The Way I Bomb Your Body

... or "how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb".

Another quick update, with a classic house vibe this time...

This last month's been manic but hopefully there is more of this to follow...

The Way I Bomb Your Body

Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson vs. The Bucketheads vs. Tom Novy
The Way I Are vs. The Bomb vs. Your Body



MP3 Dowload Page Here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?dlkmlmuywmb

U Still F.E.A.R. My Name

Not too much to say at the mo, as still beavering away on the new mix, but in the meantime, here's a little remix of my previous [s]mash hit U F.E.A.R. My Name.

A lot more Ian Brown and a lot less UNKLE, 50% of this made with my own DIY instrumental and acapella. I've tightened up on the timing too, and had a play with some stereo effects.

Look out this weekend too, as a whole new track coming your way. And I love it. She bangs...

U Still F.E.A.R. My Name

Alicia Keys vs. Ian Brown vs. Dann
U Don't Know My Name vs. F.E.A.R. vs. F.E.A.R.



MP3 Download Page over here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?8tdwmmommnz

Happy Valentines...

...to all the lady Cola-freaks. If I'd had more foresight, I would have made a romantic mash, but I ran out of time. Check out me "Good Girl Turned Sexual" elsewhere on these pages instead and let the good times roll :D

See ya soon

x

Work It The Fuck Out/Red Hot Work Out

Not too much to say this week; I'm so busy working on exclusive tracks for the new full length mix, I haven't really had time to finish off any of my current projects (last count was 7 different tracks), and hence I'm banging out a couple of oldies to keep the Cola-Freaks happy for a week or two.

This is a double Beyonce portion, both tracks featured as the extended intro on the Part IV mix. It's the sound of the awesome pop-tastic diva Beyonce (yep, another Beyonce mash!) versus the gritty council estate inspired lyrical spittings of the simply incredible Skinnyman (you MUST search out a copy of "Council Estates of Mind" - UK hip hop doesn't get any better nor more thoght provoking).

It's also the sound of Beyonce versus one of the best hip-hop acts I've ever seen live. The mighty Jurassic 5. Short and sweet but may sit well in someone's MP3 mix set.

Right, I'm off to scare myself with some of these new dark sounds I'm coming up with (the intro to the new mix terrifies me!). Have a great weekend everyone. But before I do go, big shout out to Valerian11 over at the fab Gary Numan forum (http://www.numanme.co.uk/forumme/) for directing the good folk over there to here. Much appreciated. And cheers to DJ Squid and the Bootleggers Dozen in Portland on the 24/7 KNRK station for banging out "My Cheated Heart Goes Bang" in the show a week or two back. I got played! Check 'em out at http://knrk.radiotown.com/splash/

"At this time brothers and sisters, it is indeed my pleasure, to introduce to you a brother who's been around for a long, long, long time...."

Work It the Fuck Out

Skinnyman vs. Beyonce
Fuck Da Hook vs. Work It Out



Download page here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?a1z6jbmhlet


Red Hot Work Out

Jurassic 5 (feat. the Dap-Kings) vs. Beyonce
Red Hot vs. Work It Out



Download page here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?8dydrx3lwz1

Edwards' Theme

A funny old week in the world of Colatron online. Always one for searching for myself or other Colatrons around the world via Google, I came across a couple of interesting posts.

First up was over at a site I hadn't heard of before but I love the concept. Mixphoria. Basically, a battle of the tracks, 2 mash-ups go head to head and the winner decided by visitor vote. My Inna Raya Furtada track was chosen to go up ahead the awesome DJ Earworm. Of course, I lost but it's the taking part that counts. Many thanks to the guys at Mixphoria for including me. Give them support and take in some great tracks over at

http://www.mixphoria.com/

Next up was Culture Bully's top 15 mash-ups of 2007. Again, I didn't make the grade but a very kind soul named Hattie queried why me good mate Bobby Martini, and myself hadn't made the cut. Yay! I have a fan! Unfortunately, Culture Bully doesn't appear to know who I am, but hey, I'm working on getting my name out there so who knows, maybe this year I can win someone over and make the top lists at the end of '08. And Hattie, thanks for the support - by all means, leave me a comment or send me a message. Nice to hear from my fan(s?).

Right - here's the next track of '08, and my first exclusive of the year for Scott over at Ramdomthoughts.

I've basically been having a go at mashing the legendary Miami Vice theme since I got a PC early last year. For such a deceptively simple track, its amazing how hard it is to get anything to go with it. Many projects have fallen by the wayside. Then recently, I came across an awesome torrent, kindly posted by the amazing DJ M.i.F. featuring 80 or so motown acapellas. I've been fiddling with them for the last month or so, and amazingly, one of my favourite 80s tracks, "Don't Look Any Further" actually seemed to fit perfectly. Or so I thought.

I generally, when making a track, can tell from the first 4 or 8 bars if it's worth pursuing. This one seemed to be a winner, Dennis' vocals instantly catching my ear against Jan Hammer's synth. I was excited. However, the timing on the vocal seemed a little out, and sparse. It took me a good couple of nights to snip the vocal parts, map the various tempos, and then flesh it out by re-arranging various backing vocals. The track was finished and I loved the moody, soundtrack-vibe kick up the eighties feel I'd achieved. But one thing bugged me. Was it in key?

Dennis seems to hit the spot consistently, but Seidah seems to go all over the place hitting those powerful high notes. Multiple playbacks didn't help as sometimes it seemed to fit, but other times was distracting. I sought advice from Bobby M, who amazingly, had actually had an attempt at the same track approx. 6 months before (great minds and all that - lol) and having made pretty much the same track gave up on it trying to get Seidah consistently in tune. Me? I have no such morals and will do anything to get a post online! Hehe.

I did do a little pitch correction in Audition which helped slightly take the sharpness off it, but I'm still not 100% behind her - maybe 98% at best. As with Bobby, I don't thnk its possible to get her completely on key. But I don't care. The idea is too potent to not use, and I love the track anyway - for me the clashing gives it a bit of tension, adding to the moody hot summer night vibe of the track. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Hattie - this one's for you.

Edwards' Theme

Jan Hammer vs. Dennis Edwards & Seidah Garret
Crockett's Theme vs. Don't Look Any Further



Download Page Here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?8xztn4gjgge

Break out the shoulder pads

Six Day War part II (And the War Goes On...)

I never go back, only forwards. Once a track is finished, I will rarely if never go back to tweak it, even at someone's advice - if I can't nail a track first time round, that's the way it was meant to be. And I will rarely if ever use the same vocal twice (unless I am really struggling to make anything, or the vocal could work better in the new idea that hits me). This hopefully keeps things fresh from me.

However, there is one track that I would go back to every day of my life if I could think of something new or better for it - Colonel Bagshot's "Six Day War". The track which was so wonderfully treated by DJ Shadow on the Private Press album, has long remained one of my favourite songs of all time. Classic late 60s psychadelia where the lyrics seem as pertinent today as they did back then (the 1967 Arab-Israeli War) with hard funky beats and soulful backing built in by Shadow.

And it holds a special place in my heart as it was one the main part of one of the first mashes I made - Six Day War (I've Got Something to Say mix), which if truth be told, was probably a little sloppy but got me noticed and made me a few friends along the way. Hell, after everything I've made, it's still the favourite track of 95% of my friends who listen to my stuff.

And then there was the mash I made with Janis Joplin vs. DJ Shadow - Mercedes Benz vs. Walkie Talkie. Again, I think this was the 2nd track I ever made, and I still love it now, nearly one year on. Another anti-war mash.

I was in the car the other day listening to the DJ Shadow Live at Brixton Academy set from 2006, just after the release of the Outsider album (I went to the gig in Birmingham on that tour - an amazing night of music, scratching and German Kirschbier - trippy!), and early in the set Shadow plays an amazing live mash of his own "Six Day War" with "Walkie Talkie". Something clicked. I had made mashes based on both tracks, so why not re-mash them in to one mighty mash - my Opus Magnum, my celebration of nearly one year in mash-up land, my celebration of Bush's final months in term...

I was inspired and jumped straight to work. To my delight, the Bagshot original fitted Walkie Talkie with a few minor tempo adjustments and cuts here and there. But I wanted to get Janis Joplin in there too, to make it a Colatron vs. Colatron, or Colatron Squared gimmick. Problem being, Walkie Talkie is only about 2:30 minutes long. Janis had to go (although she did help out on the intro, setting the theme of the record against Georgie boy's gibberish ravings), but still, I wanted to extend the track.

Again, sat in the car, only this time listening to my CD of Shadow's "Live! In Tune and On Time" set from 2004 (if anyone's wondering - I love DJ Shadow!), I checked out his live mix of Walkie Talkie and was struck by the mixing of the track with drum n' bass maestro Sci-Clone's "Red Fever". Gives it a real menacing feel. Perfect for the sound of war. I had to somehow blend the original with the live version and I think I've managed to blag it.

Then, dropping in the obligatory sounds of Bush sounding like a hypocrite/idiot/war-mongerer/the devil incarnate, a few choice sounds of horror, a few samples from Paul Hardcastle's amazing anti-war track "Nineteen" of Albert Dobbs and Peter Thomas (thanks to DJ Prince for posting a superb sample pack over at GYBO) and the sample of Shadow himself closing the track, I had myself the sequel I've always wanted to my original anti-war mash.

It still moves me...I hope it moves you too.

Six Day War part II (And the War Goes On...)

Colonel Bagshot vs. DJ Shadow vs. George W. Bush (w/ Paul Hardcastle and Sci-Clone)
Six Day War vs. Walkie Talkie



MP3 Download Page Here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?30emldxy5tn

The full list of tracks used are:
DJ Shadow - Changeling
George W. Bush - Various speeches from 2001 - 2004
Janis Joplin - Mercedes Benz
DJ Shadow - Walkie Talkie
Colonel Bagshot - Six Day War
Paul Hardcastle - Nineteen
DJ Shadow - Six Day War (from Live! In Tune and On Time; feat. Sci-Clone - Red Fever)
various samples of the souds of war

"Ladies and Gentlemen..."

Inna Raya Furtada

Forget Timbaland - Frank Farian is the real uber-producer of pop music. This dude was making high quality, catchy beat driven rhythms when Timbaland was still in his nappies.

And as such, I was driven to this - mashing the mighty Boney M.

First up, I gotta give props to Bobby Martini, who made this possible. I received a mail on Facebook last week asking if I ever read the blog over at:

http://www.audioporncentral.com/

Now, whilst I did read it once or twice a week, I never took a great deal of notice as I was generally too busy to sit down and read it all. Silly really, especially as it introduced me to one of my favourite Memes of all time - the Tommy Seebach "Apache" video mash. Seriously, I cannot watch the Prodigy one without a great big smile coming across my face (although am I the only one who finds it strangely erotic?)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bJduTv1ucq8&feature=PlayList&p=F5914606B2E02A7D&index=2

Anyway, after reading Bobby's message I headed straight over to APC to catch up and the first post that my eyes clocked, was the various disco covers of psychadelic rock classic "In A Gadda Da Vida" by the mighty Iron Butterfly. One of my favourite movie moments is in 80s classic "Manhunter" when the Tooth Fairy is hunting down his blind victim to the sounds of In A Gadda Da Vida. Awesome use of a soundtrack. But amongst the various disco covers, the one version of this mighty rock epic that stood out to me, was the Boney M. version.

Now I don't care what anyone says, cheese or not, Boney M. have some serious tunes. We all know them, and we all love them, whether the 4 guys were singing them or not. Farian's electro-processed vocals and Bobby's dancing were ahead of their time. Seriously. And I challenge you not to want to dance whenever a Boney M. track comes on.

So after watching about 8x Boney M. vids on Youtube, plus the accusation from Zendi that last year I went a bit too hip-hop (what is he talking about?!! Dude, I love ya, but stick to your guitar!), I was set on making my first disco mash.

The problem was - I had about 6 vocals lined up to use with this. Taylor Dane (!!) nearly made the cut, plus the Gossip was on the cards, although I've already mashed SITWOC so decided against it. In the end, I settled on Madonna, but then Nelly Furtado was bugging me too. What to do? I couldn't have the vocals together as they were too distracting from each other and the original Boney M. track was too short to split them out.

What do you do when your instrumental isn't long enough? Hack it to pieces and make a new track! Or in this case, copy and paste the body of the track back in to the main one to extend it, and hope the beats line up! Lol.

Pull on your flared catsuit, pump it up with your affro comb, and dance like Bobby Farrell never went out of fashion

Oh, and needless to say, I now read APC on a daily basis. I recommend you do the same.

Inna Raya Furtada

Boney M. vs. Madonna vs. Nelly Furtado
Gadda Da Vida vs. Ray of Light vs. Maneater



MP3 Download Here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?62gq8f1mg9z

Backup MP3 Download at Divshare, here:
http://www.divshare.com/download/3537952-129


PS. It's coming soon, a kick up the eighties. It changed my life and saved me from my vices....??

Independent Mentasm

Geez, this took me some time to get around to. Since New Year, I've really struggled to come up with anything new - not for lack of files or ideas, but nothing seemed to be gel-ing for me. I've got about 6 projects on the go but just not feeling them at the moment. Writer's Block. It's a crippler!

Still, I threw this one together as a means to start the new year with a bang.

I've had several ideas for crazy 1991 Hoover-rave track Mentasm floating around since I came up with the hardcore trilogy last year, but none of them were really paying off. Then come New Years Eve, in the Cross bar in Moseley, the DJ dropped a housed-up, sped-up mix of the classic Independent Woman and my mind was racing. This seemed like the obvious choice.

Admittedly, the vocal has probably been done to death on the scene, but hey, I still love it and I've never heard a bad mash-up of it (the legendary "Dreadlock Woman" still being one of my fave mash-ups of all time) so I make no apologies for making another version of it.

Throw in a tiny sample from an Altern-8 track, and a HUGE rant at the sound tech, at legendary rave Universe's "Big Love" event (13th August '93 - Lower Pertwood Farm, Wilts.) by the greatest MC of all time (although it's a close call with the Original Detonator, MC Robbie D - I was searching high and low for one sample of him saying "Callin' all the ravers!" but I couldn't place it, hence Mad P got the shout), and you've got a bass-thumpin' rave pop classic.

Are you robbin' the people? Probably....

Independent Mentasm

Second Phase vs. Destiny's Child (w/MC Mad P)
Mentasm vs. Independent Woman



Download Page Here:
http://www.blogger.com/'http://www.mediafire.com/?cvtldwv5n5m'

Back-up Divshare Download Here:
http://www.divshare.com/download/3444712-883



Happy New Year everyone!

Mixed Messages

Well, it's time for probably my last post of the year, and I thought what better way to see out the year than with a multi-artist mega mash!

I actually began working on this track back in June, knocking up the intro in a matter of minutes, but I hit a brick wall, in that I couldn't find a vocal worthy of slipping over the awesome Unfinished Sympathy (one of the best tracks of the 90s without doubt). 6 months later and I went back to the project to see if anything had changed, having amassed another 500 or so acapellas to my collection (I've come across some awesome Motown vocals - watch this space!).

"The Message" is one of those vocals that has probably been done to death in the world of mash-up, but it still remains one of the greatest and most powerful raps out there, it's story of life living in the ghetto being one of the most moving rhymes ever committed to vinyl (hence it's well deserved place in the Rolling Stone top 100 Greatest Songs of all time). Placed in context with the also overused "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., it creates an even more powerful and moving story.

Drop in some emotive piano from one of UNKLE's finest moments and backing vocals from the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, with a dash of the Pussy Cat Dolls and hopefully you have a party banger with a message.

Thanks again to everyone for the support in 2007, and I'll see you all next year!!!

Mixed Messages

UNKLE vs. Martin Luther King, Jr. vs. Pussycat Dolls vs. Massive Attack vs. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five vs. Aretha Franklin

(In a State (Album Version) vs. I Have a Dream vs. In a State (Edit: Music for a Film Version) vs. Don't Cha vs. Unfinished Symapthy vs. The Message vs. Who's Zoomin' Who?)



Download Page Here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bxmpm9znpy1

Last Resort ZShare Link Here:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/6001817ecf5ef7/


Dedicated to the lovely Gemma Kennedy, who I promised a track to in return for listening to me CD! This one's for you hon! Looking forward to more dancing in the New Year :D

Happy Holidays!!!

No tune for you today folks (one or two imminent though!) but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for tuning in to Radio Colatron and making this first year of my making mash-ups so much fun and so worthwhile. I may have lost innumerable hours of sleep in the process of searching for the perfect tune, and I may have broken several copyright laws along the way (!!) but considering this started as a bit of fun, here in my living room in Birmingham, UK, it's now something that I really enjoy and look forward to hearing from you all how much people enjoy what I'm doing. Here's hoping 2008 is even more succesful for me, and that I continue to improve.

In the meantime, you all have a wonderful festive period and holiday. Catch you all soon,

Happy Holidays,
Andy