Bootie Top 10 - July 2007

We were so on top of it last month, posting the Bootie Top 10 right on the 15th, just like we were supposed to. So of course, this month, we had to be ten days behind schedule! Some months are just like that ...

Especially months when you're throwing a 2-Year Anniversary Party in LA, re-launching your club at a new venue in New York, and preparing for an epic multimedia extravaganza called The A+D Show for the 4-Year Anniversary in San Francisco. So please cut us some slack!

Anyway, without further ado, here are our monthly mashup picks for your downloading pleasure! (Listed in alphabetical order by bootlegger, right-click to download)

A plus D - Unpretty Today (TLC vs. Smashing Pumpkins) - San Francisco
Aren't we right on schedule for the '90s retro revival yet? I wish we could take the credit for this idea, but it was actually Trixxie Carr, the other lead singer in my mashup rock band, Smash-Up Derby, who came up with this well-spotted combination. We had been trying to come up with a new Smashing Pumpkins mashup, and this worked almost too perfectly. However, as Trixxie stated, "Just because it works, that doesn't mean we have to do it." And she was right. The song wasn't right for our voices ... but it was perfect for us to have our way with it in Ableton Live!

ComaR - Psyché Encore (Jay-Z vs. Pierre Henry and Michel Colombier) - Paris
Recognize the music? Doesn't it sound familiar? That's because it's the song that "inspired" the theme from the cult animated series Futurama, which we've recently become fans of. ComaR uses it to turn Jay-Z's boastful rap into something that sounds way "kookier" than it ought to - which is, of course, the sort of juxtapostioning we love.

The Illuminoids - Stiff Martyr (Blaqk Audio vs. Depeche Mode) - Los Angeles
This is where our goth-damaged roots show. Sure, to the uninitiated, this probably just sounds like the best remix yet of Depeche Mode's "Martyr." But the instrumentation is actually the new electronic project from AFI's singer and guitarist, Davey Havoc and Jade Puget. Obviously, Blaqk Audio wears its influences on its sleeve, but it sounds more like reverent inspiration rather than imitation. Besides, Dave and Davey sound good dueting with each other.

Leebuzz - Mika Goes To Hollywood (Mika vs. Frankie Goes To Hollywood) - Germany
An idea so obvious, Lee was actually shocked no one else had come up with it first - Mika's "Relax" mashed up with Frankie Goes To Hollywood's seminal song of the same name. Duh! Fortunately, the easy conceptual fit translates quite well musically. And how totally gay is this song? Totally ... and we're NOT saying that's a bad thing! This will be the first of two, count 'em, two Frankie appearances in this Top 10.

Lobsterdust - My Irreplaceable (Beyoncé vs. Tommy Heavenly6) - New York City
So this is what Beyoncé would sound like if she fronted a J-pop guitar band! This is so seamless and perfect yet ... somehow you know it's mashed up, because Beyoncé's music just doesn't ever sound like this. And she doesn't usually duet with female Japanese singers either! Props to Lobsterdust for turning us on to Tommy Heavenly6! We love this one about a million times better than the Beyoncé original.

Loo & Placido - Shake (Monosurround vs. Ying Yang Twins vs. Pitbull vs. C&C Music Factory) - Paris
After not posting anything new to their website in what seemed like forever, Loo & Placido - two of our favorite French DJs - just did a massive update of downloads, of which this is the one we keep coming back to. Their production is always impeccable, and there are lots of nice little editing touches all over this. But most of all, it just has "club-banger" written all over it! Perfect for a late-night dance set at Bootie.

DJ Poly - Sweet Dreams Are Made of Seven Nation Army (Eurythmics vs. White Stripes) - Tel Aviv, Israel
The combination of these two iconic songs - separated 20 years apart from each other - has been a staple in Smash-Up Derby's set for years now. A few mashup producers have attempted to put these two together in the past, but without clean acapellas available for either song, the results have usually been spotty at best. But finally, someone gets it right. This one's from a newcomer to the mashup scene, DJ Poly from Israel. Considering this is his first effort, we definitely hope to hear more from him in the future!

Totom - The Way Simple Men Are (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E. vs. Lynyrd Skynyrd) - France
We love it when mashup producers can showcase a common thread between two songs of completely disparate genres - especially when it comes out sounding as beautiful as this. Despite being from opposite ends of the musical spectrum, both artists here are basically dealing with the same subject matter. Timbaland and Skynyrd both sing about how they don't have any money, and that they aren't rich (yeah, right). But in the end, as Skynyrd extols the virtues of being "a simple kind of man," and sings, "All that you need is in your soul," guest singer Keri Hilson responds with, "I like you just the way you are." Perfect.

Victor Menegaux - Feel Good Roboto 2 (Gorillaz vs. Styx) - Seattle BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
When I first heard Victor drop this in the middle of his guest DJ set at the last Bootie party in San Francisco, I have to admit I was a little worried. I'm probably one of the few people who will freely admit with a straight face that they love the theatre-rock of Styx. (They were the first band I was a fan of as a kid). But even I know that "Mr. Roboto" can be a little too cheese-tastic for its own good. But somehow, mashing it up with the perennially-cool Gorillaz makes it all seem somehow ... okay. I'm not saying this mashup isn't still cheesy ... but damn, doesn't cheese taste good sometimes!

Wax Audio - Maiden Goes To Hollywood (Iron Maiden vs. Frankie Goes To Hollywood) - Sydney, Australia
This is from the Iron Maiden bootleg compilation, Number of Da Bootz, which just came out earlier this month. There are several excellent tracks on the album, but this 8-minute epic is our favorite. We couldn't blurb about it better than Wax Audio could himself: "Iron Maiden's album Powerslave was released in September 1984, just one month prior to the release of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's equally seminal Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Whilst the two albums represented opposite ends of the pop music milieu, both shared equal measures of camp, chest-beating bravado, epic songwriting and interestingly, themes based on the work of the 18th century English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Maiden's longest ever song - "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," was of course a re-telling of the famous Coleridge poem in which a wedding guest is regaled by a world-weary mariner about his supernatural encounters on an ill-fated sea voyage. The epic title track of Frankie's Welcome to the Pleasuredome is based on Coleridge's other best know poem Kubla Khan - from which the opulent ancient Mogul capital of Xanadu was made (in)famous."