Mike the Knife
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In the wild and wacky world of mash-ups, there are scads of producers who are slamming the most unlikely bits and pieces of music together to startling and/or amusing effect. Although few of them are household names, one – Howie Pyro - is a musician who was a driving force in some notable bands, including arty punk-rockers D Generation and industrial-metalists Danzig. Pyro also worked as a DJ in New York City and co-founded the East Village hard-rock club Coney Island High.
Moving from New York to Los Angeles, Pyro teamed up with DJ/producer Jells Mayhem as the Illuminoids – and the duo is now creating a series of memorable madcap mash-ups. One of the hottest of them is "That's Not My Wild Name Game Thing" - available for your listening pleasure via the stream at the top of this post. The track is a fresh jam-up of The Ting Tings’ recent massive U.K. chart-topper "That’s Not My Name," soul singer Shirley Ellis’ ‘60s novelty hit "The Name Game," Tone Loc’s "Wild Thing," and select snatches of songs by X-rated electro-diva Peaches, drag icon Divine and Motown girl-group superstars The Supremes.
Here’s a name to remember: The Illuminoids.
Speaking of memory, this would be an ideal place to run the video clip for the first mash-up by the duo that really grabbed me: "Pretend We're Alala," blending L7 and CSS. Check out the carnage…
One of the most electric moments of the watershed three-day Woodstock rock festival, held in upstate New York during August 1969, was raspy-voiced British blues singer Joe Cocker’s astonishing cover of the Beatles’ "With a Little Help From My Friends." The one caveat: Cocker sang the song with such fire and frenzy that the words were next to unintelligible.
What people don’t realize is that Cocker boldly rewrote the Lennon-McCartney lyrics, tailoring them to his own inimitable style. Only now do we have access to the words he was singing during this once-in-a-lifetime performance – displayed here in a clip from the 1970 concert documentary "Woodstock." Enjoy!
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Totally my kind of humor. Who does his hair? He'd be good as a waiter carrying a tray of cocktails.
You can get reconnected to music in the most unlikely ways, and in the most unlikely places. Weather-wise, things are cooling off in Southern California after a brutal heat wave that had the area on simmer for almost a week. While grabbing lunch on the Sunset Strip under the awning of a French bistro/sidewalk café called Le Petit Four, I overhear a song that’s blasting out of a passing sports car.
I’m thinking it’s familiar. I love that song. So lively, so seductive. It’s, it’s…I’m not sure. Wait. That voice. It’s Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, but that’s not a Pet Shop Boys song. And then…BAM! I remember. It’s "Getting Away With It" by Electronic, something akin to a new-wave supergroup. From 1989 to 1999 or so, Electronic was a side project for New Order singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. The duo, plus select pals, produced three studio albums and a best-of collection. And early on, they collaborated with Tennant on a number of songs. Their first album Electronic features "Getting Away With It" and my favorite of all their tracks "Get the Message."
The video for "Getting Away With It" is below, and above the post, you’ll find a stream of the full-length album version of "Get the Message." If you like the artists involved and haven’t heard this material, here’s a chance to plug into Electronic.
"Getting Away With It"
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This is great! These guys are both familar and obscure -- few people know this band. I also love the Johnny Marr and the Healers CD that came out a few years ago -- great workout music.
As a side note -- New Order holds my personal record for shortest show by a headliner -- 45 minutes at First Ave. in Mpls. They seemed like they didn't want to be there and, for a new wave Minneapolis crowd, it got a little hostile.
I can not begin to tell you how much I loved this album then and now. being a huge New Order fan, I remember hearing this track for the frist time at First Ave. during a Sunday night danceteria. I asked the dj who it was, he told me and the next day I was out looking for the cassette. I brought that cassette to college, and it played endlessly during my first year of university. It has been a while since I have listened to it, and I think it will be playing on my way in to teach tomorrow morning
At the time "Getting Away With It" was released it was one of my favorite songs. Although it was a side project, it got me interested in going back to my old Pet Shop Boys and New Order tapes, which was refreshing because I wans't so happy about what was popular at the time.
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Wow, they used some ketchup in that clip Mike.
There's enough goin' on in your upload to keep you entertained for weeks. Keep up Ben, count the artists.......damn, I can't keep up.
Thanks Mike for yet another brace of impressive mash-ups...
Ben's right. There's a lot going on in the video, musically and visually, and it holds together for me even though I don't fully understand it yet.