The Monday Mash

A few items of interest here this week…

=-= High-quality masher and sometimes-reader-of-this-blog mARKYbOY has released another track riffing on Amy Winehouse’s 2006 album, Back to Black.  This time he’s taken the subtle, mellow instrumentals from “Love is a Losing Game” (which never gets the attention it deserves, honestly) and used them as a worthy foundation for lyrics from The Temptations and The Supremes.  The result is a seamless and soulful number that sounds more like an undiscovered recording than something entirely new.  Click here to go to the download page, wait for the link to appear at the bottom, and then right-click and save the file.

=-= Katie Enlow, sister to Luke Enlow, contributes much to the mash-up world in the form of vocals.  That is, she records acapella versions of certain songs, both old and new, which are then used to add a classier touch to songs otherwise sullied by the gruff vocalizations of men.  An album, of sorts, produced with her brother, was recently (and at long last) released in its entirety.  Rockin’ the Boots is great from start to finish, but the standout is “Across the Air” (right-click and save), a six-minute Chemical Brothers-infused treatment of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe.”  It’s sort of a masterpice.  Check it out.

=-= DJ Freddy (the self-styled “King of Pants,” though I doubt the legitimacy of his claim) has taken the vocals from Estelle’s ubiquitous “American Boy,” cranked them up a bit, and stuck them over the instrumentals from Anita Ward’s once-ubiquitous “Ring My Bell.”  The result–“American Bell” (right-click and save)–is just as vexing as its source materials, but also, alas, just as catchy.  For a different take on “American Boy,” you might also check out the Hood Internet’s mix of her vocals with the instrumentals from The Ting Ting’s “Shut Up and Let Me Go” (also, I regret, pretty much everywhere these days).  “Shut Up, American Boy” (click the “start download” button, wait for the timer to count down, and then right-click/save from the link that appears) works very well indeed, and is eminently listenable, but it’s not quite transcending the source material.