21st Century trawling

Greg Levrault

My obsession this month is the genre known as 'Mash-up'. Some call it 'Bootlegging,' but that usually conjures pictures of moonshine or Grateful Dead concerts. Some call it 'Bastard Pop', but not in polite company. Some even call it the same old sampling, but this isn't just stealing an old bass line for a new rap song: Mash-ups are Frankenstein monsters, grafting together two songs into a new creature that staggers the mind. The genre's best have a tendency to induce head-shaking chuckles to ears that know, and just sound like undetectably cool pop songs to anybody else.

"A Stroke of Genie-us" delivered the blueprint almost two years ago. Freelance Hellraiser, a British DJ, took some 'new rock' riffs from the Strokes' single "Hard to Explain" and laid the vocal from Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" on top. The sum was greater than its parts: "Stroke of Genie-us" sounds dancier, more dangerous, more alive than either song it came from.

Since then, would-be Fatboy Slims the world over are looking for the next sonic cocktail, and the Internet has been the breeding ground for the best pop music you haven't heard yet. Most of these tracks are homemade (therefore, not major label approved), so don't expect them in your record store, or on your radio. But there's plenty of gems out there.

For some reason, Missy Elliot gets segued with a lot of British acts: I've heard her mixed with the Cure, Joy Division, N'Sync(I know, I know...) The best one out there is "George Gets His Freak On," meshing her with George Michael. Thanks to Missy's lyrics, you can hear the gospel in "Faith"; thanks to the guitar, Missy's humorous sensuality take the spotlight, revealing her as a hip-hop Mae West.

"Eye of the Tiger (Rocky's Theme)" was one of those songs I never thought I'd dance to again until my next family wedding... that is, until I heard "I Wish I Was (the Tiger)". A former Radiohead-tribute band known as Soulwax thought it would be a good idea to throw Skee-Lo's "I Wish" into the mix. It was.

Maybe it's visions of the boxing ring (or the song's similarity to a certain Eminem song), but it really makes Skee-Lo sound like a contender. Almost as amazing is "I Wish I Was a Bulldog", which features Skee-Lo rapping over an old B-side by the Beatles!

A German web site recently started a competition, in search of cool remixes featuring Eminem. I don't know if this was responding to, or because of, the proliferation of Eminem mash-ups floating around the net...

Can you blame them? Can you think of any rapper today more quotable, or with stronger lyrical rhythm? He's very easy to splice on top of, say, Genesis ("Without Me, It's a Land of Confusion"), Green Day ("The Way I Am/Time of Your Life"), the theme to 'Bob the Builder' ("Hi, My Name is... Bob!"), the theme to 'Knight Rider' ("Without David Hassellhoff") or Mantovani Strings ("Music to Clean Out Your Closet To")

If you've read this far, you may have noticed the punny song titles, another legacy of "Stroke of Genie-us". It takes a sense of mischief to rearrange pop songs into mash-ups, to begin with; the titles are the advertising that there's something funny going on.

The best title in the genre, so far, goes to "Smells Like Teen Booty" (also known as "Smells Like Bootylicious"). It's a naughty giggle, but it also fits the titles as well as the songs fit together, which is scarily so. Just like "Stroke of Genie-us", it shows how the best rock makes you dance, and the best jams rock your world.

Kurt :"Here we are now, entertain us"

Beyonce: "I don't think you're ready for this jelly."

There's a lot more out there, if you know where to look. A great starting point is www.bastardpop.co.uk , which has become something of a hub for mash-up enthusiasts. Besides their own collection of mp3s, they have links to sites the world over, connecting to hundreds of mixers and fans.

If you want to search around yourself on any of the post-Napster services, or even the WWW, look for works by Freelance Hellraiser and Richard X, for starters. Or look for songs with "vs." in the title, to find combinations you may have never thought of...

If you find music on the net that you just can't keep to yourself, I want to know about it. Send to DJElvis2@aol.com, and be sure to write "Internet Music" in the title. Until next time, happy hunting...