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Friday 25 May 2007

The Sycophantic Dreams of...Colatron vol.3 (Is This The End for Andy? sessions)

Well, here we go again chaps. It's taken some time to get this one out, I've just been ridiculously busy, and seem to have been constantly out which is amazing for someone with no pennies, but get it out I have.

After the success of some of the tracks I have made in preparation for this (another track "Dirrty Bitch (You Are Beautiful) on Scott's awesome podcast over at http://ramdomthoughts.co.uk/ - seriously check it out! Thanks again mate for all the support), I've come to the conclusion I need to look at new software for actually putting the mixes together. Although I'm getting better at creating tracks using Acid Pro, I don't feel as though I'm getting the hang of putting them all together in one coherent mix. Saying that, I'm happier with this one, than I am the other two, but when you are dropping tracks in, one at a time and then trying to blend them, I get the impression I am missing the 'bigger picture' as it were and it's not until it's all finished and rendered that I get to listen back to it as a whole. I have Ableton Live, the industry standard for actual mixing, but after starting it, I inadvertently changed the screen view and now I can't get it back to the way I need it! Plus I haven't got the patience to read through the ~2000 page instruction manual!

Still, give this a listen and I'm sure it'll kick your bank holiday (if you're in the UK that is!) off with a bang. In terms of being a learning aid, this 'mix' alone has took me on leaps and bounds, the sheer number of ideas I came up with along the way, and how a lot of those materialised in to the individual tracks blogged below, plus a few that I haven't posted yet.

So I kick off with a Radio Colatron intro, giving me opportunity to drop a few of those TV theme tunes in that have been sitting on my PC at work for the last 4 years. From there I go to my fave acapella I came across whilst making all this, the awesome Nelly Furtado, who has become quite literally a man-eater this last year. Hot track and great vocal. Chuck in a bit of the obvious but stirring it up a bit before heading in to one of my fave bootlegs of last year.

Then there is a bit of a rhythm section, including my own "The Foxy Drummer" which has some dodgy off moments with the backing drums from the Stone Fox Chase (still got to work out how to cancel some of that background stuff out, noise gates just don't do it for me!) but has a certain charm to it.

Then in to my fave section - I'd been searching high and low for a copy of Colonel Bagshot's "Six Day War" for yonks as my original MP3 of it was deleted a while back, and I love the track, so I did two versions of it (see post below) and then dropped in the great DJ Ayers version too. Just can't get enough of these tracks.

Then the usual bit of surrealism with my remix of Current 93 before bring the beats back in. A great and completely random sample of Courtney Love losing it on stage follows on from my most popular download to date (77 individual downloads so far) before a section from my favourite album at the moment, the amazing Mark Ronson.

Next up more silly samples that are probably completely out of place, with the granddaddy of electro before a bit of hot Beyonce action.

A real suspect non-attempt at mixing takes you in to my homage to all struggling lo-fi indie bands everywhere - "99! Crayola", before a much more successful indie band (and one of the highlights of the gigging scene last year) in the form of Bloc Party.

Then, as promised to me mate Cassie from myspace, a bucket load of Led Zeppelin, but in bootleg form. Still in my top 3 or 4 bands of all time, and done great justice from the various geniuses of GYBO.

More random samples prevail, this time from a music on hold sample disc I received at work (the dangers of telecoms, you get bombarded with this stuff), but which nicely segued in to my completely otherwise useless track Pussy Jaw 3.

Then a piece I wasn't too sure about - I'd been dying to get Sunscreem's classic "Love U More" in to something (if you didn't know, I was raised on early acid house and rave - the type of music I will never get tired of listening to) and in a rush job, I whacked it in to this. Then during the middle section, I realised I had nothing to fill out the track, but eventually bodged it together with the weird spoken word samples I found. I think the words being spoken are quite poignant to this track's vibe. See what you think. I daren't post it as a seperate track though as I'm not sure of it, and I did discover something else that I can use Sunscreem on so keep 'em peeled. Finishes with an awesome hypnotist section though, that I put some silly effects on which lead wonderfully in to a track from another band in my top 3 or 4 - Leeds' favourites, the Music.

Then I reprise the idea of Radio Colatron, giving me a chance to play a snippet of true metal believers Dragonforce, as promised to Dougie, plus more importantly, pay a little bit of me good friends Zendi and Steve (with backing vocals from Jake, the heartbreaker!) from their now defunct band Elmira Landmine.

Then the amazing Camera Obscura, with a possible message coming from Colatron in the lyrics...

To finish, I had to get this track on. One of my abiding memories of being 12 years old was a friend of the time introducing me to the more experimental of music, and this track was my catharsis. Got me looking in to a lot of places I should have been looking well before, and I can honestly say shaped my teen years.

Anyway, enough chit chat - I'm ranting now.

The Sycophantic Dreams of... Colatron vol. 3 (Is this the End for Andy? sessions)

Joe Fagin - That's Living Alright
Boots Randolph - Yakkety Sax
Rick Derring - Real American
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up
Nelly Furtado - Say It Right (acapella)
Colatron - Say It Crazy
Artie Fufkin - Crazy Logic
Colatron - The Foxy Drummer (Colatron Bangs the Drum)
Graham Central Station - The Jam
The Bar Keys - Holy Ghost
The New Breed - PM or Later (instrumental)
Colatron - Six Day War (Beats Bagshot mix - edit)
Colatron - Six Day War (I've Got Something to Say mix)
DJ Ayers - Six Day War
DJ Shadow - Six Days
Current 93 - All the Little Horses (Colatron remix)
The Prodigy - Voodoo People (Dust Brothers remix)
Colatron - Dirrty Bitch (You Are Beautiful)
Courtney Love - Go Fuck Yourself With Eddie Vedder's Dildo
Mark Ronson - Diversion
Mark Ronson (feat. Kasabian) - L.S.F.
The Muppets - Closing Theme
Jeans Jaques Perrey - E.V.A.
Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger (acapella)
Nostalgia 77 feat. Alice Russell - Seven Nation Army (acapella)
...I Think Something is Happening...
Colatron - Crazy In Love 4 E.V.A.
Colatron - 99! Crayola
Bloc Party - Helicopter (Whitey Version)
Wax Audio - Whole Lotta Sabbath
The Real Greque - Shake your Ocean
...Sit and Relax, listen to the purr of...
Colatron - Pussy Jaw 3
Colatron - Blood Luv
The Music - Walls Get Smaller
Nelly Furtado - Say It Right (acapella)
Dragonforce - Prepare for War
Elmira Landmine - Divine Communication
Camera Obscura - Country Mile
...the voice of Colatron...
Psychic TV - Message from Thee Temple
...It's Over, How D'Ya Like It?





MP3 Here
CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE


Special thanks to the cover stars this time, the lovely Kayleigh and the lovely Leslie, and yep, that is my non-muscular body in a muscle vest.

Special thanks to everyone else too for giving me the ideas. I just gotta think of one of Smartie's Angels and something good pops in to my head.

I'm off to catch up on me kip, and to make time for my Myspace buddies - I've been so slack on keeping up with you all. Forgive me?

Enjoy all, and have a great weekend,

I've been Colatron
x x x

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi mate

Thanks so much for the mention in your latest post - much appreciated. I was wondering if you would kindly link to http://ramdomthoughts.co.uk/ instead of to the Wordpress address - if I'm not being too much of a pain in the arse.

Have a great weekend.

Scott

Benjamin said...

Hey Andy,
wow ... I'm a bit late to the party, but better late than never.
This is an absolutely awesome mix. Really. Has been a long time, since I enjoyed a mix that much. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Cheers
Benjamin

P.S. Could you please tell me what song it is, that starts around minute 60? It's an instrumental consisting mainly of drums and guitars. It sounds a lot like "Explosions In The Sky" or "Godspee You! Black Emperor". I can't seem to extract it from the tracklisting in your post. Thanks a lot.

Unknown said...

Hi Benjamin,

Woah, I'd forgot I made this! I kinda gave up on making full length mixes as it was such hard work, and it never seemed to really fit (in many ways, I was tempted to delete earlier posts with the first two Sycophant mixes on as I was so embarassed by them, hence my concentrating on single tracks which I kinda have the knack for).

Thanks for the feedback though - means a lot. I'd actually had this on in the car this week driving to work and I'd forgotten just exactly how good this turned out (even if I do say so myself :D).

Caused me no end of problems at the time putting this together, as noted in the background notes to it, but on reflection a couple of months later, I think it really does work as a mix. Who knows, I have week off from work next week so I may try and do a new one!

With regards to the track you ask about, I'm not sure. At the 60 minute mark, it's still DJ Shadow's "Blood on the Motorway" mixed with Sunscreem's "Luv U More" and some random vocals I grabbed off the internet. Just after is The Music's "Walls Get Smaller" - this version being the hidden track on their second album, "Welcome to the North", although I have the orginal demo version as a B-Side on one of their singles. This kicks in at 1hr 1min 11secs.

If you mean the track that comes in at around 41 min 01 secs, which is all guitars and drums, it's the Whitey Remix of Bloc Party's "Helicopter" to be found on the excellent Eddie Temple-Morris' "Dance Rocks" compilation. I was going to mash it with Forward Russia's "Four" but couldn't quite get the timing.

Anyhow, I think on reflection, it is the Music's track you mean. If you need it, message me and I'll sort you out with a copy or 3. They are the 2nd best band I've ever seen (second only to the mighty Verve) and I always tell people, their vocalist, Robert Harvey is the Robert Plant of my generation. If you don't know their work, I strongly recommend both of their albums.

Anyhow, I've gone on for too long. Many thanks again for your smashing feedback. Good to know people are listening!

All the best,
Andy

Benjamin said...

Hi Andy,
it was the "The Music" track I was asking you about ... it was a bit of digging, but I finally found it. First iTunes, then wikipedia and finally themusic.info, where I got hold of several live tracks of them, and confirmed that the track I was looking for was "The Walls Get Smaller".
This one really blew my mind.
As you can see on my http://www.last.fm/user/nureineide Last FM profile, I've kind of discovered The Music now. They are awesome.

Anyway, as I said already: Your Mix is really good. I listen to an awfully lot of mashups (don't know why, but the intelligence behind them somehow strikes a chord with me), so I think that I can say, that I know what I'm talking about, when it comes to mashups. And your Mixes are good. So go on, make some more.
I think it's more than usual, that some artists need some distance between them and their work, to enjoy it again.

I've added a little information about you (colatron) to last.fm ... maybe you want to complete it, and maybe even upload some of your tracks.
I'd be happy about the tracks you mentioned. My email address is breitzammer [silly symbol] gmail DOT com
Thanks

Unknown said...

Cheers Benjamin - I will definitely have a look in to Last FM this weekend and upload me details.

I've just tried to email you with a couple (well, more than a couple. About 37!) of links to all the tracks I have of The Music, but the email bounced back. Could you email me directly at colatron22[remove me]@hotmail.co.uk so as I get your email address from there and I will forward these links on to you directly.

All the best,
Andy