One Troublesome Tuesday

Regulars will have noticed the omission of Mondays post this week, I'd like to say there was a pre-planned reason for this but simply put I was having computer issues. Still not entirely sure what was wrong but a day of stress and a system restore later and everything appears to be fine again, which leads me to believe it may have been a system update of some sort that did the damage. I was going to make the post from my laptop, but it lacks in music and the only thing even resembling metal on it was in fact rock (Soulwax's "Any Minute Now" album for those who are curious). As it is no longer Monday it would go against the blog's ethos to post a Metal article. However the rock genre is going to be a theme within today's post. What I'm going to do is post 10 more than memorable rock/metal mash-ups. Some of these will be mashed with dance, some with other rock/metal genres and even some hip-hop, all of them are classics and I feel that they all are relevant to a lot of the goals this blog is trying to achieve.

Dj schmolli - Scream Aim Dance (Bullet for Lady Gaga) 
Ruff Muff - La La Her Madly (The Doors vs. Goldfrapp)
Jimmi Jammes - Sgt. Pepper's Paradise (Beatles vs. Guns N' Roses) 
Cheekyboy - Smells Like Compton (N.W.A. vs. Nirvana) 
DJ Moule - Black Sabotage (Beastie Boys vs. Led Zeppelin) 
DJ M.I.F. - Tricky Sandman (Run-DMC vs. Metallica) 
Go Home Productions - Don't Hold Back, Sweet Jane (Chemical Brothers vs. Velvet Underground vs. U2 vs. Sugababes vs. MARRS) 
Divide & Kreate - Always With You (Willie Nelson vs. U2 vs. MARRS) 
The Illuminoids with Donita Sparks - Pretend We're Alala (L7 vs. CSS) 
DJ Topcat - More Than On Point (House of Pain vs. Boston) 

It's also likely that with the Christmas break approaching this weekend the blog may decide to take a short break, this however hasn't really been discussed and may not happen. As regulars know the last Friday of every month is home to the blog's essential Mix, however the last Friday of this month is Xmas Day. We hope to get an extra-special essential selection up on the 25th that will more than likely deviate from previous selections. I hope you enjoy the tracks as they are something slightly different from what has went up previously and are something that will more than likely re-appear in the future.

Easy Like Sunday Morning #3

In march of 1978 when avid fans came home and put the needle on the record that succeeded exodus, the first track they heard was "Easy Skanking" by Bob Marley and The Wailers. I personally don't listen to an excessive amount of Bob Marley as in some respects a lot of his tracks just aren’t my thing due to my belief that a lot of his work is tarnished by constant overplaying, which creates a cliché and tackiness that ruins the majority of them. However, I was introduced to Kaya about 4 or so years ago on a camping trip with friends, and the album stuck with me ever since, so it's probably more of a nostalgic thing to listen to. The track I associate the majority of the album to is Easy Skanking, the first song on the album which is essentially a song about dancing, taking it easy, slow and relaxing which is why it is perfect for this playlist.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Easy Skanking


Au Revoir Simone are an indie orientated synthpop group that have found themselves being featured on Kitsune compilations and being played late night on the now defunct 120 minutes. They seem to generate a more organic sound than the other indie-electro based groups out there, which is one of the reasons why they stand out from the crowd. The girls seem to emanate a presence within their music, which probably originates from the airy vocals that are present with the majority of the tracks.Coming from the Brooklyn based trio, this instrumental is an ambient that track speaks for itself, just give it a listen.

Au Revoir Simone - The Winter Song


I was introduced to this track when I heard it playing in a bar, I went up to ask the dj what it was called, the funny thing being he didn't know; skip forward a year and I come across is again on a blog by coincidence. The track is very limited in release terms, and I'm led to believe that it may have just been a white label. For me this track is all about the bass and the deep voice that predominates the track, that is beautifully complimented by keys that stink of 80's funk. The Rainbow Brothers are a duo who originate from france and are better known as the groundbreaking ambient electronic band Air.

Rainbow Brothers - 818.323.01


Hailing from L.A, Lucas MacFadden, Cut Chemist, found his fame when he joined the unity committee, who would later join the Rebels of Rhythm to for the internationally successful Jurassic 5. Cut chemist collaborated with J5 on 3 studio albums, before departing the band to pursue his own career.Tolling in as the third track on cut-chemists first full length studio album, The Garden is a very ethnically themed which seems to be a homage of sorts to Bollywood cinema and the filmi genre of music contained within those films. The song, which is a great balance between old and new, the goal that most turntableism artists try and achieve, has an ambiance to it, achieved through bass and high-hats, that flows throughout the song and compliments the vocals and string based instruments harmonically.

Cut Chemist - The Garden


A song which comes to us from the last days of The Doors, Riders of the storm is purportedly the last song recorded by all 4 original members of the doors, before Morrison's death. The song is suitably inspired by and partially based upon the famous Ghost Riders in the Sky, a western telling of a cowboy who must change his ways. Riders on the Storm also has allusions to a non-fictional murdering hitchhiker (a killer on the road) who Jim was interested in and also based a screenplay on his actions for a purposed film. The song is one of the doors most atmospheric songs, this is clearly thanks to the use of the storm sound effects contained throughout; it's also partially attributed to Morrison's whispering the whole song as well as singing it and then having both tracks played over each other. I actually think that this is a track is more suited to Sunday evening rather than Sunday morning, this is mainly due to the more relaxed nature that the song conveys through the bass and dropping keys on Manzarerk's instruments and the subtle changes of key within Morrison's signature style; that is why I'm leaving this song for last, to round up your Sunday and lead you back into your day to day life, hope you enjoyed the weekend.

The Doors - Riders on the Storm