The Kleptones, Lenlow, Go Home Productions, McSleazy, Miss Frenchie, Loo & Placido are all names that you may not be familiar with and certainly not found in your local Virgin Megastore but these purveyors of the musical mash-up (or in some circles bastard pop) are finding their way into ipods around the globe. Although these artists are testing the boundaries of copyright law, they are certainly cultural WorldChangers.
These DJs are moving on from just mashing up the odd single or public official and reworking full albums. After the much sought after Grey Album by DJ DangerMouse, who mixed the Beatles White Album with the Jay-Z Black Album, there is a new crop of ascenders to the throne. Some of the best 'albums' out there right now include A night at the Hip Hopera (Queen), Parkspliced (Blur), London Booted (The Clash), Yoshimi Tackles The Hip Hop Robots (Flaming Lips) and The Pwodigy (The Prodigy).
Even more intriguing, a number of these artists are venturing into the social arena by becoming modern day 'robin hoods' by asking listeners to donate to charities if they download mash-up tunes. War Child, Cancer Research UK and the Christopher Reeve Foundation have all ended up being recipients of these masters creativity.
This musical art is now on the verge of going mainstream as MTV Europe (sorry America) has MTVMash and artists like David Bowie, David Byrne, Gilberto Gil and the Beastie Boys (through the Wired/Creative Commons CD) are all encouraging mash-up artists to remix their work. Folks are even asking to take it one step further and mash the planet - although others are weary of culture jamming. Some of the best hip-hop is coming out of Southern Africa right now, could we be seeing some global/cultural mash-ups in the not too distant future?
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Some of the most prolific artists are based in Europe however here in the states make your way to San Francisco for Bootie or Mash Ave in Boston to see new kings (and queens) of the turntable. If you feel like learning to mix I recommend spending the weekend in the "get your bootleg on" message boards.
Ok, I'm off to stick 'Sweet Child O' Ravi' on the itunes...
