The calling card of the professional DJ these days is the cool mash-up. For those of who who think I'm referring to creamy potatoes, a mash-up is when a DJ mixes two or more pop songs creatively together, ending in an entirely new track. In its simplest form an acapella vocal track of one songs is placed atop an instrumental track of anther song, and the more shockingly opposite the original songs, the better.
Mixing and recording software has enabled DJ's to get increasingly complex with the concept, sometimes resulting in jaw-droppingly brilliant results. Wikipedia describes mash ups as "ultimate post-modern pop songs" and "'culture jamming in its purest form." Classics of the genre include Freelance Hellraiser's mix of Christina Aguilera and the Strokes, Richard X's delightful melding of Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" and Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric", and whatever genius mixed Missy Elliott and the Cure.
Las Vegas' DJ Kowax has mastered the artform as well, using the lost 80's classic "Oh Shiela" by Ready for the World and Flo Rida's 2007 hit "Low" to create a danceably bananas rap-funk mash-up (listen below). Kowax will be in the house tomorrow night , Saturday 2/2, causing chaos on the dancefloor with DJ Jason at Mik-n-Mac's Lounge on N. 4th Street in Cd'A. You should make it down if you possibly can - if the gig is a success, perhaps they'll consider bringing in more killer guest DJ's in the future, and that's truly a promising idea.
2 comments:
Have you heard Bill Fitzhugh's vinyl mashups on XM radio on Deep Tracks. He has a website billfitzhugh.com if you'd like to read what he does with vinyl. I listen to his show whenever I can and I really enjoy how he mashes his spud tunes.
You should check out the mashups on bootieusa.com, they've posted some of the best mashups I've ever heard.
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