Vote for my art (only if you think it worthy...)

Hey kids-
There is an online art competition of which I am a part.
It's on a very well-trafficked comix website called "Comic Book Resources" & the entry that gets the most votes gets a permanent slot in their weekly roundtable of artists (& hence some nice exposure for their work).
As much as I'd like the work to stand on its own merits (I think it's pretty good piece), there is a whole lot of social networking going on & folks are calling out their troops as it were.
So I'd like to ask you all to take a look at my drawing (at the first link) & if (& only if ) you feel it's one of the strongest of the bunch, please vote at the poll at the second link.

Thanks for your support...

Here's the piece~
   
& go here to see it @ the site itself:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/12/08/the-line-it-is-drawn-try-out-week-2-group-5/

& then you vote here (my name is about two thirds the way down; please also consider voting for one or two other artists you may enjoy as well):
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/12/08/the-line-it-is-drawn-week-2-all-7-groups/

Thanks again good internet folks.

Some of its parts

A mash-up is a curious thing. As I've stated before, most of them are pretty bad, whether ill-conceived from the start, or simply a case of a good idea (e.g., interesting tracks that would seem to fit) not assembled with the right skill, panache, &/or funk. Finding a really great boot is a rarity indeed; I think the mathematical equation (call this the "very secret monster things mash theorem", if you will) is about 37:1, as in I sift through 37 painful Frankenstein's monsters before I find one made by a true Dr. Funkenstein. I do this work not just for me but for you, my dear readers...

Even more rarely, though, a great DJ will take tracks that ya' don't dig & create a wholly new piece that rocks yer world. The always-reliable DJ Clivester pulls this seemingly-impossible task off more often than not.

Here's a great example~ A mash-up containing a buncha' songs that don't tickle my fancy at all, interspersed with one track I dig the most (guess which one), creating a stitched together masterwork that makes you want to scream from your castle against the thunder & lightning

as the square villagers approach, with their torches & pitchforks (& appalling lack of funk), "It's alive! It's alive!"

Extreme Galvanized Gays

contains fleshy parts from the following~

Moby - Extreme Ways

Chemical Brothers - Galvanize

Katy Perry - U R So Gay

Beenie Man - Dancehall Queen

Beyonce - Single Ladies

Reservoir Muppets

Definitely NSFW but oh-so-worth it!

retro-mash

French masher DJ Zebra concocted this great lil' ditty, marrying the late '70's to the late '80's, introducing Diana Ross (no, not Donna Summer!) to Michael & the boys in a wonderful disco-poppy-dancey melange to which I woulda' danced my bike-shorts off @ the Melody in my club daze.

Upside Down Tonight

had to be there

My lovely bride & I were just checking in to our hotel, stopping on the way to Cape Cod, & the news had literally just broken. Everybody in the place- young, old, black, white, brown, whatever- gathered around. Whatever his oddities, his peccadillos or indeed his larger sins, his quirks & his faults, he touched us all.

Pure & simple.

I owned "Got To Be There" on vinyl when I was a kid & the needle hardly ever left it.

I was not a huge fan of some of his later stuff, or certainly of his later antics, but his genius cannot, & will not, be denied.

He lived the ultimate irony~

He was a boy who never grew up yet who also never had a childhood.

A sad, sad life lived & ended too soon, but before it did, he left us with so, so much good music.

I hope the tunes outlast the punch-lines.

I know all the songs have been posted everywhere else & I'm oh-so-very-late to the party, so here are some somewhat rare or less mainstream remixes & mash-ups that hopefully will bring a smile to your face & a beat to your feet...

people deserving of more respect, pt. 7

DJ Andy Smith

crazy mash

Our second mad foray into exploring how different mash-up artistes deconstruct & funkify the same root song begins! Last time out, I gave you some mashes to ring your doorbell now here's some tunage to make you crazy...
Here are four very different tasty treats from some talented folk throwin' Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" into the blender. Cheekyboy tries to cure some of the crazy with the prescription-strength funk of The Avalanches' "Frontier Psychiatrist" whereas The Legion Of Doom tries to rock out the madness with the Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes". ToTom then doubles down on the crazy with two great boots- first mashin' it with Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" & then bringin' us home all mellow like with Elton John's "Your Song".
Swallow yer meds like good little girls & boys & enjoy~

he was anything but gentle...

A few weeks back I did a primer of sorts on the art of the mash-up & now I want to share with you my first time...
It was perpetuated upon me by a master of the craft, PartyBen is the only moniker by which I ever knew him, who rocked my world with rhythm & masterful grace. He was anything but gentle.
I'm referring, of course, to the first mash-up I ever heard.
The year was 2004. I had heard mash-ups before, but none had captured my fancy like this strapping tune~ none had shown me the potential of this hybrid, half-breed form of music that would become my salvation from the morass of modern music of which I was quickly growing weary.
The song was "Callin' On Sunday", an oh-so-perfect amalgam of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" & Lyrics Born's "Callin' Out". A rockin' fist-thumper that combined the best o' rock & hip-hop & became my anthem as John Kerry was set to defeat George Bush ("Don’t worry about the President~ He can’t stop us now" indeed!). Verily, it is high praise for this tune that I am able to overcome that heartbreak & still enjoy its mash-up magic to this day (although it did take a few months for it to fully recover from that ugly stigma). The beauty of this track almost ruined me for all others & isn't that always the way with your first time?
So without further semantic ado, I give you my first, & easily one of the best, mash-up~

"Callin' On Sunday" (U2 vs. Lyrics Born by way of PartyBen)

Mash-ups & gravy (vegan, natch!)

For those of you who just realized what that icon was on your desktop & found the Internet just this very moment: A mash-up (or boot or blend) is the music produced when one puts the vocal track from one song atop the instrumental from another. That's rather simplified as there are many more types of mash-ups with many more types of "mashing-up" as it were, but you just found the Internet, so let's keep it simple, shall we?

Mash-ups have been around since, well, since the recording of music itself really... Back in the day, vinyl was pressed with the vocal stripped away leaving just the instrumental track so aspiring singers could groove along on their Victrolas. The "mash-up" as an actual art-form would start to evolve with the advent of hip-hop as rappers would freestyle over various tracks & then dj's took it to a whole 'nother level.

More than a few years back, the Internet her-own-self erupted with all the media latching on to the mash-up being the "new big thang". Now, things have died down, but mash-ups are still being made by many talented (& not-so-talented) folk. Some of my favorite new tracks are indeed mash-ups. When done well, a mash-up brings a whole new context to a beloved song, or can bring a heretofore unrealized aspect to a much hated one. When done not-so-well, they really suck. Most mash-ups regrettably fall into the second category. It actually takes a very talented individual to master the science & wonder of a good mash-up.

To assess & appreciate this process, let us take a master class in the art of the mash-up as some of the best purveyors of the genre all take on the same song:

Extra credit: team 9 hits it outta' the proverbial park with a different Stripes song head-to-head with N*E*R*D~
"She Wants To Twist"

Class dismissed.