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!

Bootie Top 10 x 2 - May/June 2008

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!"

Bootie Top 10 - April 2008

A plus D - Believe In Sexual Eruption (Snoop Dogg vs. Cher) - San Francisco
One wouldn't think there would be much in common between Snoop Dogg and Cher. But there was just something about Snoop's new single that seemed familiar ... what was it? Hey, that's a vocoder on his voice! Hmmm ... what other famous pop song used a vocoder to great effect? It's all about finding the common thread, and putting together a duet with two unlikely partners!

BootOx – Brick and Stop (Q-Tip vs. The Commodores) - Munich, Germany
So simple, yet so smoove, so good, with a bunch of random samples throw in for good measure. This is the first Bootie Top 10 appearance by the crazy BootOx, one of the resident DJs and promoters of Bootie Munich. This was one of the "battle" tracks for the fierce boxing-ringed DJ battle between the BootOx and Schmolli. We decided it's a tie, since they both have tracks in the Top 10 this month.

DJ Le Clown - Eko Bitch (Martha & the Muffins vs. Busta Rhymes) - France
The first of three French bootleggers in this month's Top 10 - yes, France is the new hotbed of mashup talent! DJ Le Clown's productions are always intricately crafted and well-produced, as he tends to use unconventional source material, with added beats and samples, giving his mashups a unique sound.

DJ Lobsterdust - It's Fun To Smoke Dust (Queen vs. Pastor Gary Greenwald vs. Midfield General) - New York City
"Oh no, not Queen! Not 'Another One Bites The Dust'" Yup, here it is again, with an extremely fresh take, courtesy of DJ Lobsterdust, who unearthed a 1982 sermon by Pastor Gary Greenwald. Did you know that playing this song backwards reveals Satanic messages designed to corrupt and enslave the young minds who listen to it? Yup, "it's fun to smoke marijuana!" This track is pure excellence.

DJ Magnet - Chicago Bump (Bootie Edit) (Chicago vs. Amanda Blank vs. Spank Rock vs. Bloodhound Gang vs. Greg Kihn Band vs. Detroit Grand Pubas) - Denver, USA
In the wrong hands, "everything but the kitchen sink"-style mashups tend to collapse under the cluttered weight of their multiple source material. But not when it's being done by someone like Bootie Denver's resident DJ Magnet. Here, he skillfully crams it all in, and - in this special "Bootie edit" - even brings in the original Chicago tune for a chorus. This one is Mysterious D's new favorite.

Mighty Mike - Standing On My Shoulders (The Do vs. The Gossip) - France
Nope, we didn't know the vocal either. But this one grew on us. First off, with all the mashups that use the "Standing In The Way of Control" vocal, we had completely forgotten how good the original Gossip song is - even without Beth Ditto's voice. Replacing her here is the singer for the French band The Do ... and it's mashups like these that had us Googling them in order to check out their originals. And that's what good mashups should make you do, furthering our belief that a mashup can sometimes be an unknown band's best promotion.

Overdub - Come As The Starlight (Nirvana vs. The Supermen Lovers) - France
If you ever wondered what Nirvana would sound like if they were a disco band, look no further than this, which sounds like the gayest Nirvana song EVER. There is no doubt in our minds that Kurt would have LOVED this.
BONUS TRACK:
RIAA - Come As The Eighties (Nirvana vs. Killing Joke) - Los Angeles
As an added bonus, here's a musical history lesson - "Come As You Are," mashed up with "The Eighties" by Killing Joke. This is the band that sued Nirvana for plagarism, as it very nearly copies the exact same bass line as "The Eighties." Allegedly, when Nirvana's management claimed the band had never heard the song, Killing Joke's lawyers provided a fan letter that Kurt Cobain had written to the band as evidence to the contrary. DOH!

DJ Schmolli - Justice For Billie Jean (Justice vs. Michael Jackson vs. C&C Music Factory) - Vienna, Austria
At the most recent Bootie Munich, resident DJ Schmolli "battled" DJ BootOx in a boxing ring rigged with DJ gear. Some feel that Schmolli won the battle, and its mashups like these in his arsenal that surely helped. Pretty much better than any of the remixes and remakes on the new 25th anniversary edition of "Thriller" that was just released.

team9 - Sugar & Cheese (Mary J. Blige vs. Snow Patrol) - Perth, Australia
Pure pop candy. Your teeth might rot out of your head simply by listening to this. Mary J. Blige would probably never join indie darlings Snow Patrol on stage for a number - but with mashups like these, at least it's easier to imagine.

Titus Jones - Kiss Britney's Boyfriend (Ashlee Simpson vs. Chris Brown vs. Britney Spears) - Clarksville, Arkansas, USA
It seems we're rediscovering our love of shameless pop music this month, as this mashup by Titus Jones amply demostrates. A guilty pleasure to be sure, but hells yes, it's a toe-tapper ... and it even features guest appearances by Missy Elliott and Ciara. What's not to love?

Bootie Top 10 - March 2008

Yup, we skipped February. Too swamped, too busy, and too much crap to sift through.

But now we're back with a fresh (and not so fresh) batch of mashups ... a few gems in the rough here, and some that have been around for a while, but are just now starting to heat up the Bootie dance floor. Enjoy!

ABX - Bonde Do Roll Out (Ludacris vs. Bonde Do Role) - Chicago
The Hood Internet are two DJs from Chicago -- ABX and STV SLV -- who specialize in pretty much one thing: rap acapellas mashed-up with indie-hipster music. Song titles that are clever puns are a hallmark of mashup culture, but this is one of those rare instances where the bootleg actually lives up to its cheeky name. If you want a little Baile funk with your Ludacris, this is your tune.

ComaR - Shut Up On A Blue Monday (New Order vs. Rihanna) - Paris
Using the instrumental track from "Blue Monday" is such a bootleg cliché, we were shocked when we finally found one using the New Order VOCAL. Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive," was the perfect instrumental accompaniment, since it rips nearly the exact same chord progression. Ah yes, music continues to repeat itself.

Divide & Kreate - Until It Talks (Metallica vs. Coldplay) - Stockholm, Sweden
If you ever wondered what James Hetfield would sound like doing guest vocals on an indie-rock-remix, here's your answer: pretty damn good! Here, he sings over the Thin White Duke remix of Coldplay's "Talk", to create an absolutely fresh and inspired pairing. This is seriously a very unique and breathtaking track - which says a lot considering there are so many mashups that repeat the same artists or ideas. A welcome return to form from our favorite Swedish bootlegger.

Electrosound – 19-2000 Funk (Re-Edit) (Gorillaz vs. Daft Punk) - France
Sure, it seems like Daft Punk's ubiquitous "Da Funk" can work over just about anything. And sure enough, here's Electrosound, using it to great effect by using it to pump up the original Gorillaz song into dance floor gold. Nothing groundbreaking here, just a really fun party jam. And no, this is not the "Feel Good Inc." vocals being used, for once!

Flying White Dots – Tonight We Play (The Cure vs. Björk vs. David Arnold) - Brighton, UK
This is a special "single edit" of our favorite song from the Flying White Dots' excellent, chilled-out psychedelic mashup album, Into The Great Unknown. It takes a particularly haunting Cure song and somehow manages to make it even more haunting. Spooky and beautiful at the same time.

DJ Fox - No One To Squeeze (Alicia Keys vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers) - San Francisco
Fox only posts his stuff to his MySpace page, which we hate (because MP3s encoded at 96 kbps sound like shit) but whenever he produces something truly special, he seems to know it, because he always sends us a higher bit rate version ... which we then pass on to you! This one's pretty, enjoy.

G3rst - Hotel California In Fire And Flames (The Eagles vs. Dragonforce) - The Netherlands
Maybe we've been playing too much Guitar Hero. Yes, we know this is ridiculous. I mean, Dragonforce's "million-notes-a-minute" prog-rock revivial is pretty ridiculous to begin with ... but throwing the Eagles classic "Hotel California" into the mix just pushes the upsurdity over the edge. Not for everyone's taste, to be sure ... but for some bizarro reason, we love it! Yes, we know it's wrong, wrong, wrong ... but it's also a ton of fun! We've been selecting so many really beautiful mashups tracks in the Top 10s lately, it's good to be reminded of the cheeky mashups out there, the ones that can't help make you smile (or cringe)!

Lobsterdust - Jenny's Superstitious (Stevie Wonder vs. The Killers) - New York City
When the acapella of Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" started making the rounds in bootlegger circles a few months ago, seemingly everyone took a crack at it. And while there were a few decent mashups made, none of them even came close to Lobsterdust's modern-rock mashterpiece.

The Reborn Identity - G.I. Jolene (Dolly Parton vs. Stan Ridgway) - Manchester, UK
We've always had a soft spot for Dolly Parton, especially "Jolene," and it's nearly a perfect match with this Stan Ridgway song (Remember him? Lead singer of Wall of Voodoo? "Mexican Radio"? Anyone?) This track is a bit dark, yet beautiful, and also uses rarely mashed up artists together, which we like. Besides, any excuse we have to play "Jolene" at Bootie, we're taking it!

DJ Schmolli - Mash Me Amadeus (Falco vs. Nelly vs. Luniz vs. more!) - Vienna, Austria �
Nearly ten years to the day after the death of Falco from a car accident, Vienna's DJ Schmolli paid tribute to his country's biggest pop star with the release of Falco Re:Loaded, his full-length mashup tribute album. This track, our favorite from the record, is based on Falco's only U.S. hit, and is chock full of surprise samples and guest vocalists.

Bootie Top 10 - January 2008

With all the hubbub surrounding our January 1st release of the Best of Bootie 2007 CD -- 4000 gigs worth of downloads so far, crashed our ISP's server, had to move everything over to a dedicated server, a day of total web hosting chaos -- we totally slacked on posting a Bootie Top 10 for January.

But it wasn't for lack of material! Here we are now, only a couple weeks late, with our first Bootie Top 10 of the New Year. Wasn't one of our New Years resolutions to always post these things on the 1st of each month? And aren't those resolutions always broken almost immediately? Yes, and ... well, yes. Anyway, without further ado, let's get to the downloading...

A plus D - $20 Monday (M.I.A. vs. New Order) - San Francisco
M.I.A.'s "$20" is such an homage to "Blue Monday" (at least instrumentally) that no less than three bootleggers have mashed up the two songs. Despite it's obviousness, New Order's perennial '80s classic remains a dance floor favorite, and this track means we can now spin "Blue Monday" at Bootie with something that's fresh, with one of our faves, M.I.A. -- and without that overplayed Kylie Minogue vocal! - San Francisco

Aggro1 - Strange Cocaine (Eric Clapton vs. Depeche Mode) - Dayton, Ohio
How did we miss this? Appearing on Simon Iddol's recent Mashups of the Year 2007 compilation, we erroneously assumed it was a new track. In actuality, Aggro1 -- Dayton, Ohio's best bootlegger -- originally released this a year ago! We never thought of "Strangelove" as an ode to cocaine addiction, but here, the juxtapositioning definitely makes sense -- "strange highs and strange lows," indeed!

Apollo Zero - Imagine A Dream Stronger Than Pride (John Lennon & Yoko Ono vs. Dolly Parton vs. Sade vs. Milli Vanilli vs. Culture Club vs. Propaganda) - New Orleans
With the subtle John Lennon "Christmas" samples, this really should have been on LAST month's Top 10 -- but Apollo Zero didn't release this until December 25th, so here it is now. Just think of it like Christmas came REALLY early this year! Seriously though, this is beautiful -- a perfect "end of the night" mashup, and there are only a few small blips of the Xmas theme ... most of it is gorgeous vocals fused together beautifully!

Audio Shrapnel - Come Back And Say It Right (Nelly Furtado vs. Paul Young) - United Kingdom
We love it when a well-done mashup reminds us of a great song we had completely forgotten about ... like this lost '80s gem from Paul Young. Remember him? We think it's a much better fit for the Nelly Furtado song than the original.

Earworm - United State of Pop (25 Most Popular Songs of 2007 in the U.S. According to Billboard) - San Francisco
Either Earworm is a musical genius, or this just proves how all the biggest hits from last year were pretty much the same song anyway. Come to think of it, it's probably both. This is a mashup tour de force that says more in five minutes about the current state of contemporary pop music than any music blog ever could.

Electrosound - Supermassive Rainbow (Muse vs. Klaxons) - France
You don't get much cooler than this. A "new rave" electro-punk banger given even more "cool points" by use of the very well-suited Muse vocals. We've been loving many of Electrosound's mashups -- but this is the one that we can't seem to stop playing. It's all about that insane electronic breakdown in the middle, especially when Muse pops in again!

Hot Couture - My Heart Belongs to Daddy Cool (Boney M vs. Marilyn Monroe cover) - Paris
Here's a sterling example of how mashup culture continues to mutate and evolve. Hot Couture is a band from Paris, France who perform their own mashup covers, and then add a bunch of samples into the mix as well. Here, singer Liza imbues the '50s classic with tons of attitude, while the band covers German group Boney M, and drops as many "daddy" samples as they can think of.

The Illuminoids - Heart-Shaped Titties (The Trucks vs. Nirvana vs. White Trash Kids On Crank) - Los Angeles
Our love of new electro is really starting to show, isn't it? It's a good thing we're launching "Electro-Bootie," our new "club-within-a-club" at Bootie SF, just so we can play awesome tracks like this. Adding Kurt's earnest vocals to the cheeky lyrics of The Trucks feels like all kinds of wrong ... but we still can't stop dancing.

Party Ben - Deceptataffy (D4L vs. Le Tigre) - San Francisco
This track is one big inside joke between ourselves and Party Ben. Here, he takes the ridonkulous "Laffy Taffy" rap -- which he previously used to make a mashup that we infamously "hated" - and pairs it with Le Tigre, which we had originally mashed up with Missy Elliott to create our best-loved A+D mashup. He even uses the exact same arrangement and filter effects from our original bootleg to create this new version ... and yes, it still rocks. You can never go wrong with "Deceptacon" to kick a party into high gear.

team9 - Loose Dancing (Bangers & Cash vs. The Bee Gees) - Perth, Australia
For the second year in a row, team9 has teamed up with Stereogum to produce MySplice 2.0: 2007 Mashed Up, an online mashup album that even the indie hipsters can love. While most of the album is pretty damn good, this one is our favorite, and it's far and away the most dancefloor-friendly track on the album.

Best of Bootie 2007 finally released!

It's January 1st, 2008, and last night was our big Bootie Pirate New Years Eve party in San Francisco, where we released to the public for the first time the new Best of Bootie 2007 CD – our annual compilation of our favorite mashups from the last year.

We've compiled and mixed our top 20 mashups into one 75-minute continuous mix CD. Compile in order with no gaps between the songs – perfect for parties! Most of these were the "big hits" at our club Bootie this past year, but there are a few personal favorites thrown in there too ... as well as THREE BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE tracks, unavailable anywhere else.

It's all available as a free download at: www.BootieUSA.com/bestofbootie2007

Bootie Top 10 - December 2007

If you've been paying attention to any of the Bootie party web sites, then you probably already know that we updated the Bootie Top 10 a week ago, right before we did "The A+D Show" in LA and then stayed up all night before getting on an airplane headed for a gig in Hong Kong.

After being in HK for nearly a week, we finally got around to writing this - our customary commentary about the Top 10 - on our flight back home to San Francisco. Enjoy!

A plus D - Celeshake (Ying Yang Twins feat. Pitbull vs. Kool & the Gang) - San Francisco
Utterly and totally shameless -- and yet, guaranteed to kick-start a dance floor just about anywhere. What is it about that damn "Celebrate" song? Sure, it's a perrenial wedding band cliché -- but there's just something about it that people CAN'T RESIST. Forcing Pitbull and the Ying Yang Twins to thuggishly rap over it only barely slices through the cheese. But you know what? Cheese tastes GOOD.

Divide & Kreate - Invisible Belief (Genesis vs. Journey) - Stockholm, Sweden BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
When mashing up a song, often the first question a producer asks themselves is, which part to use? Which is stronger -- the vocal or the instrumental? Stripping away Steve Perry's high-pitched karaoke-classic vocals from "Don't Stop Believin'" and replacing them with Phil Collins is a risky move -- but fortunately, those Journey piano and guitar riffs are so damn hooky, this mashup survives with all its '80s glory intact. Besides, aren't you tired of those damn Steve Perry vocals by now anyway?

Electrosound - Galvanized Out There (Chemical Brothers vs. Kelis) - France
Electrosound is a French mashup producer who recently organized the "Block Rockin' Boots" project, a double album of Chemical Brothers bootlegs. It's a sprawling effort, chock full of intricately-crafted remixes from a vertiable who's who in the mashup scene - yet, this track, a basic A+B, with funky vocals that match the song's pacing, is the one we keep coming back to -- proof-positive that sometimes the simplest mashups are often the best ones.

Fox - Hypnotized Gypsy (Plies feat. Akon vs. Fleetwood Mac) - San Francisco
You know, if you think about it, both of these songs are about "dancers." I just didn't think the woman Stevie Nicks was singing about was THAT kind of dancer. But come to think of it, "Gypsy" kinda IS a stripper name, isn't it? I love when a mashup can make you reinterpret a song like this.

The Homogenic Chaos - Goodbye (Placebo vs. Crystal Method) - Düsseldorf, Germany
This is definitely a reflection of our personal musical taste seeping into the Top 10 ... but what can we say? We're both big fans of Placebo, and this mashup takes two dark songs about saying "goodbye" and makes them, um ... even darker. We don't know whether to dance or slit our wrists -- and that probably sums up much of the music we listened to growing up.

DJ Lobsterdust - SaySayism AllStar Jam (Michael Jackson vs. Paul McCartney vs. Rihanna vs. Nelly Furtado vs. Nine Inch Nails vs. Mary J Blige vs. Diana Ross vs. Rick James vs. The Temptations) - New York City
This mini-mashterpiece is a musical tour de force from our favorite New York CIty bootlegger. Using no less than nine different artists, Lobsterdust manages to blend them all into a seamless and danceable concoction of epic proportions -- and once again, proves why we seemingly reserve a spot for him here on this list every month.

Morgoth - Black Metal Pogo (English Version) (Ascii.Disko vs. Planetakis) - Berlin
Nope, we weren't familiar with the source material either. But who the fuck cares? Sure, some of the fun of mashups is hearing your favorite songs in a brand-new context. But sometimes, it's just nice to be introduced to brand-new music -- especially when it's as fun as this! We now want to hunt down the originals of both.

DJ Moule - Deep Message (Jamiroquai vs. Sly & the Family Stone vs. Grandmaster Flash vs. Svinkels) - Bordeaux, France
I swear, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hear even just ONE MORE mashup using Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" -- but somehow, DJ Moule delivers, crafting a funky jam that mixes and matches several other vocal tracks as well, including the French rap of Svinkels. No, we have no idea what they're saying -- but doesn't rap sound shockingly great in French?

Party Ben - (Do Ya) Think I'm Sexy (In the Morning) (Junior Boys vs. Rod Stewart) - San Francisco
Party Ben updates Rod Stewart's disco classic with some modern electro oomph courtesy of the Junior Boys. This is one of those tracks Ben throws together the afternoon of Bootie, just so he'll have something fresh to spin later that night at the club. Makes us want to start throwing Bootie parties in San Francisco more than once a month, so we can get more tracks like this!

DJ Zebra - Break Through Love (Led Zeppelin vs. The Doors) - Paris
In the mashup world, classic rock is usually paired with a rap vocal -- it's practically a bootleg cliché. So hearing two classic rock songs mashed up in such a seamless manner is a treat. Many classic rock fans tend to be purists, but you'd have to be a pretty close-minded music fan to not appreciate the craft of this.

Bootie Top 10 - November 2007

Yay! We actually posted these to all the Bootie sites on November 1st ... but have only just now got around to "blah-blah-blogging" about them. Here's what we've got for you this month: Three exclusive mashups you won't find anywhere else, a couple brand-spankin' new tracks, and a few that have been out for a while, but are only just now blowin' up our iPods. Enjoy!

A plus D - We Got The Soulja Boy (Soulja Boy vs. The Go-Go's) - San Francisco
What the kids are dancing to today, mashed up with what the kids were dancing to 26 years ago. We thought the shelf-life of Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat" would surely be expired by now, but inexplicably, it's still the #1 song in America! Will it achieve the iconic status of "We Got The Beat?" Probably not ... but we do hope it inspires someone to post a YouTube video of themselves doing the "Soulja Boy" dance mashed up with some wild '80s dancing ala The Go-Go's!

Divide & Kreate - Illiterate City (Jackson 5 vs. Guns N' Roses) - Stockholm, Sweden BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Why does Sweden's Divide & Kreate save all his best stuff for megamixes? This little hidden gem was tucked away in his recent "Zebra Mix," and when we first heard it, we just about lost our shit! Michael Jackson as an innocent child, singing with the debaucherous and dangerous G N'R ... why does it feel so wrong when it sounds so RIGHT? We are very proud to present this as a "Bootie Exclusive!"

Dunproofin' - Bootystyle (Robyn vs. Teddybears) - Scotland, UK
We're loving a lot of acts coming out of Sweden right now, especially pop vixen Robyn and the indie band Teddybears, both of whom are mashed up here. Simple and meta, it's Robyn's cover of the Teddybears' "Cobrastyle" melded with the original. And with this, our current love of electro remixes is really starting to show.

Earworm - Say It Right Away (Nelly Furtado vs. The Egg vs. Madonna) - San Francisco BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Did we mention we've been digging electro remixes lately? This exclusive track from SF's very own Earworm takes Nelly Furtado's pop hit and gives it a nice dark electro edge, perfect for late-night dancing. But our favorite part is when Madonna makes an unexpected cameo during the breakdown. Bliss!

Hawkins - Jesus Christ Walks (Kanye West vs. Brand New) - St. Paul, Minnesota
We love it when a bootlegger comes out of nowhere and simply nails it on their first mashup attempt. This one is really grew on us – it's haunting and beautiful – and the lyrical content of the two songs connect very well together. If you ever wanted to hear what Kanye would sound like if he went "emo," this is it.

Lobsterdust - Disco Rump Chant (Beastie Boys vs. Michael Zager Band) - New York City
At the rate he's going, Lobsterdust pretty much has got a spot reserved for him on the Bootie Top 10 nearly every month! This one is a total booty-shaker, raising from the dead an obscure disco song and bringing it back to life with one of the few Beastie Boys acapellas that hasn't been bootlegged to death.

Loo & Placido - Timba Funk Land (Timbaland vs. Daft Punk) - Paris BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Paris DJs Loo & Placido are our guests this month at our SF and LA parties ... and one of the great things about booking international DJs at Bootie is that they sometimes toss you an exclusive track that, up until then, they've been keeping to themselves. L&P have a reputation as two of France's best DJs and remixers -- and this well-produced party jam proves why. Guaranteed to blow up a dance floor!

DJ Moule - Can't Stand Dance (Velvet Underground vs. Chemical Brothers vs. CSS vs. LCD Soundsystem) - Bordeaux, France
Speaking of French DJs ... we've been a big fan of Moule for a while now, and his set at October's Bootie SF party ranks up there as one of our favorite guest DJ sets ever! This track is an indie hipster's mashup wet dream, seamlessly melding cool on top of cool on top of cool. If this mashup were a person, it would be wearing a black leather jacket, vintage sneakers, and an ironic t-shirt. ... but don't let that stop you from enjoying it!

DJ STV SLV - Fa-Fa-Fayo Technology (50 Cent vs. Datarock) - Chicago
Speaking of indie hipsters ... STV SLV is one-half of Chicago's Hood Internet, a mashup team that specializes in dropping rap vocals over only the most Pitchfork-approved indie bands. Some of their attempts seem like they may be more interested in using indier-than-thou material than making a great mashup - but this one hits the mark, giving Fiddy a nice vibe and flow, and making Norway's Datarock sound like they've got some hip-hop street cred.

World Famous Audio Hacker - Do It Well (D.A.N.C.E. Version) (Jennifer Lopez vs. Justice) - Portland, Oregon
From Portland's most well-known mashup producer himself: "The first U.S. single from the new Jennifer Lopez album "Brave" was one of the best songs I heard as the summer came to a close. I spent three sleepless nights remixing it, pitching numerous samples, and combining "Do It Well" with samples from Justice and New Order. It's a bit of a remix parading as a mashup, really, thanks to some strategically-placed samples within the remix parts." Works for us!

Bootie Top 10 - October 2007

And with this, we finally post a Bootie Top 10 so late, that we've effectively changed our posting schedule. Instead of posting this monthly list "around the 15th of the month," we'll now be posting it as close to the 1st of the month as possible ... kinda like paying the rent, only, uh ... better!

We actually updated all the Bootie sites with this new list over a week ago, but only just now got around to actually writing about the tracks. Anyway, without further ado, here goes:

Aggro1 - Big Shot Boom Bip (Billy Joel vs. Boom Bip) - Dayton, Ohio
Unbelieveably, this somehow makes Billy Joel sound cool. If you didn't know this was Billy Joel – and if you're under the age of 25, you probably don't – you might think this was actually some new electro song about an uptown hipster club chick on coke. In actuality, the vocal is nearly 30 years old! Ah, decadence that spans the decades!

The Illuminoids - Phantom Ain't Easy (David Bowie vs. Justice) - Los Angeles
This is now the second month in a row this Justice song appears in our Top 10. What can we say, we really like it! And by pairing it with David Bowie's classic alien glam-rock opus, the Illuminoids have both updated and fulfilled the futuristic sci-fi '70s promise of "Ziggy Stardust."

King Of Pants - Detox (Amy Winehouse vs. Britney Spears) - Seattle BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
When the K.O.P. dropped this in the middle of his set at Bootie in San Francisco last month, both Adrian and Party Ben practically knocked each other down scrambling to get to the DJ booth in to find out who did it and where to get it. And this song is a reminder that you can lead horse to water, but you can't get 'er to drink ... or in this case, just the opposite! Thanks, Freddy!

DJ Le Clown - In Da Black (AC/DC vs. Scissor Sisters vs. 50 Cent) - France
Now this is the sort of juxtapositioning we like! How do you put a fresh spin on a tired AC/DC song that's been bootlegged a thousand times? Instead of plopping yet another rap over it, get the Scissor Sisters in there instead! Then, if you must use a rap vocal, say, like 50 Cent, at least make Fiddy sound like a robot. Excellent production on this!

Lobsterdust - Everybody Do It Again (Jay-Z vs. Amil vs. Missy Elliott vs. Chemical Brothers) - New York City
Another excellent bootleg from one of our favorite producers. Mysterious D was joking how at the rate Lobsterdust is putting out quality mashups, we're going to need to reserve a spot for him on every month's Top 10. We fell in love with this track at this year's Bootie BRC at Burning Man, and we must admit, it sounds particular good on a big booming sound system on the playa at 3 in the morning. And the lyrics sound like our life sometimes!

Payroll - Daft Prayer (Bon Jovi vs. Daft Prayer) - London
You never realize just how many people know every single word to this Bon Jovi song until you sneak this into the middle of a set for a drunken dance floor. Emphasis on the word "drunken." Play this too early, and everyone's embarrassed – someone might suspect that they actually like this song, and that would be too uncool! But after the right amount of cocktails, who doesn't want to scream along? "Take my hand, we'll make it, I swear..."

Pheugoo - Sympathy For The Warhols (Rolling Stones vs. Dandy Warhols) - The Netherlands
The Dandy Warhols have spent the better part of their career inadvertently apeing the Rolling Stones anyway ... so why not just take it all the way, and mash the two together? Especially when it sounds as good as this.

team9 - Britney – Dead Or Alive? (Britney Spears vs. Dead Or Alive vs. Daft Punk) - Perth, Australia
Our favorite Australian bootlegger returns to form with a mashup that miraculously makes Britney's new single listenable. "Poor old Britney," writes team9, "We could have been so good together. If she'd only asked, I could have sampled Daft Punk at least two days before Kanye. I could have done a Rihanna 'Tainted Love' stunt and used Dead Or Alive's 'You Spin Me Round' classic." Here's what Britney's new single should sound like.

Totom - Thieveshake (Kelis vs. Ministry) - France
Much of the staff at the DNA Lounge – where we do Bootie SF – love old-school industrial music such as Ministry. So when we found a simple bootleg that mashed them up with 'Milkshake,' we couldn't help but spin it out, just for the giggles. House band Smash-Up Derby found it amusing enough to cover it live. Then French bootlegger Totom heard the band play it on the Bootie webcast on the DNA Lounge web site, and thought, "I can make this better." And he did. So wrong it's right.

DJ Zebra - Got To Stand It Up (Marvin Gaye vs. The Dead 60's) - Paris BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!�
How do you make Marvin Gaye sound modern and hip? And how do you introduce kids today to his sublime smoove-ness? You do this. DJ Zebra comes through with a beautiful mashup that's exclusive for Bootie – just in time for his appearance at the club this month!

Bootie Top 10 - August 2007

I think this whole "we're gonna post the Top 10 around the 15th of the month" thing is fast becoming a thing of the past. Now that we're doing Bootie in New York City every third weekend, we just don't get around to picking out our favorite mashups until we get back to San Francisco. Oh well...

Right now, we're knee-deep in pre-playa preparations, as we get ready to head out to Black Rock City to do Bootie at Burning Man a.k.a. "Burning Bootie" for the second year in a row. Woo-hoo! But we wanted to get the Top 10 posted before we left, so here you go, for your downloading pleasure.

Our ten favorite current mashups – and yes, we're really digging Amy Winehouse right now. She makes three appearances in this list (although one of them is a bonus track ... does that count?)

A plus D - Pour Some Hot Sugar (Mims vs. Def Leppard) - San Francisco
I will forever associate this mashup with the videogame Guitar Hero, since I "played" a version of this in front of 1300 people at the Bootie 4-Year Anniversary Party this past month! Thanks to Kingpin for liking it enough to hack Guitar Hero so he could play some Mims Leppard, too! (And for sending us a copy as well!)

Carty - Boogie Woogie Candyman (Christina Aguilera vs. The Andrews Sisters) - The Netherlands
An obvious match, seeing as that Ms. Aguilera was going for that whole boogie-woogie '40s vibe on "Candyman" anyway. Still, it's nice to hear music in a mashup that's NOT something from the past three decades! Add some beats from '80s cult fave Fun Boy Three, and some soldier marching chants, and you've got a track chock-full of vintage goodness.

Ian Fondue - Edit! (Bodyrox vs. everybody!) - London
I'm gonna let Ian explain this one himself: "Anyone who's spent any time talking to me at Bastard (London bootleg party) knows I have a bit of a habit of trying to stick different vocals over whatever is playing, even if it's already a mashup. The idea here was to make a fun dance floor track that captures the disposable idea ethos of Bastard and tie it in with said habit of trying to fit one or two lines of various songs over the same tune in quick succession." Needless to say, he succeeded. A bootleg tour de force!

The Illuminoids - Solta O Space Frango Woman (Bonde Do Role vs. Wolfmother vs. MSTRKRFT vs. Deep Purple) - Los Angeles
We love that MSTRKRFT remix of Wolfmother's "Woman," and The Illuminoids just stepped it up by adding in our latest Brazilian obsession, Bonde Do Role. Toss in a dash of Deep Purple, and you've got something made for both an iPod and a dance floor! Indie-tastic!

King Of Pants - Ring The Go Alarm (Beyoncé vs. Tones On Tail) - Seattle
DJ Freddy, King of Pants, made this as an exclusive for Bootie LA the last time he DJed down there. We love the lyrical connection of each song's respective "Go!" -- plus, we think the world needs more Tones On Tail mashups. Did you say "Who?" Kids, today, I tell ya...

Kro - The World Changes On Its Own (Amy Winehouse vs. Eric Clapton)
This one is so seamless, it barely sounds like a bootleg! In fact, we had to go and download the respective originals just to double-check it was indeed mashed-up! Really well done, and a great song as well. This one's a beauty.

Party Ben - Rehab (Can't Help Myself) (Amy Winehouse vs. The Four Tops) - San Francisco BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Well, it's about time! We've been waiting for some mashups of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," but without an available acapella, we've had to wait a couple months. Party Ben's is a more traditional take, finding a parallel between Winehouse's current hit with the '60s sound of The Four Tops that she so genuinely apes. Get it? Rehab? She can't help herself?
Alternate "Rehab" bonus track:
DJ Topcat - Young Folks Rehab (Peter, Björn & John vs. Amy Winehouse) - Seattle
Topcat's version relies more heavily on the "Young Folks" remix, but splashes just enough "Rehab" in there for us to get away with dropping it at Bootie. Either one you choose, it's a win-win!

DJ Paul V. - Phantom On The Bottom (The Lady Tigra vs. Justice) - Los Angeles BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Although we weren't familiar with this hot new Lady Tigra track, after hearing it – with the perk of it being mashed up with Justice – we're now instant fans. But this is no new hip-hop diva. Remember Tigra and Bunny, the girls who liked "the cars that go boom?" Well, Tigra's all growed up now, and damn if she doesn't sound good rapping over the latest French electro sensation! Old school goes new school times two!

DJ Schmolli - Don't Cha Take A Robot Around South Of Heaven (Daft Punk vs. Slayer vs. Pussycat Dolls vs. Limp Bizkit) - Vienna, Austria
The bar staff at the DNA Lounge (where we do Bootie SF) are always telling us that we need some Slayer mashups. Now, thanks to DJ Schmolli, we can offer them this. This even manages to make the insufferable Limp Bizkit sound tolerable. RAWK.

DJ Zax - Hollywood Wondergroove (Madonna vs. Missy Elliott vs. Maroon 5) - San Francisco
I hate you Zax, for tricking me into listening to Maroon 5. I hate them! But by taking the "mashup commercial" that Madonna did for The Gap – the one that sampled both "Into the Groove" and "Hollywood," with Missy throwin' in some verses – and mashing it up with Maroon 5, he created a great, groovy track.

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."

Bootie Top 10 - June 2007

Yay! We're so on top of it this month ... here's our monthly list of our favorite mashup downloads, listed alphabetically by bootlegger. Right-click away!

A plus D - Close To Konichiwa Bitches (Robyn vs. The Cure) – San Francisco
We're well aware using The Cure's "Close To Me" for a mashup is practically a bootlegger cliché – and it was only a matter of time before we succumbed to its magical allure. Robyn is a Swedish singer who had a few minor hits in the mid-'90s, but who is still HUGE in, uh ... Sweden! DJ Paul V. first turned us on to her via the Klas Ahlund remix of her single, "Konichiwa Bitches." In this rather sparse remix, they cover the keyboard melody from The Cure's "Close To Me." But why stop there? So we mashed it up with the real thing, throwing it all together in record time. The other thing that makes this special is that this early version of the Robyn song has a chorus that's not in the released single.

Earlybird - The Tide Is Not Unusual (Tom Jones vs. Blondie) – Uganda
This one has been out for a while, but has become a bit of a "sleeper hit" at Bootie. I've been throwing this into my earlier DJ sets, and its slow-groove tempo is perfect for easing people onto the dance floor. And who doesn't love Tom Jones?

The Illuminoids with Donita Sparks - Pretend We're Alala (L7 vs. CSS) – Los Angeles BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Okay, so here's where it gets a little meta. Let's see if we've got this right: The Illuminoids originally mashed up "Pretend We're Dead" with LCD Soundsystem and The Stooges. Donita Sparks from L7 heard it, and around that same time, Brazilian band CSS released a cover of L7's "Pretend We're Dead" in the UK. Hey, now there's an idea! So Donita Sparks collaborated with The Illuminoids to mashup the original L7 song with CSS's cover version, as well as the CSS song "Alala." Got all that? We love it when artists get involved in mashing up their own songs! CSS loved the mashup so much they posted it to their MySpace page, and Donita Sparks herself has it posted to an article she wrote on mashups on the popular FireDogLake.com blog – but the Bootie Top 10 is the ONLY place where you'll find this AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD! Woo-hoo!

DJ Lobsterdust - Walkin' Out Yo Girlfriend (Unk vs. Avril Lavigne vs. Toni Basil) – New York City
Lobsterdust is fast becoming one of our favorite bootleggers, and mashups like this prove why. I hate Avril Lavigne, but I love her new single, and pairing her with Unk was so good that even the haters over at Pitchfork couldn't help but love it, as Marc Hogan writes: "It's probably kinda cheating when your mashup puts together three songs that basically don't have tunes (or, in the case of Avril Lavigne's new "Girlfriend", merely an incidental one pastiched from Now That's What I Call Late-90s Pop-Punk). No pitch-matching required, right? Still, there's a reason the cheerleader-chant genre won't just get the hey-hey F-U-C-K out of our lives. And there's something bracing about the easy beats from Atlanta rapper Unk's "Walk it Out" meeting Avril's expensively chintzy guitar chords."

DJ Magnet - Love Comes Running Up That Hill Quickly (Placebo vs. Pet Shop Boys vs. Kate Bush) – Denver
Oh yeah, mashups – they're all so cheeky and funny and ironic! But did you know they can also be beautiful, moody, and artistic? It's not often a mashup nearly moves me to tears, but this one came close – sure, it might be the nostalgia talking, but all the source material here holds a very special place in my heart. When Kate Bush appears three-quarters of the way in to steal her song back from Placebo and the Pet Shop Boys ("let me steal this moment from you now") it's fucking golden. Definitely our favorite mashup on this month's Top 10.

Manriki - Love Or Hate Me Banquet (Lady Sovereign vs. Bloc Party vs. Abba) – Belgium
Yup, that Lady Sovereign song is totally played out. And come to think of it, we've heard that Bloc Party track used quite a few times in mashups as well. But there's just something about this that works, and breathes an extra 15 minutes of life into both of these songs. The other thing we like is the way Manriki samples and rearranges some of the Lady Sov vocals. Good production work! Jaded indie kids might not appreciate Abba coming in for the bridge, but we think it's just the jolt of pop-cheese this mashup needs.

Party Ben - Tender Umbrella (Rihanna vs. General Public) - San Francisco
Most bootleggers wish their painstakingly-crafted mashup creations could be even half as good as a Party Ben throwaway like this, which he apparently slammed together to play at Bootie this past month. This is the first "Umbrella" mashup we've heard that we like, and pairing it with General Public's new wave staple is incredibly well spotted.

DJ Paul V. - Just Can't Get Club Action (Yo Majesty vs. Depeche Mode vs. Enya) – Los Angeles
Sure, it's two remixes mashed-up together, but who cares? As soon as Paul V. sent this to us, we loved it instantly, and we knew it would be a club-banger. This track has an awesome energy about it, and was just MADE for the dance floor! And the looped tease of that Depeche Mode keyboard line makes this the perfect segueway to mix right into any of the various "Just Can't Get Enough" mashups we have. And there we go, giving away all our DJ secrets.

Rokk Pie - Knock Em Out Girrl (Lily Allen vs. Who Made Who) – London
Interesting story behind this mashup ... Rokk was working for Lily Allen's record company at the time, and somehow got a hold of this acapella. (Why can't we have connections like that?) He paired it with the disco-punk of Who Made Who, and voila! He took the Lily Allen song and made it even better! The drummer for Who Made Who loves it ... however, Lily Allen apparently doesn't. Whatever! She's wrong on this one. The Who Made Who backing really gives Lily a fun indie-punk edge.

DJ Zebra - Icky Thump Whole Lotta Funk (White Stripes vs. Led Zeppelin vs. DJ Zebra) – Paris
Now this really rocks! Since Jack White was already working out a Led Zep jones on this new single anyway, DJ Zebra just takes it even farther. Imitation is, after all, the sincerist form of flattery. Zebra even plays guitar, keyboards, and drums on this, just to add even more funk to the mix. We always said musicians make the best bootleggers, and this mashup certainly proves it.

BOOTIE Top 10 - May 2007

We are over a week late in posting this month's Bootie Top 10 list of our favorite mashups! We are soooooooo sorry! Throwing our Bootie NYC party nearly killed us, and we've just been too swamped to compile this thing. Thankfully, it all came together on our flight back to San Francisco ... so here ya go, for your downloading pleasure...

Aggro1 - Stripped Chain (Katie Enlow vs. Rammstein) – Dayton, Ohio
This track effectively proves how mashup culture continues to grow and change, evolving in different directions, as bootleggers come up with new and inventive ways to recycle and re-use pop music. This one at first appears to be a simple A+B - except that A and B are both covers: Boston mashup diva Katie Enlow breathes new life into her interpretation of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain," which sounds especially dark when paired with Rammstein's cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped."

Clive$ter - Am I Undone (Erasure vs. Korn vs. Fatboy Slim) – Austria
We've heard Korn acapellas used in quite a few mashups, but none of them really seem to work all that well - except for this one, which somehow makes Jonathan Davis sound completely natural fronting a gay electro-pop group like Erasure. Who would have thought?

ComaR - Mr. Jones In A Forest (Mike Jones vs. The Cure) – Paris
What is it about this mashup? D loved it immediately and became somewhat obsessed with it. And we weren't the only ones. We were surprised when DJ Freddy, King of Pants, told us how he kept playing it over and over ... he was obsessed with it too! Then DJ Reset shocked us by dropping it into his guest set at Bootie NYC. D says it's all about the hooky rap - "Who? Who?..." and how the darkness of the Cure brings out a creepy feel to the lyrics - "He's got a shotgun, so go back home" for example, while the chorus of voices sound almost happy. Whatever it is, we love it.

DJ F.O.X. - Don't Stop The Glamour (Fergie vs. Roxy Music) – San Franicsco BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Sick of Fergie's "Glamorous" yet? Every time we think we're finally done with it, another mashup comes out that breathes new life into this shallow ode to excess. This one comes courtesy of fellow San Francisco DJ F.O.X. Roxy Music's suave and sophisticated grooves couldn't be better-suited. This mashup sounds like the audio equivalent of wearing an Armani suit while sipping an expensive martini in a swanky bar on the top floor of a Miami hotel.

Go Home Productions - Supreme Evil (Diana Ross vs. ELO vs. Michael Jackson) – Watford, UK
As arguably one of the best mashup producers in the world, it's always a treat when Mark Vidler releases a few new mashups. Although his batting average ain't quite what it used to be, he definitely knocks one out of the park with this one. It's classic GHP - by digging a little deeper into pop music history than most bootleggers, he manages to cram a piece of the '60s, '70s, and '80s all into one soon-to-be-classic mashup.

DJ Mix - Sexy Bak (Justin Timberlake vs. C&C Music Factory) – Hawaii / Utah BOOTIE EXCLUSIVE!
Random DJs and budding bedroom producers email us unsolicited mashups all the time ... and unfortunately, most of them suck. At best, they tend to be mediocre and uninspired