Slaponomics: 5/21/10

Coleman Lukas & Andrew Miller
Welcome back to Slaponomics. We hope all of you are doing well.

Haven’t we all found ourselves scrolling up and down the artists list on our iPod unsure of what to listen to? Slaponomics is once again to the rescue. The indecisiveness you are experiencing is a result of mixed emotions or lack of emotion. Do not play “Revolution 9” by The Beatles—this will merely further your confusion and turbulent feelings. Instead, play The Grey Album produced by DJ Danger Mouse. Oh yes, mash–ups: sweet palliatives for your soul.

A mash–up is simply vocals “mashed–up” with the instrumental of another song. It can derive from two separate genres, or the same. Mash–ups are a recent invention that come from disc jockeys who mixed musical genres and recorded tracks. It’s kind of like the Bu–Jew of music.

Anyways, here are some of the artists you should peep.

First off, and one of the original groups that put mash–ups on the map, Girl Talk. He has four albums out to date, but we think that his newest album, Feed the Animals, is probably the best to start with. Girl Talk’s mashes fall under experimental pop-dance music.

Self-proclaimed “Girl Talk’s hot cousin” Super Mash Bros. is a force to be reckoned with in the mash-up industry. These bros bring bro-ed out bro hits from American Pie to the strip club. Definitely cop their mixtape All About the Scrillions.
But I’m an indie kid who only listens to Passion Pit! Wake up SLEEPYHEAD, it’s time for you to get off your fixie and into The Hood Internet. The Hood Internet is a Chicago based duo who specializes in Hip-Hop/Indie Rock mashes. Wayne and Royksopp never sounded so good.

Probably the most mashed artist in the game today is Jay-Z. Since he released an acapella version of The Black Album, tons of DJ’s have taken there shot at making the next big remix album. Some mixtapes to look at aside from The Grey Album with Hov on the track: The Red Album by DJ Whoo Kid, Jaydiohead by Minty Fresh Productions (Radiohead), Viva La Hova by Mick Boogie (Coldplay), Black is Back by 9th Wonder, and Collision Course with Linkin Park.

Don’t believe that this genre is only hip-hop based. This genre is so broad, there are many non-rap artists who have been mashed or remixed. If you search long enough you can probably find at least one track remixed on YouTube.
Lastly, check out The Notorious XX, it’s pretty kinky. See you in two weeks.