It’s easy to forget that some of the simple joys of electronic music are foreign to many lay people. Odds are, if you read this site, you’re an intelligent and well-informed digital musician. (I don’t mean to stroke my own ego, either; because so many of you are intelligent and well-informed digital musicians, you send a whole lot of the information my way that makes this site even possible.) But for all the extensive discussion, a lot of what digital musicians seek to do in their performance is simple: they want to make their work expressive and performative, and convey some part of that gesture to audiences to include them in the action.

And so it is that a video of a live mashup is impressing general audiences as much as it is enthusiasts. It’s not a complex work, but it’s brilliantly performed, and in incorporating some 39 songs into one epic mash-up of Ableton-synced clips, it presents plenty of touchstones for audience members. The ingredients: FL Studio, Ableton Live, a Novation Launchpad, and a Novation ReMOTE Zero SL MKII.

It also helps being really good, as this person is: the “mash-up” is never awkward or overwhelming, and rather than boring bar-long sync, is played live with 16th-note clips. It isn’t so out of the ordinary compared to other virtuosic MPC videos, but that’s the joy of the Web: the best players do actually get their stuff in front of lots of eyeballs.

What’s also interesting is that, because it incorporates pop songs and you can see visually what he’s doing (in a design first seen on the software for the open-source monome platform), general audiences are picking it up. A few examples:
“Pop Culture” mega-mash-up: 39 songs in three minutes [Bailey Johnson for CBS News]

The video viral “video chart” at The Guardian, UK’s daily paper

College Humor’s Biggest Thing

No less than Kylie Minogue tweeted about it. Thanks to Novation’s Chris Mayes-Wright for keeping track of this video’s meteoric rise in the past four days. Artist Relations once meant mainly keeping celebs happy; now, it includes catering to YouTube stars, which I think is a nice development!

That popularity may encourage some trolling and jealousy, but I have to say, I’ve seen just as many hard-core Ableton and monome users and whatnot also drool over this video. (Thanks to everyone who sent this in – a lot of you sure did and I’m only now getting around to it! Blame constrained time and poor Internets here on the road in England.)

If you aren’t necessarily into pop samples, though, I think this shows that even some simple performance elements can appeal. Sure, we love far-out interfaces and big visual impact around these parts, but you can also simply turn off that bar-long quantization or whip out your instrument of choice – keys, strings, voice, pads, or whatever it is – and actually play. Most people really get and appreciate that, and it’s fun for the player, to boot.

And on that profound bombshell, I wish you a very happy weekend indeed.

Following yesterday’s interview with Kyle McDonald on FaceOSC, his custom webcam + tracking application that can make music with your face, here’s another face-controlled music demo. This one uses Ableton Live for jamming. I should add, since I somewhat obscured the fact, that this isn’t Kinect: it works entirely with a built-in webcam, which means it’s completely free to try and you don’t have to tote any extra hardware, so long as you have a laptop with a built-in cam. More on this technology as we watch it evolve…

Sweet soul-rock sensations from DFA Records own Justin Miller. We can see this go really well with whatever seaside daylight activities you may have planned for the weekend. The mix was made for NYC clothing brand Unis (Make sure to drop by and see what they’re up to at http://unisnewyork.com/).

Justin Miller As Kind As Summer Mix For Unis from Justin Miller (DFA Records) at Letsmix.com.

Enjoy a short doc from vbs.tv about extreme mexican pointy boots which are connected with tribal guaracha music movement – because music and fashion always go together big time!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thunderball has a brand new remix album out on ESL Music, featuring remixes from some of the top producers in the game right now. There is a free download on URB.com featuring the Mexicans With Guns remix. More information after the jump.

On “12 Mile High Remixed,” Thunderball has invited some of their favorite producers from around the globe to remix the original songs from their album “12 Mile High” taking the tracks to new stratospheric heights and uncharted sonic realms. The remixes cross a wide selection of contemporary electronic music genres including: Lounge, Dub, Drum & Bass, Breaks, Dub Step and House.

Zeb “The Spy from Cairo” begins the journey with his remix of “Dub Science” which traverses the nether regions of Arab soundscapes and Balkan dub. Spain’s, Al Lindrum, strips down the album’s title track to it’s core with driving, percussive breaks and tripped out sitars. QDUP Foundation’s remix of “I C Colors” brings a psychedelic soul breaks vibe which summons the Funkadelic mothership home. Rhythm & Culture producers, Thomas Blondet and Second Sky create an incredible cinematic soundtrack to “Rio Mescalito” that pays homage to classic ’70s cop show funk. Mash & Munkee continue the soundtrack with a soul jazz version of “Flippin’ It On.” DC’s new latin Dons, the Empresarios bring a late night house vibe to “Low Down Weather.” The party continues with Thunderballputting on their Fort Knox Five hat to bring a electro breaks version of the reggae-tinged anthem “Moon on the Rise.” Mo’ Horizons alter ego, Sono Rhizmo flips things up with their sun-drenched latin remix of “Rico Ritmo.” To show their love for all things drum and bass, Thunderball invited D&B heavyweights Drumagickand the Basement Freaks to deliver monster remixes of “Make Your Move.” Canadian based producers, the Knight Riderz drop a lazer-bass bomb with their twisted, low frequency remix of “Enter the Brahmin.” JPOD the Beat Chef cooks up a mid-tempo stepper with his take of “12 Mile High.” Long time friend and collaborator, Ursula 1000 delivers an electric-rainbow, disco breaks remix of “I C Colors.” The clandestine Mexicans with Guns unload both barrels with their ghettotech remix of “Rio Mescalito” which was featured on RCRD LBL. Ghost’s on Tape Remix of “Runaway” which features ethereal vocals in the middle of an illegal warehouse party circa 1993 has already been lauded by XLR8R magazine. And ESL producer and See-I keyboardist, Enea closes out the compilation with his dubbed out, future sounds remix of “Dub Science.”

Collected into one amazing package, “12 Mile High Remixed” delivers 16 DJ-friendly tracks that cross through the many genres of today’s diverse electronic music landscape and are sure to rock dancefloors worldwide.

Sid Barcelona, Steve Raskin and Rob Myers are the masterminds behind Thunderball. This Washington, DC-based trio are globally renowned purveyors of sophisticated, stereophonic-thrillers, and cinematic dub. Since 1997 their productions have shifted effortlessly between the genres of drum’n’bass, dub and downtempo, building a strong following for their signature sound. As one of ESL Music’s original artists, Thunderball rapidly defined their sound with their 1999 debut “Ambassadors of Style” which received critical acclaim from Rolling Stone magazine. This was followed by 2001’s seminal release, “Scorpio Rising,” which was instantly hailed as a downtempo classic. On their third release “Cinescope” (2006), Thunderball upped the ante with fresh elements including collaborations with the godfather of hip hop, Afrika Bambaataa. Their 4th, and latest release,”12 Mile High,” is the culmination of over a decade of sonic exploration in the Thunderball realm.