mixtape maestro (2.0)

In which Lady Gaga reminds us of the old days when a “World Premiere Music Video Short Film Event” (as well as corded land-lines) really meant something.

We can’t help but think (or hope) that somewhere Missy Elliott has just finished watching this awesomely WTF!!-to-the-infinite-power  (and obviously Quentin Tarantino-influenced) smorgasbord of mass murder, girl-on-girl kissing (and prison fights!!!), bizarro fashion sense (where does one buy still-lit, half-smoked cigarette butt shades?), early Madonna eyebrows, purposefully flat acting, shared Honey Bun snacking, vogueing boy dancer chefs, future Twitter-hyped one-liners (“Once you kill a cow, you gotta make a burger“) and…erm, Tyrese, and has immediately got her record label on the phone, demanding that they get her a music video budget big enough to include James Cameron as director and the actual Moon as a set location, just so she can end up besting GaGa’s “Telephone” as the owner of 2010’s best clip.

BONUS DL: As An Aquarius (Myspace) featuring Bryan Zimmerman “Telephone (Lady Gaga/ Beyonce Cover)” (alt)

Uncategorized as an aquarius, beyonce, bryan zimmerman, cover song, dance pop, diva pop, lady gaga

Fresh off Beyonce’s record-breaking six Grammy Award wins Sunday night (and a fiery, weave-tossing, Alanis-covering stage performance that only renewed our wishes for the diva to commit to recording an R&B-and-rock-themed album in the stylistic vein of En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind” or Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat”), Major Lazer and Elephant Man bring this cover of her Best Female Pop Vocal Performance-owning “Halo”, trading in the original lyric’s Hallmark beau praise for Elephant Man’s shower-singing growls about “haters”, “hypocrites” and “bad man”.

Yeah…we don’t get it either, though it does lead one to wondering if it means Beyonce and co-producer Ryan Tedder’s Coldplay-meets-boom-bap arrangement will become the new riddim du jour in 2010.

DL: “Halo (Beyonce Cover)” (alt)

In other Major Lazer-oriented news, someone else has taken upon themselves to give their endlessly re-tooled “Keep It Goin’ Louder” some brand new flavor. This time around, it’s those crazy Telephoned kids, chopping up and re-pasting together bits of the beloved single with re-sung elements from Whitney Houston’s “Million Dollar Bill”. Grab the results, from Telephoned’s new Off The Hook mixtape, below.

DL: Telephoned “Million Dollar Bill” (Major Lazer/ Whitney Houston Cover)” (alt)

Uncategorized '10 grammy's, beyonce, cover song, dancehall, dub, elephant man, major lazer, telephoned, whitney houston

“Telephone”, the better of the two Lady Gaga/ Beyonce collaborations to premiere late last year (as well as the official second single pick from LG’s The Fame Monster set), is the latest track for acclaimed remixer Doctor Rosen Rosen to plant his surgical gloves on, and as with everything else the good Doc touches, it’s given a satisfying upgrade.

Under Rosen’s helm, the bright and shiny crackle and pop that made “Telephone”’s original incarnation veer a little too Britney-esque and chaotic at times, is slightly downplayed for a darker electro-pop pulse, excitingly heightened by quirky, voice-affected breakdowns, fuzzed-out basslines, and a far-too-brief soul clap section around the three-minute mark (plus, it also doesn’t hurt that Beyonce’s portions are more successfully woven in here).

If only we had the power to sway label-heads (which, sigh, we don’t), we’d encourage them to use this version to accompany the forthcoming “Telephone” music video rather than the original.

Grab the MP3 below, followed by a bonus offering of Rosen Rosen’s deliciously moody remix to Weezer’s “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To”.

DL: “Telephone (Doctor Rosen Rosen Rx)” (alt)

Bonus DL: Weezer “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To (Doctor Rosen Rosen Rx)” (alt)

Uncategorized beyonce, doctor rosen rosen, duet, electro-pop, lady gaga, remix

There are times when Beyonce goes on one of her overly-flamboyant, “tomorrow’s R&B”-soundtracked tangents that modern pop/ R&B brilliance emerges. We’ve experienced that with “Upgrade U” and “Single Ladies”, two tracks that tested the limits of our comfort with sultry vocals being lain atop the most oddly-constructed, mechanized-hip hop-soul grooves, and ultimately won out by having sturdy enough hooks and themes at their core.

But for every one of those gems, there’s a handful of others within that same style that largely fail at justifying the point in her trying so hard to go against the grain. Latest I Am…Sasha Fierce single “Video Phone” falls in this camp.

Over co-producers Bangladesh and Sean Garrett’s weird, cacophonic hip hop-styled homage to Trent Reznor, Beyonce takes on a slinky, exaggerated Southern drawl to indulge in a little burlesque-y “I know you want me; I want you to” preening. “You sayin’ that you want me/ So press record/ I’ll let you film me,” she teases betwixt the track’s eerie recipe of pinball machine plinks, finger snaps and two-ton drums, sounding probably a little too delighted in being some random guy’s via-iPhone jack-off accompaniment.

Like “Diva”, Be’s catchphrase-riddled “A Milli” for the ladies, “Video Phone” would work best as a brief album interlude, since it’s only for about a minute and a half that it manages to be an intriguing curioso cut. After that, it starts to feel like a meandering mess, unable to latch onto a strong hook or cool musical-based deviation to make it’s multiple elements gel into an satisfying whole.

Throwing in Lady Gaga as a duet partner for the Deluxe Edition remix doesn’t really help matters either, as what should be this amazing event quickly grows sour, with Gaga sounding a bit lost trying to mimick the gully sass of Destiny’s Favorite Child and proving, as she did when playing hook girl to Wale, that she’s not as captivating when relegated to the side car role (The video, embedded below, is kinda hot though).

If there is one “Phone” one should attach themselves to, we say go for B & L’s other recently released collaboration, the far catchier “Telephone”, or the Pitbull-assisted remix of “Video Phone” featuring the “I’m The Shit” beat and the Cuban-American emcee giving a couple seconds long karaoke shout-out to the old DC nugget, “Survivor”.

DL: “Video Phone (Pitbull Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized bangladesh, beyonce, crunk & b, duet, lady gaga, pitbull, sean garrett

Here’s a slew of new remixes that were either crammed into our uber-stuffed in-box or caught our attention via some other corner of the World Wide Web. Enjoy!!

Beyonce “Ego (The Twins Remix)”:

You may remember The Twins from their twinkly keyboard-decorated re-haul of Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” that premiered a while back. On their latest hot-like-fire project, they completely strip away the old-school R&B influence of Beyonce’s “Ego”, giving the double entendre-laced ditty a Timbaland-like futuro-club sheen complete with hard knocking drums, synth sine waves that seem to fold in and out of eachother and re-processed vocals that re-imagine Mrs. Carter as this icy, stiletto-toed cyborg-diva.

DL: “Ego (The Twins Remix)” (alt)

Jackson 5 “The Love You Save (The Knocks Remix)”

We’ll never get enough of today’s producers/ DJ’s giving our favorite MJ records a brand new twist. Our latest favorite: Those consistently entertaining Knocks cats bringing an energetic new spirit to the Jackson 5’s 1970 classic, “The Love You Save” without losing sight of the original’s prized candy-soul magic.

DL: “The Love You Save (The Knocks Remix)”

Florence + The Machine “You’ve Got The Love (The xx Remix)”

It’s amazing how an inspirational-themed tune originally recorded in the 1980’s solely for a direct-to-video documentary has managed to enjoy so many chart lives over the following decades through mash-up-after-remix-after-remix-after-cover. The song’s latest incarnation involves ‘09 music darlings The xx deliriously chopping up bits from the magnificent Florence + The Machine cover version then adding in their own signature unisex vocal treatment, and it’s arguably the best take of the song yet.

DL: “You’ve Got The Love (The xx Remix)”

Chew Fu & Steve Clisby “Purple Rain (Prince Cover)”

Take an old Prince staple, a solid funk-dance construction by one of the hottest re-”fix”-ers of today, and a fuzzed-out (and oh-so-soulful) vocal performance from a guy more people should really be aware of, and what do you get? A “Purple Rain” you’ll want to be showered over with again and again.

DL: “Purple Rain (Prince Cover)”

Sugababes “About A Girl (Serotonin Thieves Remix)”

From their recent line-up changes to the horrid, Pussycat Doll hand-me-down that was “Get Sexy”, the Sugababes’ 2009 attempt at coming back/ re-invading American shores has been met with so much disaster in it’s beginning stages, we really don’t understand the purpose of the girl group even continuing on (that is, unless they change their name entirely and start over from scratch).

But, in an effort to spin some strand of positivity out of their current troubles, we will say that we like their new single “About A Girl” a thousand times better in the remixing hands of UK duo the Serotonin Thieves. In this frame, the record grasps an appreciable early Madonna-like feel that couldn’t at all been heard in the original’s pounding and waaayy over-produced Red One-helmed theatrics.

DL: “About A Girl (Serotonin Thieves Remix)”

Lloyd featuring Pusha T “Pusha (Alternate Version)”

Less an actual remix than it is a simple switcheroo of guest rapper (Lil’ Wayne out, Clipse’s Pusha T in), this version of Lloyd’s controversial R&B simmer is basically one for the folks tired of hearing Weezy on every damn thing, and the dopes who think a song called “Pusha” featuring someone named Pusha is a “cool move”.

DL: “Pusha (Alternate Version)”

Uncategorized beyonce, chew fu, clipse, cover song, florence and the machines, jackson 5, lloyd, pusha t, remix, serotonin thieves, steve clisby, sugababes, the knocks, the twins, the xx

Summer vacations/ distractions have brought things around here to a near-standstill, but in an effort to play a bit of catch-up, check out some of these noteworthy tunes below pulled from the ever-packed in-box and various other sites we’ve been digging lately from around the Inter-Webs:

JDP featuring Chester French “She Loves Everybody (Part Deux)”

This up-and-coming Chicago indie-hopper latches onto CF’s most well-known track, the shoulda-been-bigger slut ode “She Loves Everybody”, using it to support his own adventure with a promiscous groupie who has foolishly mistaken him for being a more high profile rap star (“I suppose someone told her we rich,” he sing-song quips at one point).

A bit Flo-Rida-ish, which-at least in this case-isn’t at all a bad thing.

From his new mixtape Air Raid.

DL: “She Loves Everybody (Part Deux)”

The Honey Brothers “Demonstration”

The Honey Brothers are a quintet from New York who call their sound “new wave folk”, and while most talk of them will surely be centered on their superstar drummer (Entourage lead Adrian Grenier), the music found on their recently released Demonstration EP definitely deserves it’s own hype as it’s some of the most feel-good stuff to touch our ears in recent weeks.

Check out the title track, a groovy lil’ indie-rock number that’ll likely have you tapping your toes to it’s summer-ready shuffle within seconds of it hitting the speakers.

DL: “Demonstration”

?uestlove, The Foreign Exchange, Zo! and Carlitta Durand “Purple Flip”

Don’t let the title confuse you, this is essentially a cover of Prince’s “Take Me With You”, and boy does it hit the soul in all the right ways.

Too bad SPIN Magazine couldn’t have employed THIS crew to handle the entirety of that mostly disappointing Purple Rain tribute cover album they had to nerve to drop last month.

DL: “Purple Flip”

Golau Glau “Summer Games”

On first listen to the output from this mysterious UK-born collective, you’ll probably end up with your head cocked to the side and a confused look pasted across your face.

But give these songs some time, as repeated doses of the spell-binding ambiance of “Summer Games”, “Soft Silver Young” and the rest of the band’s uniquely weaved creations reveal a trippy charm that’s quite the soothing aural experience.

DL: “Summer Games”

Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo “Knock You Down (Chew Fu GhettoClub Fix)”

Even after hearing this billions of times (*thanks radio*), we still find this hit single oddly put together (anybody else left cold by the fact that the three headliners barely seem to recognize the efforts of one another?), but the Chew Fu crew help calm that sense of underwhelmingness a bit with this dancefloor-targeting rehaul which nicely gives a repeated spotlighting to Kanye’s “Michael Jackson” line.

DL: “Knock You Down (Chew Fu GhettoClub Fix)”

Beyonce “Ego (DJ Unique’s I Love Her Remix)”

Sasha Fierce’s newest single given a smoother R&B treatment courtesy of YouTube mash-up king DJ Unique. Kanye-free sadly, but we can still dig it.

DL: “Ego (DJ Unique’s I Love Her Remix)”

Uncategorized 80's, beyonce, carlitta durand, chester french, chew fu, cover song, dance remix, diva pop, foreign exchange, golau glau, indie rap, indie rock, jdp, kanye west, keri hilson, mixtape, ne-yo, odds n ends, prince, questlove, remix, the honey brothers, zo!

This past week, BBC’s Live Lounge was on fire thanks to a handful of blog-beloved acts entering it’s studio doors. Below, peep a rundown of some of the artists that stopped by and how they fared:

The Gossip

Appearing in support of their EXCELLENT new album Music For Men, Beth Ditto & Co. blew the walls off the sucka with a thunderous walk-through of that set’s lead off single “Heavy Cross” (oh how great it is when a band is able to recreate such a dynamite studio recording so impeccably in the live form).

As for their taking on of Kanye West’s tirelessly-covered “Love Lockdown”? Some cool things are captured instrumentally (love the guitar licks on the verses), but, as with their audience-polarizing remakes of Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody” and Wham’s “Careless Whisper”, one’s total satisfaction of it will fall on how well Ditto’s unrestrained and often off-key, near-soul diva wails hits the ears.

La Roux

It would have been nice for La Roux to have kept “Bulletproof”’s kiss-off fun and punchy where it registers best, but we’ll admit to being slightly charmed by the melancholy lullaby they reduced it to in their Lounge spot.

The same can’t be said for their foolish attempt at adapting White Lies’ weighty, Bravery-mock “Farewell To The Fairgrounds” to their chintzy ’80’s pop style, though. Singer Elly Jackson’s needle-thin peep started to get so high-pitched, we feared her head might explode.

Florence and the Machine

With each new gem introduced in advance of the July-set debut Lungs, Florence and The Machine focal Florence Welch has gradually won more and more over as one of today’s most captivating new female musical figures. Her band’s fourth single, “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” stands as one their most alluring creations yet, an ambitious onslaught of mythy, New Age grandeur and soul-seasoned indie-folk singing brought to a potent apex by way of a quadruple-tracked chorus.

Unable to cram into the Lounge studio the hundred or so musicians it seemingly took to initially create the record though, a stripped-down live dishing of “Rabbit Heart”, while lovely, doesn’t bear the same magical hold of the original.

When covering Beyonce’s soft rock ballad “Halo”, Flo hits a few vocal bumps when trying to compete with the original singer’s perfected caterwaul; yet when looking beyond the imperfections, there lies some evidence that, given a few practice runs to make her more comfortable with the material, this could end up being a fine future B-side.

DL: “Love Lockdown (The Gossip)” (alt)

DL: “Halo (Florence and The Machine)” (alt)

Uncategorized beyonce, cover song, florence and the machines, kanye west, la roux, live performance, love lockdown, white lies

Even though the Internet is where most people are satisfying their music video-watching cravings these days, is there anyone out there who kinda miss the days when these things were given the splashy TV world premiere hurrahs.

Remember when the entire family would gather around the living room tube so they could catch the first exciting glimpse of Michael Jackson or Madonna’s latest clip, than that would be the hot topic within high school hallways and around workplace watercoolers the following morning? All that’s been kinda lost in this World Wide Web-centric era we currently reside in.

While we continue on with our old fogey rant privately, peep a slew of highly anticipated vids that have recently made their premieres:

Kanye West “Paranoid”

We’re digging how Mr. West is giving us an accompanying clip for damn near every track on 808’s, Jacksons/ Madge/ Beyonce-style; this latest, for the Miami Vice-flavored jam “Paranoid”, doesn’t really feature much of the rapper/(wish he could be a)singer, but it does star Rihanna in her first high profile, post-public embarrassment gig. Wonder if the rumors are true about a remix being in the works featuring some of her vocals?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Heads Will Roll”

Karen O continues her reign as the coolest woman in the universe with this It’s Blitz! second single, a masterpiece in dance-rock (the first sixty seconds are just too marvelous for words!!!) that has kept many remixers busy in recent weeks. If only we could find out how to book the music video’s MJ-aping and audience-slashing Buffy The Vampire Slayer monster-of-the-week for the next office Christmas party…

The-Dream featuring Kanye West “Walking On The Moon”

We praised this one a few months back, but now that it’s being dropped as an official single, complete with a Hype Williams-directed, Star Wars-meets-Star Trek-meets-“Scream” visual aid, we’re praying that it becomes The-Dream’s first US Hot 100 #1, simply so we can brag about being one of it’s earliest supporters.

Grizzly Bear “Two Weeks”

“Two Weeks” is still a pretty gorgeous number that we’ll give a spin everytime we’re in need of a lil’ jovial pick-me-up, but the video’s early-MTV-bordering images of exploding heads will surely be the source of our worst nightmares for the next few months. Can you imagine how terrifying it would be being chased through dark alleyways by these cats?

Beyonce “Ego”

The best thing about “Ego”, aside from it’s snicker-inducing, double-entendre-laced hook (though she’ll probably never admit she’s really singing about…erm, packages), is that it’s the most R&B sounding single released from I Am…Sasha Fierce so far. We especially love how it endlessly teases to explode into this big band burlesque throwdown on the verses, before slinking off to a more mild-mannered AC chorus.

The worst thing about “Ego”: despite having some essential elements in place (B&W film, three girl set-up) it’s vid never quite amounts to the “Single Ladies” Part Deux eye-screw we were so expecting it to be. BOOOOOOOO!!!!

Uncategorized beyonce, grizzly bear, kanye west, the-dream, yeah yeah yeahs

Leggy R&B beauty Amerie achieves a nice, What’s The 411 throwback feel on new single “Why R U”, an early 90’s hip hop-soul-baked number that casts her as a woman edging on sanity’s end in her inability to shake some no-good fellow out of her system.

“What’s the reason, that I’m here again this crazy?/ I keep waiting, but I’m foolish cause you’ll never change,” she opens, her coo pleasantly bridging the track’s intriguing dichotomy of old-school rap edge and sultry R&B midtempo. On the hook, her continuous self-analyzing boils to a frustrated peak as she gets all hoarse trying to figure out “Why r u the only thing that I care/ think about”, sounding like she’s lambasting the heavens above for leaving her in such a pitiful predicament.

After losing so much commercial ground trying to replicate the manic thrills of ’00’s highlight “1 Thing” through several fine, but ultimately forgettable, follow-up records (and the fact that Beyonce kinda-sorta stole homegirl’s thunder when she basically started making Amerie-like cuts of her own probably didn’t help much), Amerie feels like she’s going back to square-one here, but that is in no way a bad thing. Basking in a similar R&B warmth of pre-”1 Thing” breakout “Why Don’t We Fall In Love”, “Why R U” has all the makings to potentially set the singer’s stalled career on strong footing again.

DL: “Why R U” (alt)

Uncategorized '90's, amerie, beyonce, R&B

A love song to a sex doll? That seems to be the premise behind “Rubber Lover”, a delightful little nugget by experimental Scottish alt-rockers Marmaduke Duke (aka The Atmosphere and The Dragon; aka the side project of Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and Sucioperro’s JP Reid).

An early taste from their May-set sophomore collection Duke Pandemonium, “Lover” is set into motion by a cheerful Billy Joel piano sample (the Piano Man’s 1980 “Sleeping With The Television On”) which, alongside sparks of guitar and a steady dance thump, helps frame a kooky narrative about “Johnny” and his lustful adventures with his new toy.

The track might clock in at less than two minutes long, but what a good time that brief length yields: it’s nearly impossible to avoid singing along to it’s sugary “funky all the way home” chorus line at the top of your lungs or indulging in an endless repeating of it’s feel-good groove.

Marmaduke Duke – Rubber Lover

Below, catch a Live Lounge performance in which they take on Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and you’ll soon figure out why more people spend their time copying the single’s music video choreography over actually covering the record (YOU try recreating it’s spazzed out production acoustically or re-interpreting Beyonce’s steely, jack-hammer vocal and see what you come with).

That being said, Duke’s clap-happy “all around the campfire” rendition works fine, especially when the boys get to that quite lovely bridge section.

Uncategorized 80's, alternative, beyonce, biffy clyro, billy joel, cover song, live performance, marmaduke duke, scotland