SANTASTIC V: ABOUT THE TRACKS
Well, it's Christmas time again. Fire up the trees! We are back with the fifth installment of the Santastic Series- the sixth if you count last year's Chanukah-themed album, Menorah Mashups. It's Santastic V: Snow, Man!
'Santastic' is the annual free mp3 holiday album series, where a selection of mashup artists, remixers and bands explores the crazier, hipper, nerdier, funkier, punkier, hip-hoppier, dancier side of the holidays by mixing, mashing, fragmenting, subverting, inverting, appropriating, covering and completely blowing up the classics of the season.
We've got the world's premiere mash-up cover band, Smash-Up Derby, doing a live mashup. We've got Big D and The Kids Table covering Run DMC with punk flavor. We've got mashers and mixers, old and new, from the US and around the world. And we've got incredibly cool art from the amazing Belle Dee of Doo Wacka Doodles!
I truly hope you dig our new collection for 2010. Happy Holidays, and all the best to you and yours this season.
HIT IT!
-dj BC
If You Jinglin'
DJ McFly (Boston, MA)
Website link
O Tannenbaum - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Encore - Jay Z
I.Z.Z.O. (Hova) - Jay Z
U Don't Know - Jay Z
99 Problems - Jay Z
Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay Z
Deja Vu - Beyonce ft. Jay Z
Crazy In Love - Beyonce ft. Jay Z
Change Clothes - Jay Z
Lucifer - Jay Z
The Bounce - Jay Z ft. Kanye West
I Want You (instrumental) - Common ft. Will.I.Am
I did all the editing of the mix with FL Studio 8, and sampled "O Tannenbaum" by Vince Guaraldi Trio and "I Want You" by Common for the beat. The lyrics are all mashed together bits and pieces from 10 different Jay Z songs. I got the idea originally to use only Jay Z tracks for the lyrics because he calls himself Hova and I was thinking since Ho Ho Ho is a Christmas thing, I would be able to work that in somehow. I ended up naming it "If U Jinglin" tho because when I heard him say the word "Jinglin" in one of the tracks I was already sampling, I thought that was too perfect to pass up.
-DJ McFly
Rudolph (You Don't Have To Put On The Red Light)
mojochronic (Berkeley, USA)
Website link
Putting a little 'Ho' in your 'Ho Ho Ho.' The Police's "Roxanne" versus The Derric Johnson Vocal Orchestra's "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" with plenty of excerpts from the 1964 stop motion animated TV special.
Click here for the video.
Christmas In Allston
Big D and The Kid's Table (Boston, MA)
Website link
The Boston punk/ska/stroll band has fun with RUN DMC's "Christmas In Hollis," recorded exclusively for Santastic. With turntables by dj BC.
For The Love Of A Disco Snowplow
ATOM (NYC, USA)
Website link
Contains heaping quantities, moderate chunks, and delicate sprinkles of:
- Me (as ATOM) & Ableton
- Dean Martin
- Captain & Tennille
- Harry Nilsson
- A Guy Called Gerald
- Cypress Hill
- rare holiday disco
- a dulcimer
- a funky Rhodes
- some sounds from Andrew Duke
and a generous amount of positive procrastination.
-ATOM
Seven Nation Santa
Smash-Up Derby (San Francisco, USA)
Website link
Have you ever listened to the lyrics of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"? I mean, really listened? Sure, it's ostensibly about Santa Claus. But given the threatening nature of the lyrics, it could just as easily be about ... the Boogieman! Every year, Smash-Up Derby - Bootie SF's house mashup band - puts together a special Christmas set for the annual Bootie Holiday Party in San Francisco. Here, the band puts this Christmas standard into a more sinister context, revealing the true nature of Santa Claus- as a malevolent tool for parents to scare their kids into being "good" all year!
8-Bit Hip-Hop Christmas
dj BC (Boston, USA)
Website link
Last year, for the Wicked Hardcore Christmas EP, I produced a track called Wicked Hip-Hop Christmas with Big D and The Kids Table and rapper Black ELement, now Black EL. This year's mash I takes Black EL's rhymes and mashes em up with an 8-bit version of "Let It Snow" by Bit Shifter with a few beats and beatboxing. I like how EL's rhymes play off the lyrics to 'Let It Snow'- lovely coincidences abound. Listen for yourself!
Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!
Love,
dj BC
Christmas Fire
Voicedude (Anaheim, USA)
Website link
Voicedude's first track is Classic Country meets Christmas Rock, as Billy Squire and Johnny Cash collide in a "Christmas Fire."
Originally I tried this one the other way around, but Squire's 'acapella' still had too much piano that was interfering. Less Christmas-y this way, but it's nice to hear Johnny rock out one more time...
Wow Christmas
Gaston (Paris, France)
Website link
Sources:
A Capella : James Brown - Soulful Christmas
Instrumental : Siriusmo - Wow
Sample : Busy Boys - Funky Fresh Christmas.
I discovered this James Brown track by searching the web for material for this compilation. It's always exciting to work for this of compilation because it's a real challenge, and takes you out of your "comfort zone." It's a while since I've had this Siriusmo track on my plate, and it was a good match, so here is the result!
Enjoy it, and wish you all a funky soulful mashed Christmas.
-Gaston
Swing The Boot
Martinn (Sas van Gent, The Netherlands)
Website link
The Greenhill Dixieland Jazz Band - Deck The Halls
Koop - Come To Me
Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry
W. Jackson - Il est ne le Divin Enfant
The Sing-a-longs - Mr Snowman
Mike Oldfield - In Dulci Jubilo
Elvis Presley - Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me
Background drums from Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers - Swing The Mood.
Inspired by Jive Bunny's "Swing The Mood", a medley of classic swing tunes which was a big chart hit in 1989/'90, I thought it would be nice to apply that concept onto a few, different kind of Christmas songs and overlapping them where possible. Another inspiration came from hearing G3rst's excellent mash-up "Bloom To Me" which features "Come To Me" by Koop. However, not intended to be a Christmas song, it surely had that special groove. It just had to be in. I hope you'll enjoy "Swing The Boot."
-Martinn
Insane In The Winter Wonderland
DJ Flack (Boston, USA)
Website link
Tracks:
Rosemary Clooney - Winter Wonderland (White Christmas, Concord Jazz)
Cypress Hill - Insane in the Brain (Black Sunday, Ruffhouse)
Mexicali Brass - Winter Wonderland (Winter Wonderland, Crown Records)
For this track I pitched down Rosemary Clooney's version to give it more of a bugged out vibe that would go with Cypress Hill's beat. For the bridge I used the instrumental Mexicali brass version which kind of had a Sgt. Pepper vibe to me. Despite being extremely nonreligious, I usually rep for the jews on these compilations and having run out of Chanukah songs, I decided to choose a secular holiday song. To balance out the "Parson Brown" line I sampled Weird Al Yankovic saying "Or a Rabbi" (from "You're Pretty Fly for a Rabbi") and also buried in the mix is Adam Sandler yelling "L'chiem! " (from The Wedding Singer). I composed the track and did all the dub effects using Ableton Live and had lots of fun making it.
Happy holiday season to people of all backgrounds.
To Life!
- DJ Flack
I Feel Santa
Divide and Kreate (Stockholm, Sweden)
Website link
Clarence Carter's twelve bar blues track 'Back Door Santa' meets Giorgio Moroders distinctive disco bass line in Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love.' I guess that makes this track a christmas disco blues...
// D&K
Give It To Me, Little Drummer Boy
Cheekyboy (Southend-on-Sea, England)
Website link
Samples used:
Fatman Scoop feat. Timbaland - Give It To Me
Johnny Cash & Neil Young - Little Drummer Boy
50 cent (In da club pella)
My attempt to make a Christmas classic work for the hip-hop crowd. Johnny Cash, Neil Young and Timbaland on the same track will get your Christmas party started!
Cheers,
Cheekyboy
Walking In The Air
Secret Santa (The North Pole via Scotland)
Website link
Contains:
Walking In The Air - Aled Jones
Additional Elements by Secret Santa.
Ho ho ho. Here's a present for all you good little boys and girls. All you bad children stop downloading now and listen to your Nickleback albums instead. Ho ho ho. Merry Christmas.
-Secret Santa
Forget You, Santa
Voicedude (Anaheim, USA)
Website link
Contains:
Forget You- Cee-Lo
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town- The Jackson 5
Various movie samples.
When recalling his previous holiday releases "Santa Benz" and "Carol of the Burgers," when it comes to holiday humor, the 'Dude abides... with three versions of his new Cee-Lo Green Vs. Jackson 5 boot:
(1) "F#@% You, Santa!" [NSFW mix] " - the unedited, club friendly version
(2) "Forget You, Santa!" - the edited radio version, and
(3) "Forget You, Santa!" [squeaky clean mix] " - the third, simple A+B, squeaky clean, grandmas-n-gradeschoolers-friendly version
As usual, it all starts by matching keys and data. Finding that Michael's vocals were in the same key as my newly acquired Cee-Lo 'mental was exciting, because I'm putting an original Motown vocal over a heavily Motown influenced track. The whole Bad Santa-like concept developed from there, however I've worked with kids [Radio AAHS, Disney, etc.] for too long not to offer wholesome alternatives.
-Voicedude
Jingle Date
G3RSt (Hoorn, The Netherlands)
Website link
Contains:
Jingle Bells - Andre Rieu
First Date - Blink 182
I was looking for a track to mix up for Santastic V, when I stumbled upon a rendition of Jingle Bells by André Rieu. He's a Dutch musician who re-introduced the Waltz to the masses. I'm not a big fan of his, but a Dutchman nonetheless and his version had that cheesy and bombastic 'je ne sais quoi' feel to it that makes it strangely appealing.
Anyway, I combined this with the vocals from the song 'First Date' by Blink 182, chopped them up word for word, changed the keys and voila - I bring you: Jingle Date!
G3RSt
Motown Christmas
mojochronic (Berkeley, USA)
Website link
A natural combination. The two most uplifting music genres on the planet: Motown and Christmas Carols. Includes...
Stevie Wonder - "My Cherie Amour" vs. "Deck The Halls"
Temptations "My Girl" vs. Jackson 5 "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"
Smokey Robinson "I Second That Emotion" vs. "Jingle Bells
Gladys Knight and The Pips "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" vs. The Temptations "Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer"
The Temptations "Can't Get Next To You" vs. Jackson 5 "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
The Temptations "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" vs. Mormon Tabernacle Choir "Carol Of The Bells"
Diana Ross "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" vs. Mormon Tabernacle Choir "The First Noel"
Click here for the video.
-mojochronic
