mixtape maestro (2.0)

Nothing more but a bunch of cover songs that have been bubbling around in recent weeks. Enjoy!!

Tanya Morgan “Breakadawn”/ Skillz & Colin Munroe “Baby Phat” (De La Soul Covers)

Two highlight entries pulled from Mick Boogie & Terry Urban’s latest mixtape collabo, a multi-artist tribute compilation to De La Soul’s twenty-year strong legacy entitled Le Da Soul (download the full set here): the MJ-sampling groover “Breakadawn” see the unmistakably DLS-influenced Tanya Morgan cleverly weaving in their own spin to Pos and Trugoy’s script, while Skillz (assisted by longtime MM fave Colin Munroe) gives the curvalicious female sect a nice shout-out (“I like chicks thicker/ Imagine me dating a lil’ stick figure”) in a revamp of “Baby Phat”.

DL: “Breakadawn”

DL: “Baby Phat”

Ellie Goulding & Erik Hassle “Be Mine (Robyn Cover)”

In which two current blog-pop phenoms take a break from their respective on-the-rise careers for an acoustic guitar-backed duet rendition of Robyn’s 2005 single (best known for it’s drama-tastic spoken word bridge and one of the most heartwrenching opening lines ever put to pad-”It’s a good thing, tears never show in the pouring rain/ As if a good thing ever could make up for all the pain”).

Of course, for those who have heard Robyn’s own stripped-down take, Goulding and Hassle’s re-read won’t be that much of a mind-blower, but oh does their vocals meld beautifully when harmony time comes around.

DL: “Be Mine”

Snow Patrol “Ray of Light (Madonna Cover)”

True, the folk-y swing that Irish alt-rockers Snow Patrol build to on the hook of this Top 5 Madonna smash kind of feels pathetic when compared to the explosive epiphany Maddie brought to the table, but we must be honest with at least this much: hearing “Light”’s heavy verses under the band’s earnestly melancholy arrangement catches a pleasant lullaby-like mood we wouldn’t mind being soothed with at the end of a long and hard work-day.

DL: “Ray of Light”

VV Brown “Miss You (Rolling Stones Cover)”

Though England-born indie pop-punk/ soul-ster VV Brown was given a major hype push earlier this year when she was recognized as a Top Ten finalist in the BBC’s “One To Watch” poll, Sounds of 2009, she has so far struggled in earning much pop chart love (Out of four singles released, only one has managed to chart in the UK Top 40).

Still, we say keep following her. Not only because her critically-acclaimed debut album, Travelling Like The Light, has plenty of quirked-out, retro-pop/ rock/ soul goodies to offer (contrary to radio support), but also because she’s proven to be a hoot with her on-the-fly YouTube cover creations (check out her renditions of “Crazy In Love”, “Day N Nite” and “Best I Ever Had”).

There’s nothing silly about her take on the Rolling Stones’ 1978 classic “Miss You” though, which trades in the original’s bluesy-disco strut for a despair-drenched Southern-fried soul vibe.

DL: “Miss You”

Mumford & Sons “I’m Not Alone (Calvin Harris Cover)”

Part of the same London folk scene that has birthed the likes of Noah and The Whale and Laura Marling, the four-piece Mumford & Sons caught plenty of ears with their debut single, “Little Lion Man”, an enrapturing cut seething with self-loathing (“I really fucked it up this time/ Didn’t I my dear?”) and an edge-of-apocalypse hoedown rattle.

That same pluck-heavy furor is called upon for their surprisingly decent Live Lounge rendition of Calvin Harris’ ’90’s-dance tribute “I’m Not Alone”, their woodsy slant working wonders in an impressive mimicking of the same soft vocals/ loud music dichotomy that made the original so enticing.

DL: “I’m Not Alone”

Slim Twig “Behold A Lady (Outkast Cover)”

Toronto-based indie label Paper Bag Records turned seven this month (Happy birthday PB!!), and to help celebrate this event, they’ve unleashed the covers compilation, The Seven Year Itch, for free from their site.

Amongst it’s twelve-song tracklisting, plenty of fascinating grabs can be found (including Josh Reichmann’s rustic campfire take on Bat For Lashes’ “Daniel” and CFCF’s ’80’s new wave & vocoder-baked treatment of OMC’s quirky international fave “How Bizarre”), but the one perched atop our highlight picks would have to be a cover of Andre 3000’s The Love Below-housed tribute to the classy female, “Behold A Lady”, as handled by Canadian-born noise-art eccentric Slim Twig.

Sludging up the original’s lean digi-funk with a dense garage stomp and kooky, vampiric vocals that sound like they’re being emitted from a broken-down loudspeaker, Twig charmingly re-brands the song with a brush of his own unique “ice cold” cool, providing belated props to an oft-overlooked Below gem.

DL: “Behold A Lady”

Pixie Lott “When Love Takes Over (David Guetta/ Kelly Rowland Cover)”

Where David & Kelly’s original aimed to split open the heavens from it’s opening moments with all of it’s big dance diva grandeur, this Live Lounge version by English singer-songwriter Lott goes for a more organic lift-off.

Opening on a slow and meditative tip that plants a pleasant spotlight on the grainy squiggles of soul embedded in Pix’ pipes, the remake makes a better play at illustrating love taking over, growing more and more bold with each added layer of (mostly Coldplay-nicked) instrumentation and upgraded tempo notch until it explodes in a fireworks-like display of romantic euphoria.

DL: “When Love Takes Over”

Uncategorized andre 3000, calvin harris, colin munroe, cover song, david guetta, de la soul, ellie goulding, erik hassle, kelly rowland, live performance, madonna, mick boogie, mixtape, mumford & sons, outkast, pixie lott, robyn, rolling stones, skillz, slim twig, snow patrol, tanya morgan, vv brown

When it comes to Outkast, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes down to their odd (and very frustrating) refusal to not just go ahead and give the fans what they want by recording a joint album (that’s non-soundtrack-related, thank you). So with that said, it’s not too surprising that Big Boi’s latest protogee would be the hip hop/ alternative band Vonnegutt, a Gym Class Heroes-esque act from Atlanta who have been slowly making noise within the blogosphere over the past year.

The band should really grab major on-line interest with this most recent creation though, a full-on cover of the Roots/ Cody ChesnuTT (whatever happened to him?) jam “The Seed 2.0″ that they’ve engulfed in a curioso electro-hop sound. Now nothing will be able to top the utter brilliance of the original (or, for that matter, the solo Cody record that inspired it), but Vonnegutt manage to pull off an interesting take nonetheless.

Look out for Big Boi to be featured on their next official single, “Here We Go Again”, followed by The Appetizer EP which is set to drop this Fall.

(Shouts to OnSmash)

DL: “The Seed 2.0 (The Roots Cover)” (alt)

Uncategorized alternative, Atlanta, cody chesnutt, cover song, outkast, rock-rap, the roots, vonnegutt

Every six months we fall for the same damn line. One of those Outkast boys emerge from their Stankonian hibernation to unleash the heart-stopping news that they’re hard at work in finishing up a solo album. They then announce a somewhat vague release date, then further tease that their partner’s individual project will arrive soon after followed by that long-anticipated, non-soundtrack or double album, full-on Outkast LP. And then we wait…and wait…get all excited over some lone single or hot mixtape feature…and then wait and wait some more…only to get nothing, but a repeat of the same announcement we had received a half a year earlier.

What’s the deal!?!?! It’s not like we haven’t built up enough depression anticipating those new Dre, Lauryn and D’Angelo albums!!

Anyways, to help calm our hysteria, something new from the OK camp has arrived with the leaking of a new Big Boi track from his long pushed-back Sir Luscious Left Foot set…and it unfortunately has Maestro’s second favorite Outkast halve (by a hair!!!) dabbling within a slick, but ultimately far too un-exciting, R&B soundscape.

A texted XOXO to a woman so precious she’s awarded her very own personalized ring, “Ringtone” is highlighted by Big Boi’s naughty rhymes and nimble flow patterns and features a cool synth bass mid-way through that subtly shouts-out the rapper’s undying love for all things old-school funk. Too bad we’re delivered small doses of that and in their place, beat over the head with a boring, over-reliance on lengthy talkbox-affected hooks and a backing track that casually bounces along without really going anywhere.

“Ringtone” might hold a sliver of low-key charm to it’s benefit (Big “The Way You Move” lovers will likely admire this one the most), but after waiting so damn long for Sir Luscious to arrive, we expected something a bit more eventful to surface.

DL: “Ringtone” (alt)

Uncategorized auto-tune, big boi, funk, outkast, sex-rap, southern rap

Another season, another awesomely bizarre Andre 3000 verse and another great sample from the recently revived soul icon Willie Hutch. Add to this the pairing of two of the greatest rap duos in hip hop and you have the breathtaking “International Playas Anthem”, a joint collabo between UGK and Outkast that should have hip hop heads staining up their drawls.

Andre 3000, head-to-head with Lil’ Wayne as 2007’s best guest star, starts things off with his usual big screen banter after finding “the one”. We follow him disconnect with all of the other ladies in his phone book (“I CC’ed every girl that’d I see-see around town/ And hate to see y’all frown but I’d rather see her smilin’”) while his homies are left concerned for his well-being (“You know we got your back/ Like chiroprac-tic/ If that bitch do you dirty/ We’ll wipe her ass out in some detergent”) in a vivid verse that will you have you envious of the man’s endlessly creative prose.

Over a minute in and the drums finally fire up, giving Pimp C, Bun B and Big Boi that unnerved energy as they hit the ground running with lyrics lit with blunt poetics that better define the ill-mannered mouthpiece of a true pimp. “Baby you been rollin’ solo/ Time to get down with the team”, Bun B seductively coaxes while his partner’s dancey flow drops lines like “Money on the dresser/ Drive a Compressor/ Top notch ho’s get the most/ Not the lesser” with the heavy thud of a sledgehammer. Meanwhile Big Boi’s contribution ends the song on the same high note it began, his nimble delivery spliced with spooky screwed up segments that never disrupts his concentration.

Even with all these great emcees strangling eachother for who’ll end up with the top prize, the true star of “IPA” is Hutch’s blax-soul epic “I Choose You”, making a recurring sampled appearance and not sounding any less transcendent even with all the overexposure. It’s gentle cascade of wailing harmonies makes for a grand mural for the double duos to paint winning characterized hood tales, confirming why DJ Paul and Juicy J turn to “The Mack” so often when they decide to hit the crates for something inspiring. The production is deemed even more magnificent with the slight manipulations Paul and J give it, mainly letting the sample play out with only subtle variations to help distinguish each verse.

Bringing us closer to the “true” Outkast album we’ve grown tired of waiting for and finally giving the boys of UGK the right jump-off for their heavily delayed reunion album UGK Underground Kingz, “International Playaz Anthem” is an all-around mass achievement for all parties involved with the musical legacy of the late Hutch earning the blue ribbon.

Uncategorized 70's, andre 3000, Atlanta, big boi, dj paul, juicy j, outkast, posse cut, soul sample, southern rap, three six mafia, ugk, willie hutch