The Rolling Kinks?

October 15, 2012 11:59 AM

Talk to me about mashups.

So, I suppose, as is the case with most things, I am late to the mashup party.

I just discovered this Psy/Ghostbusters mashup and subsequently found this Joan Jett/Beastie Boys mash up.

So. What are the canonical examples of these things? Is there any web site out there devoted to the best of breed?

posted by dfriedman to Society & Culture (41 answers total)

Well there was the one other day from an FPP on the blue which mashed up R Kelly's Ignition and a Jehovah's ASL video about the sins of masturbation.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:03 PM on October 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

I search SoundCloud's mashup tag but you have to weed through a lot of suboptimal stuff.
posted by elizardbits at 12:04 PM on October 15, 2012

You want The Kleptones. Yes.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:07 PM on October 15, 2012 [4 favorites]

One popular example is Danger Mouse's 2004 The Grey Album. (Mashup of The Beatle's White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album)
posted by czytm at 12:09 PM on October 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

Four comments in and nobody's mentioned Girl Talk?
posted by box at 12:10 PM on October 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

For some history, here's a good article that ran in the NYT in 2002.

Spreading by the Web, Pop's Bootleg Remix
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:12 PM on October 15, 2012

My friends who love mashups swear by Girl Talk.
posted by sallybrown at 12:16 PM on October 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

DJ Earworm makes some pretty awesome mashups. "Stairway to Bootleg Heaven" is one of my favorites.
posted by rhiannonstone at 12:16 PM on October 15, 2012

Oh! And yes of course Girl Talk. You can even see the breakdown of the individual songs.
posted by rhiannonstone at 12:18 PM on October 15, 2012

I love listening to the Best of (year) and Holiday mashups (get Halloween now) over at Bootie.
posted by THAT William Mize at 12:18 PM on October 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

Girl Talk. Jaydiohead.
posted by rachaelfaith at 12:18 PM on October 15, 2012

DJ Z-Trip is off-and-on in terms of whether or not I can stand him, but Uneasy Listening Vol. 1 (direct link to .zip file) is solid, and one of the awesomest earlier examples of the genre.
posted by carsonb at 12:23 PM on October 15, 2012

Bootie is always fun, nthing Girl Talk and Kleptones.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet is Norwegian Recycling, who have some great albums that differ from the "mainstream" mashups (hello, Eminem vs Final Fantasy VII fight theme)
posted by Lemurrhea at 12:24 PM on October 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

One big early Mash-up album was the Grey Album - a mix of the Beatles White Album with JayZ's Black Album. It is good stuff.
posted by Flood at 12:26 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes, definitely Girl Talk, The Grey Album, & Bootie compilations. Some resources not linked to yet:
Lenlow
Kleptones (particularly Yoshimi Battles The Hip-Hop Robots and A Night At The Hip-Hopera, even if you don't really think yourself a hip-hop fan)
Jay-Zeezer - The Black And Blue Album
Wu-Tang Vs. The Beatles - Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers is another genre-mashing one that I rather enjoy. It's no longer on its original site.

More hit & miss sites:
It's The Rub
Jirob
Sub Rosa
posted by knile at 12:29 PM on October 15, 2012

I love mashups - mostly pop mashups. Some of the great DJs are:
#DJ Earworm, mentioned in a previous comment.
#Mashup Germany
#Robin Skouteris

There's a great line of dance parties in London and Tel Aviv called "A.D.D." or, "Music for the A.D.D. Generation", you can look for them on facebook for new hits.

Sorry for not linking; internet problems.
posted by alon at 12:37 PM on October 15, 2012

The first one that I remember actually being kind of a crossover hit was Sugababes' 2001 single "Freak Like Me" which was a re-recording of an Adina Howard/Gary Numan mashup mixed by Girls on Top/Richard X.

My favorite (and this is riiiiight on the edge of totally embarassing) is still Freelance Hellraiser's A Stroke of Genie-us (Strokes/Christina Aguilera), which I think also came out in 2001 or thereabouts.
posted by bcwinters at 12:40 PM on October 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

This Usher/Bhangra mashup circa 2005 is a must listen!
posted by raztaj at 12:43 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Party Ben's "Pump Up the Doorbell" from 2006 remains my favorite.
posted by neroli at 12:49 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Self-ish link: Codpaste is a podcast series by sound artists Vicki Bennett and Ergo Phizmiz about the history and practice of mashups and sound collage.
posted by moonmilk at 12:49 PM on October 15, 2012

Let's go back to a time when mashups were called bootlegs (or booties) and were primarily a UK phenomenon: the seminal two-hour 2 Many DJs/Soulwax "Hang the DJ" mix that aired on BBC Radio 1 on Christmas Day 2001 is available on archive.org and the first ten minutes on YouTube. Nirvana vs. Destiny's Child "Smells Like Booty" is my favourite off that mix.

Also, a quick shout-out to my newest obsession: R. Kelly vs. Carly Rae Jepsen. If you don't like this, you don't want good things in your life. Just kidding. But not really.
posted by mhum at 12:50 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Specifically regarding the Grey Album, The Grey Video is a good intro.
posted by Betelgeuse at 12:53 PM on October 15, 2012

No list of canon mashups can be complete with the Notorious BIG Party and Bullshit + Miley Cyrus Party in the USA by hathbanger (I think it's called Miley Cyrous).
posted by General Malaise at 12:54 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Individual tracks that have been in my library & get repeat plays:
DJ Prince - Hey We Will Rock Ya (Queen vs. Outkast)
Party And Bullshit in the USA (Notorious BIG vs. Miley Cyrus)
Various from the Summer Booty Compilation series of Beat-Boot-Ique
Smiley Faces Hypnotize (Gnarls Biggie) Sound Advice x Biggie and Gnarls Barkley
DJ Riko - P-Funk Is Playing At My House
DJ Axel - Could You Be Kicked, Pushed, & Loved (Lupe Fiasco vs. Bob Marley)
MadMixMustang - Fat Bottomed Girls Come Together (Queen vs. The Beatles)

Another name to know:
Party Ben, sometimes written as PartyBen, has come out with tracks like Green Day vs. Oasis vs. Travis vs. Eminem - Boulevard of broken songs, and Daft Punk vs. Nirvana - Smells Stronger, and Single Ladies In Mayberry.

A few more albums that I think are quite nice to have, though not on the level of classics like Girl Talk & The Grey Album -
White Noise - Spoiler Alert!
E-603 - Torn Up
Flying White Dots - Into The Great Unknown
RIAA - USA
Mos Dub

For history's sake, do look into the work of John Oswald, who coined the term "plunderphonics".
posted by knile at 12:56 PM on October 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

I liked ccc's Revolved: http://archive.org/details/Revolved It's based on the Beatles' "Revolver" with all sorts of other stuff spliced in.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:59 PM on October 15, 2012

I'm really pretty fond of The White Panda.

Also, I recall Kid606's mashup album being pretty glitchy and fun when it came out a decade ago, but I haven't actually listened to it in a long time and don't know quite how well it holds up.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 1:14 PM on October 15, 2012

Maybe I need to put more time in, but I came into this world via DJ Earworm and I have yet to hear anything as good. These were the first ones I heard, and almost everything I've heard since has paled by comparison.

No-one Takes Your Freedom
What's My Name??
Stairway To Bootleg Heaven

All fan-made videos, which should probably just be sent to a background tab while you listen.
posted by chazlarson at 1:20 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Gotye/The Police: "Losing Somebody I Used To Know"
posted by emelenjr at 1:21 PM on October 15, 2012

The absolutely essential Go Home Productions 'This was Pop 2002 to 2007' is available in a 108 Mb zip file here. Tracklist & many, many other lovely things here. Honestly, this bloke really knows his booties.
posted by punilux at 1:28 PM on October 15, 2012

Nthing Bootie and the Kleptones. The Bootie compilations will give you an idea of whose style you like so you can investigate them further.
posted by immlass at 1:28 PM on October 15, 2012

I don't like many mashups, but these two are brilliant:

Oppa Spacejam Style Epic, and I don't use that word lightly.
The ECC - By the Time I Get to Arizona (Herb Alpert instrumental vs Public Enemy)
posted by homodachi at 1:49 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Friends of mine have been enjoying this one lately - primarily because it looks like it could actually be one music video: Justin Bieber vs N'Sync - Boyfriend Girlfriend mashup
posted by JannaK at 2:30 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

nth Go Home Productions and Party Ben.
posted by pompomtom at 3:11 PM on October 15, 2012

The Hood Internet mixes the latest hipster indie song with hip hop lyrics.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:25 PM on October 15, 2012

An oldie, but one of my favorites and one I actually listen to on regular rotation;
Sweet Home Country Grammar

and another great;
Sad But Suspicious
posted by bongo_x at 3:54 PM on October 15, 2012

Max Tannone and Americo Gazaway have both been the subject of Mefi posts.
posted by box at 5:51 PM on October 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Nthing The Kleptones, but adding a mention of Uptime.

And since no one else has mentioned... DJ Lobsterdust. My favorite is "Walkin' Out Yo Girlfriend"
posted by drezdn at 6:28 PM on October 15, 2012

Phil Retro Specter is the ‘undisputed master of melancholy'

From his website: "Warning: Please ensure glass is half-empty before listening…"
posted by Hash at 8:30 PM on October 15, 2012

Freelance Hellraiser, e.g.
posted by unknowncommand at 9:10 PM on October 15, 2012

Mashup.fm is a streaming site, with an IOS app, that let's people play mash-ups. You'll hear a bunch of new, old and classic stuff there.
posted by haqspan at 6:44 AM on October 16, 2012

I made a nice post about mashups a while ago back when lots of people actually made them frequently
posted by flatluigi at 8:09 PM on October 21, 2012 [1 favorite]