Party info, news, and mashups from the biggest bootleg mashup party in the world - hosted by Adrian & the Mysterious D
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Bootie Top 10 - July 2008
Clive$ter – Will I Touch Your Back (Amy Winehouse vs. Bros. vs. Freemasons feat. Katherine Ellis) – Austria This great, bluesy vocal fits so well with the Amy Winehouse instrumental, that you'd never guess it's actually from a house music song! Personally, we think it fits WAY better here than with the original Freemasons track. And the Bros vocal exchanges with the Freemasons diva vocals adds another layer to this track, as well as the well-placed samples.
DJ Fox – Low Dog (Flo Rida vs. The Stooges vs. Dakar & Grinser)BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE! – San Francisco You can always tell when an acapella of a popular song gets released, because the mashup community immediately pounces on it and within weeks, there are about a zillion different bootlegs floating around. That's exactly what happened with Flo Rida's "Low," the Bootie Top 10's flavor of the month, of which this is the first of two appearances on this list. We especially love this one. If Iggy Pop were dead, he'd be rolling over in his grave. But since he isn't, he might actually find this amusing. Excellent song arrangement and the extreme genre-clash makes this "Low" rise well above the rest.
DJ Gizmo – Pictograph (Sneaky Sound System vs. Def Leppard) This month's "guilty pleasure" is this little gem. Sure, we admit we've got a soft spot for Def Leppard. But damn, that Sneaky Sound System vocal just fits so damn well – both melodically and lyrically – with the '80s guitar sound, that you'd never know it was originally an electro song!
The Illuminoids – That's Not My Wild Name Game Thing (Ting Tings vs. Shirley Ellis vs. Peaches vs. Tone Loc vs. Divine) – Los Angeles Jells and Howie from the Illuminoids have definitely bridged a few generation gaps here, seamlessly blending several songs that stretch over the course of four decades, expertly proving that everything new is old again! And the best part of the Ting Tings track, of course, is the "That's not my name" chorus, and the Illuminoids know just how to make that part pop, and to put it over "The Name Game," well, it's just awesome. Bonus points for even throwing in some Divine!
Instamatic – Neon Sex People (Neon Neon vs. Depeche Mode vs. Latour) – London In the mashup scene, there's the term "well spotted," which refers to when someone notices that one song seems to "borrow" one or more melodic elements from another. Here, Neon Neon definitely owes a debt to a certain '80s synth band, and Instamatic gets his groove back by proving it with a "well spotted" mashup.
DJ Maxentropy – Low A Prayer (Madonna vs. Flo Rida)– Philadelphia Sick of "Low" yet? Fortunately, Maxentropy reverses the trend of using the well-worn acapella and goes for the instrumental instead, pairing it with Madonna's classic dance floor anthem and giving it some hip-hop street cred -- as well as some bassy bottom end -- in the process. This is the "Like A Prayer" mashup we've been waiting for.
Titus Jones – Break Teen Spirit(Bootie edit) (Britney Spears vs. Nirvana vs. Madonna vs. Justin Timberlake vs. Usher)BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!– Arkansas, USA This mashup proves once again that, despite its grunge trappings, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is really just a pop song -- which is why it mashes up so well with so many other stupid pop songs. Britney and Madonna sound shockingly well-suited fronting Nirvana. Who knew? The great thing about this track though, is its song arrangement and production -- it's not just a straight vocal over the Nirvana track, like many "Smells Like" mashups of the past. Instead, it shows itself to be something different, and in this case, different is kick-ass.
DJ Topcat – Only Like You (Mims vs. Yazoo) – Seattle Topcat does something actually listenable with Mims' failed second single. "Like This," especially the female vocals, blends beautifully with Yazoo's '80s synth-pop gem, "Only You." We especially like the way Topcat brings in the best parts of "Only You," a sometimes forgotten classic, coupling it with Mims to give it a fresh sound. And it's nice to hear a mashup by Yaz that ISN'T another "Don't Go" or "Situation"!
Wax Audio – Sad But Superstitious (Stevie Wonder vs. Metallica) – Sydney, Australia Yay! Our favorite Australian bootlegger is back, and he returns with a fist-pumping stormer of a track. This reminds us of just the sort of mind-fuck rock mashups that first got us sucked into the bootleg scene to begin with, way back in 2001. Notice the similarity between Stevie's growl with James Hetfield's growl. And there's nothing more fun than hearing that full Metallica break near the end ... and then Stevie comes roaring back in!
DJ Y Alias JY – Duffy Train Running (Duffy vs. Doobie Brothers)– Munich, Germany DJ Y Alias JY is one of the new resident DJs at Bootie Munich, and tracks like this make us glad he's on board. Sounds retro and contemporary at the same time, and is definitely the best Duffy mashup we've heard yet. Hell, it's even the best Doobie Brothers mashup we've heard too!
As many people know, we were on a three-week European tour at the end of April and early May. Soon after, we got bogged down catching up on Bootie business, and then we left the country again to do our first Bootie Hong Kong party. Needless to say, our schedule got very busy, and we regret that the Bootie Top 10 was woefully neglected.
However, we are hoping to make it up to you with a double Top 10 this month, one for May (the month we missed) and another for June. Enjoy the downloads!
MAY 2008
Aggro1 – Rock of Ages Girl (Def Leppard vs. Goose) – Dayton, Ohio Our electro is showing. This is the first of two appearance's on this month's Top 10 of Goose, an electro rock band from Belgium. Here, Aggro1 gives Def Leppard's butt-rock classic a dance-floor remake. I guess our love of '80s hair metal is showing too!
Divide & Kreate – Punked Up (Madonna vs. Teddybears)– Stockholm, Sweden Instead of sampling ABBA for her song "Hung Up," imagine if Madge had picked a more current Swedish band to rip off? You know, someone cool like the Teddybears? As the people who do the Madonna Mashup Room every June at Bootie SF, how could we NOT love this?
Electrosound - Relax, I Wanna Be Trash (Mika vs. The Whip) – France Nope, we had never heard of The Whip either, but they're obviously a perfect pairing with "Relax," adding some electro rock bite to Mika's otherwise fey tune. We found out that DJ Sandra of London's Misshapes club regularly mixes these two songs together, and wasn't even aware that this mashup exists. See, it's meant to be!
G3rst – Black Woman (Wolfmother vs. Goose) – The Netherlands Adrian can nail almost every single note of Wolfmother's "Woman" in Guitar Hero, but that's not the only reason this song makes the Top 10. It's just nice to hear a cool electro-dance throb behind one of our favorite recent rock songs.
Hi-brid – Confide In The Nation (Kylie Minogue vs. Radiohead) – London Radiohead's first of two appearances on this list ... see, this is what happens when you release your album for (pretty much) free on the internet. Our ears perk up and we remember that you're around, and then mashups like this just sort of sneak up on us, and we think, "Damn, how awesome would it be if Kylie Minogue joined Thom Yorke & company on stage for just one stark and moody song?"
Lobsterdust - Urgent Situation (Foreigner vs. Yaz) – New York City It's like Lobsterdust built a time machine and went back to 1982 with a laptop and some audio editing software, and mashed-up two of the most popular songs of the day (from polar opposites of the pop spectrum). But then, realizing that doing so would create a rip in the space-time mashup continuum, and would inadvertently kick-start the mashup craze two decades earlier than it should (which would mean that Bootie, GYBO, and A+D would all *POOF!* cease to exist) he wisely chose to just keep it on his hard drive ... that is, until NOW!
Mad Mix Mustang – The Love Cats Shack (B-52's vs. Stray Cats) – The Netherlands Maybe it's because Fred Schneider from the B-52's made a surprise appearance at Bootie LA in April, but we've recently rediscovered our love for the best party band on the planet. There are quite a few "Love Shack" mashups out there, but this is one of the best we've heard. Here, M3 finds an inspired genre-clash. Who knew swaggering rockabilly would work so well with this?
DJ Mei-Lwun - The Donquehote (will.i.am & Snoop Dogg vs. Magazine 60)– San Francisco Is this Magazine 60 song having some sort of weird revival or what? We've been hearing it a lot lately, including when we were in Shanghai ... twice! Here, San Francisco's Mei-Lwun gives it a hip-hop makeover tailor-made to kick-start a dance floor!
DJ Morgoth - BlurDemmi (Blur vs. Deichkind) – Berlin When Jack Daniels sponsored a mashup contest in Germany, this is the track that won DJ Morgoth a trip to the company's famed whiskey distillery in Tennessee - his first trip to America! We had never heard of Deichkind, but the chorus of their silly German rap is so easy to get stuck in your head, that we were singing it to each other all over Europe. Guaranteed to make the crowd go nuts ... especially if your crowd happens to be at Bootie Munich or at Berlin's Mash-Up Your Bootz party! ;-)
DJ Shyboy – You Spin Me Upside Down (Diana Ross vs. Dead Or Alive)– Los Angeles 'More '80s goodness! And it's another '80s vs. '80s, which doesn't happen too often in the mashup world (a dearth of acapellas from that decade doesn't help). LA's Shyboy slipped us this killer track months ago, and it very quickly became our "secret weapon" for the dance floor. Now he's finally made it available on his website for everyone to reap the benefits of its cheesy '80s goodness! The lyrical interplay here is especially an excellent fit.
JUNE 2008
dj BC - Stop The Violence In Africa (Boogie Down Productions vs. Toto) – Boston Boston's BC made two versions of this Boogie Down Productions track, and while he prefers his other one, WE happen to have a soft spot for the Toto version. Besides, we love it when two songs of a mashup play off each other's themes, and the whole "Africa" breakdown is great!
BootOX - Rockin Maedchen Drive Me Crazy (Michael Jackson vs. Lucilectric vs. Fine Young Cannibals) – Munich It's so nice when we hear an acapella that hasn't been done to death in the bootleg world, and MJ's version of "Rockin' Robin" has rarely been used. Here, Bootie Munich's resident DJ BootOX pairs it with tunes from two different decades, the forgotten '80s favorite by the Fine Young Cannibals and the simply forgotten '90s German band Lucilectric.
ComaR - Knocklife (Lily Allen vs. Blur) – Paris BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE! Leave it to a Frenchman to create the ultimate Britpop mashup! ComaR was putting the finishing touches on this when we stayed with him in Paris, and we immediately begged him to have it for a Top 10 exclusive. It even inspired a Bootie Paris flyer, coming soon!
Copycat - Creep '08 (Radiohead bootleg remix) – Sweden We recently had the pleasure of meeting Sweden's Copycat when we were in Copenhagen last month, and we found we shared a mutual love of '80s music. Here, he manages to make this '90s classic sound like a forgotten hit from 1982 ... like Ultravox or Alphaville! Some fans may think of this as sacrilege, but hell, even Radiohead hates "Creep," so fucking with it is fair game as far as we're concerned!
Divide & Kreate - Phantom Part III (The Clash vs. Justice) – Stockholm, Sweden If The Clash were around today, they just might sound something like this. Yes? No? Maybe? Who knows? Listen and discuss while dancing and singing along. Adds some much-needed personality to the otherwise way-too-cool electro throb of Justice. Old punk meets new punk!
Electrosound - Harder, Harder, HARDER, HARDER! (Daft Punk vs. Passions)– France More electro goodness! If our mini offshoot club Electro-Bootie had its own Top 10, this would be #1. This is not your standard "Harder Better Faster Stronger" mashup – this one takes the track to a whole new level, cutting up the Daft Punk classic to good effect, and making a great dance song even better. Very appropriately titled!
Go Home Productions - Finally, Did You No Wrong (CeCe Peniston vs. Sex Pistols) – Watford, UK Late last year, Go Home Productions, widely acknowledged as one of the best mashup producers in the world, made a big, um, "production" about retiring from the bootleg scene. He was burnt out and ready to move on. Well ... turns out he "pulled a Jay-Z" on this one, and his retirement lasted only about six months. He recently took a break from recording an album of original music by returning to – yup, you guessed it – mashups! This is our favorite track off of his recently-released "Spliced Krispies" album.
Lobsterdust - Epic Black Rock (Faith No More vs. Queen vs. AC/DC)– New York City Three decades' worth of big stupid rock songs, all rolled into one tight package. When Lobsta dropped this at April's Bootie NYC party, we just about lost our shit. We HAD to have it. Besides, it wouldn't be a Bootie Top 10 without Lobsterdust, now would it? Don't be surprised if Smash-Up Derby ends up covering this one.
Norwegian Recycling - 9 Songs To Save The World (Madonna vs. Justin Timberlake vs. Timbaland vs. Flo Rida vs. Usher vs. Britney Spears vs. Nelly Furtado vs. Eiffel 65)– Norway There are quite a few "4 Minutes" mashups floating around out there right now, but this one is currently our fave. Norwegian Recycling's calling card is intricately weaving together several songs to create one brilliant seamless creation. This one is no exception – well, actually, no, there is ONE exception. With this, he leaves behind his penchant for mellow coffeehouse music and instead makes this one ready for the dance floor! Victor Menegaux - Blitzkreig Crunk (Lil' Jon vs. The Ramones)– San Francisco BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE! Seattle's loss is San Francisco's gain! Victor Menegaux recently moved to SF, and he brought with him a fresh batch of mashups, which he slipped under our door. This is our favorite of the bunch – we just love how he chops up the guitars of The Ramones, giving it some tight production, a perfect fit for Lil' Jon's crunk rap. "Hey ho! Heeeeeeyyy!"
Just got back from five days in China ... our first two nights we were in Shanghai, and then we hopped over to Hong Kong to DJ at our very first Bootie Hong Kong!
Can I just say how much we LOOOOOOVE Hong Kong? Seriously. This was our second gig there, and we while we knew we really liked HK back when we were there in December, we are now in serious LOVE.
We could totally live there.
But in the meantime, we'll just see if we can keep doing Bootie parties there. We're shooting for a few times a year, but we'll see how it goes.
Anyway, it was great seeing some friends while we were over there, including our friend Dean, who lives in Shanghai and convinced us to stop by there on our way to Hong Kong. Dean was one of our earliest supporters, who used to come hear us spin at The Cinch, the trashy little fun neighborhood gay bar down the street from us, where we first got our start DJing back in 2002-2004.
We crammed as much as we could into two nights and one day in Shanghai, including (in order) a gay bar, a foot massage, a few art museums, shopping for cheap knock-offs of bags and watches, the Bund Tourist Tunnel (above), the Chinese Sex Museum (below) ...
... and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower (which we loved in all its tacky sci-fi glory). So many skyscrapers here, it's insane. As Mixmag just wrote, Shanghai is like the "communist version of Blade Runner."
The next day we took the new high-tech Maglev train (270 mph!) to the new high-tech Pudong airport and jetted off to Hong Kong, where we were put up at the Grand Hyatt, since Bootie HK was being held at JJ's, the hotel's nightclub. (Most of the happening nightspots in Hong Kong are in hotels, actually.) We were picked up at the airport by the hotel limo (so rock star!) and once we got settled, we hopped the ferry to Kowloon to dine at Philip Starck's fancy Felix restaurant. The next day, we hung out with Thierry, aka DJ Beau Toxx, who was instrumental in helping us get our asses to Hong Kong. We went out to dim sum with him and Caroline, then traded MP3s and prepared sets for the night. The Bootie party itself went over great! Mostly an ex-pat crowd (which is what we were expecting) but it was a very eclectic mix of people – a little bit of everybody. Straight, gay, mainstream, indie, young, old ... it was soooo Bootie! We were quite pleased! Here are our friends Mark, Noel (who booked us at JJ's), and Tonio, doing these insane green shots... Really fun DJ sets, an excited dance floor, people clammoring for free mashup CDs, me singing a midnight mashup show, and people even sang along to Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer." Like we said, it was very much a Bootie party! We hope we can come back and do it again!
The next day, we got to go see a matinee of "We Will Rock You," the stage musical based on the music of Queen, which happened to be playing at the theatre right across the street from our hotel! Readers of this blog will know how disappointed we were that we missed this show when we were in London a few weeks ago ... and now here we were, with fate offering us a second chance! It was super cheesy fun, and really reminded us how much we love Queen.
After that, D hung out in our swanky hotel room while I braved the heat and humidity to go up the Peak Tram. Snapped the above photo. Then we hopped the ferry again to Kowloon to watch the "Symphony of Lights" – the nightly 15-minute show that synchronizes a bunch of skyscraper lights and lasers with super-cheesy music. Brilliant! Then we went to the Temple Street Night Market to buy some cheap t-shirts and cheap Chinese food. Notice the sign of the tacky restaurant below? We ate at the "Tak Kee Seafood Restaurant"! China is super excited about the upcoming Olympics. Everywhere you go, there's Olympic stuff everywhere, including this odd "Adrian-looking" mascot! We flew home to San Francisco the next day, flying out at 8 in the morning on Monday, and getting to San Francisco at ... 9:30 Monday morning. I love the mind-fuck of the International Date Line! (But don't love jet-lag ... ugh.)
Next stop: the Bootie LA 3-Year Anniversary Pirate Ball, this Saturday!
You know how it is ... you're on tour, traveling through Europe, and you're starting to get really good at keeping up with this blogging thing. Then, all of a sudden ... it's over.
You're on a plane flying back home to the States, where you deliriously throw a Bootie party within hours of landing back in San Francisco, and you wake up the next day and Real Life – not to mention Jet-Lag – just sort of slams you in the face.
Did that European tour even happen?
Of course it did. After all, we've got the pictures and video to prove it!
So here we are, two weeks and three Bootie parties later, and we're finally getting around to posting a little wrap-up.
BOOTIE MUNICH
How great was it to finally get to meet the Bootie Munich crew? Here are these people we had previously never met – we had only communicated with via phone and email – and not only are they doing a Bootie party, but they are doing it extremely well! And this from a bunch of people who have never even BEEN to one of our Bootie parties in the U.S!
Yes, it was fucking weird. But I must say, it was extremely gratifying to be halfway across the world and DJing at a party that we helped create. We felt like proud parents!
Frank and Bootox (above) are the main masterminds behind Bootie Munich, and they were consumate hosts, taking us to the Hofbräuhaus for Bavarian beer, and basically just showing us a great time in Munich. At the Hofbräuhaus, we met a girl from Oakland. We put her on the guest list, and she came to Bootie Munich and had a great time! Random!
DJ Schmolli (below) has long been one of our favorite bootleggers, and we were the ones who first suggested that he should be a resident DJ at Bootie Munich. Every month he drives out from Vienna, Austria to rock the decks, and we were so psyched to finally get to meet him! Speaking of meeting people, this entire trip was so socially intense! We met so many wonderful people. FM24 is one of them - he's the one on the right: FM24 is a Bavarian mashup fan who took a bunch of great photos and videos in Munich, and also hooked us up with a little touring care package that included tea, mints, and homeopathic medicines, all of which were much appreciated. I'm happy to say that throughout the entire hectic 17-day tour, despite the erratic sleep schedule, jet-lag, and traveling, we never once got sick!
FM24 posted some videos from Bootie Munich – parts of the sound check, the midnight mashup show, and parts of the DJ sets from ourselves, as well as DJs Schmolli, Bootox, and DJ Y alias JY.
We have to say, we LOVED Berlin. We just felt so at home there, and the neighborhood we were staying in – Friedrichshain – was filled with tons of people with colored hair, dreadlocks, and ... high-tech pimped out baby strollers! Pimp my stroller! It was weird. It was like a mashup of Noe Valley and Haight Street.
Plus, it was the only remotely affordable city on our tour ... the only place where I didn't feel like I was hemorraging money!
We instantly bonded with DJ Morgoth (aka André) and Alex, our host. The first night we were there, we spun at Mash-Up Your Bootz, a party at a small club that is a converted subway station entrance. Here's us with Morgoth and Dr. Waumiau: The crowd was one of the most diverse we'd ever seen, and we spun one of our favorite sets EVER. What did we spin? Well ... to our surprise, DJ Morgoth is as much of a mashup obsessive as we are, and apparently has an insanely encyclopedic knowledge of bootlegs and mashups. And here we thought we were the only ones! We couldn't even begin to remember what all we played, and then he shocks us by not only posting our entire set list to GYBO, but also listing all the mashup titles and bootlegger credits!
So here's what we played in Berlin:
A plus D at Mash-Up Your Bootz: 1. Bootie Intro [A plus D] 2. Rammstein vs. Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock - It Takes Du [SMC] 3. Missy Elliot vs. Metallica - Enter The Bitch [Kurtis Rush] 4. AC/DC vs. Justin Timberlake - Sexy Hell [Divide & Kreate] 5. Rob Base vs. Prince - It Takes Two To Kiss [DJ John] 6. Eurythmics vs. White Stripes - Sweet Dreams Are Made of Seven Nation Army [DJ Poly] 7. Led Zeppelin vs. Snoop Dogg - Drop It Lie It's A Whole Lotta Love [Party Ben] 8. Kanye West vs. Beethoven vs. Walter Murphy - Beethoven's Fifth Gold Digger [A plus D] 9. Nine Inch Nails vs. Ace Of Base - She Wants Animals [Tripp] 10. Shaggy vs. Rage Against The Machine - Killing Boombastic [DJ Zebra] 11. Dr.Dre vs. Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Next Episode.mp3 [Cheekyboy] 12. C&C Music Factory vs. Ram Jam - Gonna make Betty sweat [Torero] 13. Gwen Stefani vs. Front 242 - Hollaback Headhunter [A plus D] 14. Benny Benassi vs. Depeche Mode - Satisfaction vs. Master & Servant 15. Rammstein vs. Kelly Clarkson - Since You've Been Rosenrot [DJ Schmolli] 16. Iggy Pop vs. Yaz – Don't Wanna Go [Braces Tower] 17. Jay-Z vs. Nena - 99 Luft Problems [Jay-Zeezer] 18. Nelly Furtado vs. Aerosmith vs. Run-DMC - Promiscuous Walk [A plus D] 19. Daft Punk vs. Queen - Another One Bites Da Funk [Party Ben]
20. Midnight Mashup Show: Smash-Up Derby Live Medley by Adrian consisting of following trackz: Dandy Warhols vs. Soft Cell - Tainted Like You Franz Ferdinand vs. Talking Heads - Talking Franz The White Stripes vs. Eurythmics - Seven Nation Army Dreams Nirvana vs. Michael Jackson - Smells Like Billie Jean Singing on a bar top! 21. L'Trimm vs. Gary Numan vs. The Beatles - My Other Car Is A Beatle [Jay-R] 22. Daft Punk vs. Dead Or Alive vs. Britney Spears vs. Justice - Britney: Dead or Alive [team9] 23. Dead Or Alive vs. Diana Ross - Spin Me Around vs. Upside Down [Shyboy] 24. Lipps Inc. vs. Scissor Sisters - Funky/Gorgous [DJ Spark] 25. Kool & the Gang vs. Ying Yang Twins feat. Pitbull - Celeshake [A plus D] 26. Michael Jackson vs. Justice vs. C&C Music Factory - Justice For Billie Jean [DJ Schmolli] 27. Cher vs. AC/DC - You Believe Me All Night Long [A plus D] 28. Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK (DJ Zebra Remix) 29. New Order vs. M.I.A. - $20 Monday [A Plus D] 30. Robyn vs. The Cure - Close To Konichiwa Bitches [A plus D] 31. Amy Winehouse vs. Britney Spears - Detox [King Of Pants] 32. Depeche Mode vs. Madonna - (Just Can't Get) Enough Music [Tristan Shout] 33. Cheryl Lynn vs. Fat Joe & Nelly - Real Back Poppin' [DJ Axel] 34. The Gossip vs. Elastica - Standing In The Way of Connection [A plus D] 35. L7 vs. CSS - Pretend We're Alala [The Illuminoids] 36. Metallica vs. Run-DMC - Tricky Sandman [DJ M.i.F] 37. Eurythmics vs. Lady Sovereign vs. Shiny Grey - Sweet Sovereign [Jay-R] 38. The Supermen Lovers vs. Nirvana - Come As The Starlight [Overdub] 39. Ministry vs. Kelis - Thieveshake [ToToM] 40. Blondie vs. The Doors - Rapture Riders [Go Home Productions] 41. Bee Gees vs. Usher - Stayin' Yeah [Batchelor Royale] 42. Pink Floyd vs. The BeeGees - Stayin' Alive In The Wall [Wax Audio] 43. Rolling Stones vs. Queen vs. Nirvana - Sympathy For Teen Spirit [DJ Moule] 44. Blondie vs. Madonna - Call Me Hung Up [A plus D] 45. Missy Elliott vs. The Cure - I'm Really Hot Hot Hot [A plus D] 46. Nirvana vs. Michael Jackson - Smells Like Billie Jean [McSleazy]
See? Incredibly diverse.
DJ Morgoth is coming to the U.S. to spin at Bootie SF and NYC at the end of September. We can't wait. Mash-Up Your Bootz at Bootie!
You know, we absolutely love it when other mashup parties pop up around the world. Believe it or not, we don't think that every mashup-themed party should be a Bootie party. We're not the Borg of mashup clubs.
With that said however, I must say I kinda wish that Morgoth's party was a Bootie Berlin! He just shares such a similar mind-set and aesthetic when it comes to mashups, and we really dug his eclectic taste and his fun-loving attitude. He's got the open-minded, up-for-fun Bootie vibe down!
I already blogged extensively about Berlin, so I'm just going to post a few more pix...
The gentrification of East Berlin is underway: Metal is alive and well in Berlin: Obligatory A+D "band photo in front of a chunk of the Berlin Wall: My favorite day of the week: Vodka Day! (pronounced "wodka" in German!) Can you believe these metalheads drink these foofy drinks? BOOTIE COPENHAGEN
The Bootie party in Copenhagen was their first one, and while it was quite small, we still had an absolutely AMAZING time there. Mikkel, aka DJ M.i.F. (pronounced "mif," apparently, not "em-eye-eff"), and his brother Rasmus (below in pirate gear) were wonderful hosts ... and made us feel quite comfortable and at home. In fact, we had our first decent sleep on the tour in Copenhagen! M.i.F.'s promoter partner, Fuller, was a big ball of energy. Is there anything this man has NOT done? He seemingly knew everyone in Denmark, or has at least worked with all of them once. He has his fingers in so many pies, and is definitely the kind of guy you want showing you around Copenhagen! Here's Fuller and M.i.F. at Bootie CPH: I really wanted to drive across the Oresund Bridge - the long-ass bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden - just to be able to say that I've been to Sweden. But instead, a piece of Sweden came to us, in the form of Copycat, one of our favorite bootleggers, and wonderful chap as well! He shares our love and fascination of '80s music, and he speaks better English than most Americans we know! My only regret about Copenhagen was this: While in Denmark, we were introduced to Fisk, a Danish liquor made with those Fishermen's Friend mints. We had it in the car right after we were picked up at the airport, we had several shots at Bootie Copenhagen, and we even had some for breakfast the day we left. Mikkel had given us a bottle as a parting gift. But in the airport, we had to open up our luggage to grab some stuff. As we did, the bottle rolled out and shattered on the floor. :-(
However, in hindsite, this might have prevented the bottle breaking INSIDE of D's suitcase. Despite our best efforts to keep our suitcases within airline carry-on regulation size, they far exceeded carry-on regulation WEIGHT. Therefore, we had to baggage check our luggage every time we flew in Europe. A little scary, but it all worked out.
BOOTIE PARIS
Speaking of luggage, don't we look cute with our luggage? Notice our suitcases match our hair. Here we are at a fountain in Paris, where Marco, aka DJ ComaR, met us when we first arrived in Paris.
The first time we were in Paris, back in 2006, it was in the middle of November. It was chilly, rainy, and it would start getting dark by 4:30 PM. Our running joke was that all we saw of Paris was the inside of a nightclub. We even did all our sightseeing at night!
So this time, we were determined to actually try to SEE Paris. And the weather could not have been better. Ahh, so THIS is what they mean by "springtime in Paris!" It was BEAUTIFUL. Very romantical. All I wanted to do is walk around holding hands ... through the streets, along the Seine, in the park. D was wondering if I had been abducted and replaced by an alternate universe Robo-Adrian. I'm not exactly the most romantical person in the world.
One for me, one for D: Bootie Paris was seriously off the hook. We probably each lost five pounds just sweating during our DJ set in the hotbox that was the basement of La Mechanique. But it was gratifying, with a crowd so vibrant and obviously excited about mashups, singing along and going absolutely CRAZY. TONS OF AWESOME BOOTIE PARIS PHOTOS HERE!
Midnight mashup show in Bootie Paris!
It seemed emblematic of Paris in general - shit is just HAPPENING here! Obviously, with things like Justice, Ed Banger, and Daft Punk going on, Paris is a hotbed of talent. But everywhere you go, you can just sort of feel that there's an excitement in the air. A lot of creativity and talent in Paris right now, and that feeling rubs off. We were insanely inspired.
Despite our internet addiction, we actually tore ourselves away from the laptop long enough to get some sight-seeing in, which was nice, making up for the last time we were in Paris. We never made it to the Louvre, but as Marco said, "It's just boring old stuff there."
We saw Moule at the Centre Pompidou! We got really lucky while in Paris, because Marco's brother (who lives in the same apartment building) went away on holiday, and he let us have his apartment for two nights! Woo-hoo! We were even able to do laundry, which after nearly two weeks, was desperately needed!
Although what's the deal with the lack of dryers in Europe? Seems like everyone air dries their clothes. It ranks right up there with the lack of elevators in buildings too. We never walked up so many stairs as we did in Europe!
BLACK BALLOON, MISS-SHAPES, COVER UP – LONDON
Our last four nights on tour were in London, and it was INTENSELY social. We got absolutely no sight-seeing in, because all we did was DJ (three gigs!), shop at Camden Stables Market (only a 7-minute walk away!), and meet people for drinks (we didn't realize how many people we know in London!)
A store at Camden Stables Market: Each gig in London was dramatically different from the other, and none of them were at mashup parties, which was an interesting change of pace from the rest of Europe.
Although, how ironic is it that the city that's the birthplace of the modern mashup movement has no real bootleg mashup party? People kept telling us that we should start up a Bootie London - and they're right, we should - but we would need to partner with the right people, just like we have in Paris, Munich, Copenhagen, and Boston. We couldn't do it on our own, that's for sure.
Black Balloon was super stylish and very cool ... I very much enjoyed playing a set of mostly electro covers of '80s songs, with a few mashups thrown in too. Mika, the promoter, is doing a great job, and is definitely coming up fast in the London club scene. It's no surprise that our old friend Christian from San Francisco is Mika's flatmate! Birds of a feather!
Miss-Shapes was fun ... I already blogged quite a bit about that, how fun it was to spin indie pop mashups for queer indie kids ... watching to see if they would "get it" or not.
And Cover Up was a blast too! We were pretty drunk by the time we went on, but it all went really well. Why were we drunk? (Well, why not?) Actually, we were drunk because we had organized a little meet-and-greet with a bunch of friends from the GYBO message board -- fellow DJs and bootleggers, all part of our mashup community.
Many we've met before (or even had guest DJ at Bootie) but we met some new people too, like Bryan from Flying White Dots and Jez from Celebrity Murder Party and Robb.
Hanging out with Jof and Phil: It was great to catch up with old friends Eric Kleptone, Payroll, Timbearcub, Phil n' Dog, Ian Fondue, Steve Supercollider, Jof ... and Dsico and Ben Jamin earlier in the week. Am I forgetting anyone? And meeting cool new people like Cover Up's Sam and Charlie. Like I said: INTENSELY SOCIAL!
Last stop on the A+D Drinking Through Europe Tour - 4 AM, London, after-party at Charlie's apartment WE WENT TO EUROPE AND ALL WE GOT WERE A BUNCH OF T-SHIRTS
Actually, that's not true at all. Although we did get Bootie Munich and Bootie Paris shirts, as well as Mash-Up Your Bootz shirts. It's so nice to meet other DJs and club promoters who understand the importance of branding! :-)
No actually, we went to Europe and all we got was a bunch of bonding time with some great people in our mashup/bootleg/DJ/club community. More than anything, it was just so amazing hanging out with and meeting all these people whose work we've long admired from afar.
It truly does feel that what we're doing with mashup culture works on a global level ... that music is a universal language, and that it has the power to bond and unite people across culture lines and national borders. We all share a common love of music -- and not just music, but the idea of fucking with that music, mashing it up, making it our own, making musical statements and jokes, and then sharing it with the world. We feel so connected with our European mashup community right now!
We just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who hosted us, put us up, fed us lunch, fed us dinner, let us crash in their bed, crash on their floor, gave us a solid internet connection, gave us CDs, gave us t-shirts, picked us up at the airport with beers in hand, made us laugh, let us do laundry, bought us drinks, put up with our horrible attempts at mangling your native language, listened to us bitch about GYBO, let us DJ at their club, and basically showed us a good time.
Last night in London ... blogging while an after-party rages around me, as our host Charlie forces everyone to play "Cosmic Choice," the game where you unwittingly pick out songs from his record collection, which he then plays for you on his DJ set-up in his lovely apartment, filled with really cool framed graphic prints, like this one: Anyway, TOP NIGHT! But before it was night, we ended up meeting with Brighton's bootleg talent, Eric Kleptone of The Kleptones, and Bryan from Flying White Dots, in the park across from the venue, on one of the sunniest, warmest days ever in London: We arranged a little GYBO meet-and-greet at a local pub with several of our UK bootlegger community... here's Jof and Ian Fondue: Robb, Ian Fondue, Eric Kleptone, & Adrian: Adrian, Ian Dog, Steve Supercollider, and Jof: A + Payroll + D A + Jez of Celebrity Murder Party + D Our host for the night, Charlie! This girl loved us... Damn, dance floor till the end of the night! More ... much much more ... coming later ... but right now, we've got to get our asses on a plane to go back to San Francisco!
Our DJ gigs and social itinerary (and, let's face it, the shopping in Camden) are keeping us so busy here in London, that we're not getting any sightseeing done. All I wanted to do was ride the London Eye (giant ferris wheel on the Thames) and go to the Tate Modern art museum. But noooooo! We've got to WORK!
So it's our second full day in London ... and if we weren't so busy, this is what we'd be doing: I've heard it's completely cheesy, but we've always wanted to see the sci-fi rock musical "We Will Rock You" ... featuring the music of Queen!
Although, maybe it's for the best... seeing it here in London would be twice as expensive as seeing it in the States! So instead of catching a show in Soho, we caught up with Tim Baker, aka TBC, producer of the long-running Radio Clash podcast, which features tons of mashups. We had a lovely dinner, then popped on over to The Duck & Dog Pub to meet up with a legend of the early mashup scene ... former bootlegger from Sydney, Australia ... DSICO! Here he is with TBC: Yes, Dsico is alive and well and living in London! Dsico was the mashup producer who first coined the phrase "mashups are dead" way back in 2003. He was also our first international guest DJ to play at Bootie way back in February 2004 -- after which, he promptly dropped out of the mashup scene entirely.
It was great seeing them, and it was fun bringing two icons of mashup culture (at least in our minds) together for a few informal beers out in the streets of Soho.
We were careful not to get as drunk as the previous night, and headed over to The Ghetto for our guest DJ set at Miss-Shapes. We met Sandra, the DJ/promoter of the night, and we have to say, she is easily one of the nicest club people we've ever met. They don't book guest DJs at Miss-Shapes hardly ever, so she was taking a chance in doing a last-minute booking of a couple of freaky mashup DJs from America. But she liked what she heard on our A plus D website, and the other resident DJ took the night off, so there we were, spinning a mostly indie mashup set for a REALLY fun, up-for-it crowd of cool dykes and fags. It's always hard playing a mostly mashup set for a crowd not used to it, but for the most part, it really worked out.
We really want to thank Sandra for booking us ... it was such a blast to come back to a party we loved two years ago ... and then return there to DJ it. Here we are at the end of the night ... we're the guest DJs! Next stop ... our last gig of the tour at Cover Up!
The running joke has been that we saved the best for last. Ah, London! We felt at home the minute we got here. And not just because everyone speaks English!
Although I must admit, after two weeks of traveling in Germany, Denmark, and France, it's quite a relief to be in a place where we can speak the language. Although some of the British accents are so thick, they might as well be speaking French! Still, D no longer has to try to speak slowly (a near impossibility for her), and I don't have to try to formulate everything into simple sentences.
The main reason we felt so much "at home" is because we're staying with our old San Francisco friend (and fantastic stylist) Christian, who moved to London about a year-and-a-half ago. His flatmate, Mika, was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and really enjoyed my electro covers set in the upstairs lounge at Bootie. So he booked us for a gig at Black Balloon, completely unaware that we were even friends with Christian. It was quite funny when Mika found out we were staying at their flat! Birds of a feather .... we are amongst "our people."
Here we are with Christian (left) and Mika (right): After an insanely-expensive meal at a lovely Indian restauraunt (damn that horrible dollar-to-pound conversion rate -- everything is twice as expensive!) we somehow ended up at a tragic karaoke night. But hey, the drinks were cheap, and that nearly made it worth it. Of course, I had to belt out a couple tunes -- after a good rendition of "Tainted Love," a massacred Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" in Christian's honor. Our first night in London was a mellow affair ... the calm before the storm, so to speak. Christian and Mika live in Camden, which worked out GREAT for us, because our favorite shopping pilgramage -- the Camden Stables Market -- is only a 10 minute walk away. The last time I was here, I spent something like $900 USD on clothes.
This time, I didn't do TOO MUCH damage to my credit card. I've discovered that I've outgrown Cyberdog. I used to love the clothes, but I've always hated the music -- and shopping in their store is a headache-inducing experience, as they blast the most annoying rave at top volume. I probably would have spent more money in their shop had I not wanted to get the fuck out of there as fast as I could. Definitely not somewhere one should shop with a hangover.
However, I absolutely adore Spank -- and I so wish they sold their clothes at shops in the U.S. Definitely my favorite designer in Camden ... their clothes are SO me. Oh, Spank, I missed you! We met up with Sam, the promoter of Cover Up, the party we're spinning at on Friday. He's primarily the one who got our asses to London. We traded club stories and he gave us flyers ... nice guy. Shares many of the same party philosophies we have (which is, basically, in a nut-shell -- make sure your party is fun!) We're staying a couple blocks away from Amy Winehouse's house! There's always a few paparazzi hanging out there: Before our gig in Soho at Black Balloon, we met up with DJ Ben Jamin, who was a guest DJ at Bootie last year. We adore him. He invited us to a party at Barcode, where there were free drinks -- and cocktails are so damn expensive in London, that when there's a party with free booze from 6-9 pm, you GO! In fact, you go and drink as many of them as you can before 9 o'clock. I wish I had photos from our gig at Black Balloon, because it was a very cool, very dressed-up crowd. But it was so cool, I didn't want to look like a bloody tourist taking pictures of all the freaks. And then when we were DJing, I was so busy trying to find just the right cool electro cover/remix/bootleg that I just completely forgot to snap any pix. There was a photographer there however, so hopefully, there will be some pix soon!
