend with reggae and dub is a marvelous piece of work, let’s hope we get plenty of scorching sunshine to go with the cracking summertime tunes!
There is something hugely endearing about mashup records, perhaps it’s the unique blend of familiarity and the intrigue of the unknown involved. They became an art form in their own right (for me) after discovering 2 Many Dj’s, Girl Talk and brilliant bootlegs like The Clash: London Booted and Blur: Parkspliced. So what of the here and now?
UK-based The Reborn Identity has put together a clever and slick mashup record in ‘Britpop Rebooted’, which rework some old Britpop classics from the likes of Blur, Supergrass and Oasis with a multitude of other tracks and genres. This is far from a simple excercise in ‘Britpop nostalgia’, bolstered by the use of other artists both past and present adding greatly to the value of the record, most notably ‘Rebel Stereo’ and ‘Blurring the Sheets’, mash-ups of Supergrass/Bowie and Blur/Ellie Goulding respectively.
It’s obvious that a huge amount of time, effort and dedication has gone into this work, especially when you take into account that many other bootlegs are collaborative ventures involving numerous different Dj’s. It’s great to see that there is still a vibrant and burgeoning mashup scene which is very much alive and well. Equally refreshing is the continuing tradition of the online bootleg which demonstrates the dedication and love for this unique form. The good news is you can download the full album for free here, but if you still need convincing there are two very good reasons after the jump.
Max Tannone
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