My Latest Obsession...

By thePatrick

Alright. Admittedly, I am a music nerd. I know lots of pointless stuff. I play a few pointless instruments. I want to purchase a tambourine. If that doesn't scream nerd to you, then just hold on to your tray tables.

I download and listen to a podcast on a regular basis. The AP Show is put out by Alternative Press magazine, and is a pretty good way for me to listen to new music, either by my favorite bands or bands I haven't heard of. The most recent one played a song by an artist called Girl Talk. Girl Talk can't be called a band, because it's only one guy. And he does mash ups, and they are amazing. For those of you who don't know what a mash up is, allow me to quote wikipedia

"A mash-up is a song created out of pieces of two or more songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the music track of another... Mash-ups are incredible fun and a fascinating way to reexperience some of your favorite tunes." (read the full article here)

The fact that you can take and sample a bunch of completely unrelated songs and create new ones, and they all sync up to the same beat amazes me. It's something I'd like to get into. But, it takes a lot of work. For example, Girl Talk's "Feed the Animals" cd, which is currently for download, and you can pay the same price you paid for Radiohead's "In Rainbows" (whatever you want, ask me, and I will give you the address) is just a hair over 53 minutes long and has at least 280 different samples if not more. Everything from Radiohead to Jay Z to Ben Folds Five to Journey to Queen to Vanilla Ice to Dr. Dre to Twisted Sister to Prince to the Beach Boys (and more!). It's amazing.

But, probably only if you are a music geek like myself.