The Needle Drop

mashup

Neil Cicierega - Mouth Silence

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Previously mentioned Neil Cicierega has a new megamix of insanity out titled Mouth Silence. In the piece's first few moments alone, there's an amazing, heavenly remix of 3rd Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life" propped up against a fusion of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" with the Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster." Just let that settle in for a minute. Yeah, that happened.

Anyway, expect some hilariously insane musical clashing going on in this thing, and enjoy!

Neil Cicierega - Mouth Sounds

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People come up to me all the time, I mean, literally every day, and they ask me if I know of an album out there that gratuitously mashes a myriad of different pop tunes together in a violent, overwhelming display of digital editing.

Now, I can finally say "yes" to that question, and pass along Neil Cicierega's Mouth Soundsimmediately after.

This 56-minute megamix of one song layered on top of another is a bit of a novelty piece, I'll admit. And not every combination on this thing actually works--I mean, it doesn't get more mismatched than listening to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" awkwardly playing directly on top of Michael Jackon's "Billie Jean."

However, there are some amazing realizations that come about from listening to Mouth Sounds. The biggest of them is that the vocal melody to Smash Mouth's "All Star" basically works over everything--especially Modest Mouse's "Float On." I guess I should have gone into this thing expecting a gratuitous amount of Smash Mouth samples--the title is MOUTH Sounds, isn't it? There's even a freaking industrially tinged, Marilyn Manson-esque version of "All Star" toward the back end of this thing that's impossible not to laugh at.

Despite what seems like a series of tongue-in-cheek remixes, at the 26:30 mark, Neil actually embarks upon the most touching rendition of Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain." It would seem that without the goofy demo video and jumbled piano phrasing, it's actually a pretty moving song. Who knew?

Well, I'm sure Tay knew. And Neil obviously knew as well.

Neil is uncovering a lot more than the hidden appeal of "Chocolate Rain," though. He's also displaying the musical common ground that's shared between a myriad of songs the general public perceives as being very different, proving pop tunes come down to attitude and style as much as they do musical composition.

Girl Talk & Freeway - Broken Ankles

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Where have these guys been, and why haven't they been collaborating already?

Pennsylvania is teaming up on this one with mashup master Girl Talk providing a handful of beats for Philly rapper Freeway. Some might think his style is gimmicky, but Girl Talk's never really disappointed me. It's actually funny that he's been musically silent for the past four years, because I think music fans aren't really paying attention to genre boundaries like they used to. Now that music discovery on the internet is in full swing, people are listening to whatever the hell they want. That's exactly what Girl Talk's megamix albums represented to me, anyway.

As far as Freeway goes, I've never really been a fan outside of The Stimulus Package--which dropped the same year as Girl Talk's last record--but I think he's sounding completely revitalized over these sample-heavy beats.

I think Freeway and Girl Talk are finding new purpose together with this new EP of theirs, Broken Ankles. The lyrics are grimy, violent, forceful. I'd call the instrumentals unlikely, but nothing happens here that albums like Feed The Animals didn't already set a precedent for. Still, it's great to hear Girl Talk focusing on some completely original material rather than just assembling tracks out of pieces of other songs. Stuff like this EP could really build his rep as a producer, because the beats have a lot going on for them on this thing. Enjoy via the widget above or the link below!

Download: Girl Talk & Freeway - Broken Ankles

Igorrr - Hallelujah

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Admittedly, if I had casually heard the phrase "operatic breakcore" getting tossed around in a music conversation, I'd truly be fighting the urge to step in and shout, "GIMMICK! GIMMICK! GIMMICK!" However, that's really the only word grouping I can conjure to describe the sounds on Igorrr's Hallelujah. I guess it isn't truly functional, though, because there's an indescribable metal influence on some of these tracks, too.

Grab this album on vinyl, CD, or MP3 on Bandcamp.

While I'm not completely convinced that the music streaming in the above widget isn't a gimmick, at least it's detailed and impressively produced. The pairing of genres here may, on paper, look about as appetizing as a mustard and jelly sandwich, there's some serious gourmet cooking going on here.