A Short And Half-Hearted Defense Of The Mash-Up

Short because I don't think I have that much to say and half-hearted because I'm not going to waste too much time defending a practice that is, often -- or at least often seems to be -- indefensible.

But in its defense: The Kleptones.

Most mash-ups are just two different tracks (one of which is pretty likely to be "London Calling," I guess because it's by The Clash. Get it?) pretty carelessly thrown together but that work well enough to generate a sort of recognition-of-novelty response. And even when this is done really, really well I like it about as much as I would a mediocre conventional song. In fact, outside of The Kleptones' more ambitious undertakings (of which 24 Hours is the latest, from earlier this year) there are only a handful of mash-ups I've encountered that could really hold their own against the mainstream(s).

There's also a new DJ who goes by the name Girl Talk who has an album out which has made some waves. The general consesus seems to be that it's pretty stupid but really fun -- and if you act quickly, you can get a track and see for yourself from Fluxblog. (It includes a great Biggie sample, if that's any motivation.)

What's strange to me is that the more ambitious projects always end up sounding like turntablism or even straight hip-hop, but still get stuck with the "mash-up" label, presumably because of their origins, or maybe the label is self-applied.