Once again I'm writing with no particular purpose, but I felt I needed to do some writing tonight. Reader beware: I've had a long day and I'm polishing off a bottle of vodka. Thoughts may be random, at best.
Lately I've been listening to a mashup I came across by DJ Earworm. First point- that's a pretty decent DJ name. It's kinda gross, but it also makes perfect sense in a lot of ways.
Anyway, it's a mashup of the top TWENTY-FIVE pop songs off of the Billboard charts from 2008.
Point 2- I love mashups. Usually it's only a couple songs or a few songs, but I like them because I'm a editing nerd. I appreciate creative editing. I like looking at (or listening to) existing creations that are turned into something new. Sometimes it's better, sometime's it's worse, usually it's fun. This particular mashup impressed me because it combined 25 songs in a pretty coherent way. Sure, some of them were super heavily favored over others, but it's still cool. I'm big on creative editing in general. I think that's why I liked Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine"- whether you like Moore or not, you gotta admit that the editing on that film is outstanding.
Point 3- At 28, I think I'm old now. I only recognized maybe three of these songs. (I recognized about half of the artists, so at least that's something, but still). When did I get so out of touch? The song I knew the best was in there for only a second (3:08 - "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven). Maybe because it's so heavy on the hip-hop.
Side note- I saw Finger Eleven play at the Taste of Minesota in 2008. I got there right before Seether went on, and Finger Eleven closed with "Paralyzer", a cover of Pink Floyd's "The Wall", and then "Paralyzer" again.
Point 4- There was a song years ago that made me think I might want to listen to more Alicia Keys, but I never did, and this reminded me of that. (Searching around I think it was "Fallin'". Wasn't that her first hit? Gosh I feel old).
Point 5- I've been trying to think of new hobbies or activities for 2009, and I think making mashups would be fun. I don't think I could put together anything this big, but I'd like to give it a try. I looked up "How to make a mashup" on Google Search and one of the first results was "How to make a good soup."
Very cool. Your post, combined with other things, inspired a new post from me. What program will you use? All of the programs that I know are Macintosh, but I don't know much about making mash-ups. I will note, in case you don't know, that Radiohead has made some threads (individual instruments from songs) available on iTunes and that NIN has made many available for free; each hopes to facilitate remixes (though these can he helpful for mash-ups too). I guess the last thing that I know about making mash-ups is that, often, the creator adds an original beat that runs as a constant thread throughout the new piece, aiding in the smoothness of transition between the component parts; so you'll need to find a program with some loops or something.
ReplyDeleteKeep on rocking, Ben. Me, I'm just trying to hit all of my notes.
Hitting all the notes is what heroes are made of. I haven't downloaded any programs or anything yet- I'm still investigating. I haven't even made soup.
ReplyDeletei'm not a fan of you dern kids and yer mashups. but might i suggest a couple turntables? cooler than any programs you're gonna find, and maybe you could land a local gig or do swanky hipster parties or something.
ReplyDeleteCJ, you don't like mash-ups because you're one of them "real" artists. Me, I like bastardizing other peoples' creations. I also like saying "bastardizing", which in itself is like a mash-up of the words "bastard" and "I zing!"
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