Sat 20 May 2006
allow me a mashup, or two.
. . i’m going way down south . .
the first was inspired upon hearing TI’s “what you know about that” played by DJ lone wolf at his lean night last month. i guess i hadn’t listened very closely before, for i was immediately struck by the way the slinky synth line - must so many synths be slinky? - mirrored that familiar favorite, “hey joe,” most memorably performed by jimi hendrix (though apparently many more versions have been recorded). that song was one of the first songs i learned on guitar, and i can recall singing it, accompanied by my friend andrew, for some semblance of a project in my senior-year highschool english class. (i was silly and bashful enough to don sunglasses for the occasion, i think. and i suspect i sang it in the style of eddie vedder - or worse, scott weiland! not a great look. but a good song.)
as i found myself singing “hey joe” over TI at the bar, i wondered, naturally, how it would sound to hear hendrix over some crunk accompaniment. so that’s the simple trick on this here piece of bastard pop: both songs share the same harmonic motion, the same chord progression: a clockwise circle of fifths, if you care to call it that way (which, yes - thanks, dr.tagg! - means that you could also throw “jumpin’ jack flash” and/or “flashdance” into the mash). the end result is a little dense, i’m afraid (and that’s one reason i radically EQ’d the hendrix), but i think it works, for what it’s worth.
of course, as mashups are wont to do, the juxtaposition began to suggest previously unheard and unimagined connections. jimi’s “going way down south” began to sound like a request to let him ride some (pretty chintzy, pretty heavy) 808-ish ish. (actually, “808-ish” is almost by definition “pretty chintzy, pretty heavy.”)
anyhow, here it is; hear it for yerself:
. . way down mexico way . .
the second is more whimsical, and - oddly enough - also seems foreshadowed (or suggested) by jimi’s lyrics over TI’s beats. it requires, or has generated, less of an explanation, though i wonder whether it’s not the more pleasurable of the two.
last week, listening to chingo bling’s hilarious bumper, “walk like cleto,” i was reminded of my own musical experiments with rooster sounds, as recorded in port antonio, jamaica, which resulted in the track “cock music” on boston jerk. i decided to put the two together in order to increase the cockiness of chingo’s surefooted strut. it’s a simple sort of remix, really, but i think they complement each other pretty well (especially at something of a middle tempo).
no se preocupe del cowbell, ni airhorn: necesitamos mas gallo!
May 22nd, 2006 at 5:20 am
dude this is dope. I think the hendrix could allow for even more radical plugin automation, it goes well with the spacyness of the ti synths.
May 22nd, 2006 at 2:54 pm
true that. (and thanks!) a little phasing or some flange woulda sweet. nextime..
June 8th, 2006 at 12:16 am
[…] What you know about that? 1. We had one of those psychic moments last week hearing T.I.’s “What You Know About That?” on the radio. Although we’d observed on these coordinates back in January that the song borrows its synth chords from “Hey Joe,” it had simply never occurred to us that someone could do a mashup of these songs. So anyway, the spark went something like this: “Gee, someone should really try to mash those up,” followed seconds later by the thought, “Hmmm . . . wonder what Wayne Marshall is up to?” DOWNLOAD: Wayne and Wax, “What You Joe” (mp3, via Riddim Method) Also, there are some other versions of this song floating around that you should hear — not even close to getting sick of this song yet, and that Curtis Vodka b-more version is twisting even Audiovandal’s heads in knots. Solid. Speaking of the Audiovandal, the show previously advertised (see, but ignore, the poster below) as “half and half” — that is, half of Certified Bananas and half of Caps + Jones — has now doubled its pleasure. That’s right: Friday at Enormous, the full CB and the full Caps + Jones. Retarded. Enormous Room | Live | Rap | Rocknroll | Rrrreeeeemix | DJ 06/08/2006 00:16:50 by On the Download | Comments [0] | Trackback Related Posts:Radiohead Boston shows posted onlineBonnaroo is coming…Harmonix celebrates 6/6/6Gallery and setlist: Radiohead at PavilionRecap: Dashboard at City Hall, Paper at Bill’sExclusive video: Dashboard Confessional at City Hall Plaza […]