i'M juX tWiSteD (Lyrics Born vs. SOAD, KoRn & Dave Grohl)

This track was produced for a GYBO hip-hop vs. rock challenge and its happy intention was to mop the floor with the competition.

Taking the hilariously over-the-top lyrics of Lyrics Born's "I'm Just Raw" as a starting point, i chopped up and manipulated loops from System of a Down's thrash classic, "X" over a drum loop lifted from Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice". Noticing it was in the same key, i added the main riff and breaks from KoRn's "Twisted Transistor".

Unfortunately, i finished the track too late to submit it to the challenge, but it still got some love in other places, like France and Japan.

i'M juX tWiSteD (Lyrics Born vs. System of a Down & KoRn, featuring Dave Grohl) Download






As featured on the MashAnthology double LP!

(track produced in 2006, cover in 2008)

Feel All Apologies (Blackalicious vs. Nirvana)

This was intended as the 'B-side' to this one, but of the two, it became the 'hit' by default.

Again mixing Blackalicious with Nirvana, this time using "Feel That Way" and "All Apologies", and featuring a slowed-down drum loop sampled from D&B outfit Origin Unknown as well as some of my bass guitar, this became a bit of a classic of its own volition (not mine).

After having been initially posted on my homepage in 2005, with no hype and few hits, i stuck it up on GYBO at the beginning of 2006, and was pleasantly surprised to see it soon featured on Mashuptown, and then on VH1's Dose of the Best Music Ever.

Massive exposure (in my experience) followed, including radio airplay, podcasting, and further blogging, e.g. The Who Boys Show 16, Halfpie Mash Wednesday, Sirius satellite radio, and as far afield as here! (Even if somewhere along the line, an inattentive soul mistyped a much-distributed copy as being by "DJ nit-I").

"Feel All Apologies" was also listed as one of:
Culture Bully's Favorite Mash-Ups of 2006:

Literally hundreds of mashes attempt to interject some freshness into Nirvana however most find themselves far too busy. The oversimplified loop of “I Feel All Apologies” allows the mash an unglamorous headliner to shine over top it, allowing both acts to flourish. Neither too much nor too little Nirvana, but just enough to make you feel that way.

And of course, there's the fine (and ever-popular) video mash-up produced by Chrysler 76:



i'm sanguine that this positive little tune i initially thought boring continues to touch so many people (and in the meantime, i've grown quite fond of it too) - just goes to once again show that the 'not' can be more relevant than the 'I'.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

Feel All Apologies (Blackalicious vs. Nirvana) Download





As featured on the MashAnthology double LP!

And by request of a couple radio stations and private peeps, a special hi-fi edition (.wav file) is available here.

(cover by Klaudia Gottwald)

Peace!

~I

Heart-Shaped Sky (Blackalicious vs. Nirvana feat. Stevie Wonder)

After picking up The Rub's Remixes Vol. 2 "Weird Sh*t" and spinning it many a time (especially Mark Ronson's remix of Outkast vs. Franz Ferdinand, "Bombs Over Scotland", i finally became aware of the mash-up (or blend) phenomenon and decided to try my hand at mixing some of the hip-hop acapellas i had on vinyl with music of other genres from the rest of my collection.

While accordingly messing around, i ended up with "Heart-Shaped Sky", which mixes California hip-hop outfit Blackalicious' "Sky is Falling" with Nirvana's "Heart-shaped Box". It also features drum-loops sampled from Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" and "Living for the City" (i'm a huge fan of all these people). i also added some additional bass guitar, and i suppose this was my first proper mash-up.

i intended "Heart-Shaped Sky" to be the 'A-side' to a two-sided blend/mash-up 'single', but the 'B-side' (originally an after-thought) turned out to be much more popular (it still is).

Nevertheless, this was briefly hosted on The Rub, received quite a lot of airplay on KRCL - radio free Utah, and made it onto BristleKRS' Bootleg Show.

Hope you enjoy what i initially thought was the better of a twin blend (i seem to have been wrong):

Heart-Shaped Sky (Blackalicous vs. Nirvana feat. Stevie Wonder) Download



As featured on the MashAnthology double LP!

UPDATE: GonzoJam recently made not one, but two Anime videos for this tune: