Re: [rumori] Bootlegs New York Times


From: Peter Lasell (p_lasellATyahoo.com)
Date: Thu May 09 2002 - 07:49:29 PDT


I havent tried it, but Id use a filesharing app and
search for a particular song. If someone ripped it
from a cd or vinyl single then there might be a vocal
version. Traditionally, acapellas are popular in
house and hiphop, so more work might have to be
done to reduce a pop/rock track down to an instrumental
(i think there are voice removing plug-ins, but ive
never tried them either). An acapella is used by a dj
to layer a vocal over another set of beats in realtime, however
it doesnt stop someone from using ACID or ProTools to
do the same thing. The term mash-up sounds
like its being pulled from the UK club scene, similar
phrases crop up in jungle and dancehall reggae, where
rmx's are probably most prevailent. Missy Elliot has
garnered a ton of rmx's, both legal and illegal, for
"Get Your Freak On". Probably the most immediate
place to hear it would be on Kid606's newest cd
"Mentalist brings you the fucking jams".

--- Mark Blacklock <mark.blacklockATntlworld.com> wrote:
> "Then they can scour a file-sharing service for a cappella versions
> of
> songs"
>
> I loved his Motley Cru book but these are the words of a man who's
> never
> attempted such a thankless task
>
> anyone know of any decent online resources for a capellas?
>
>
>
> on 9/5/02 2:07 PM, Peter Lopez at pl1xATearthlink.net wrote:
>
> > you'll need to logon but this is the lower portion of todays front
> page new
> > york times, continues on C14 (business)
> >
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/09/arts/09MASH.html
> >
> > Spreading by the Web, Pop's Bootleg Remix
> > By NEIL STRAUSS
> >
> >
> > he song may sound familiar at first, thanks to the unmistakable
> guitar riff
> > from Nirvana's classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
> >
> > But, suddenly, the recording changes course when, instead of the
> gravelly
> > voice of Kurt Cobain, the smooth R&B harmonies of a Destiny's Child
> hit appear
> > on top of the grunge music. As the recording moves on, it is clear
> that the
> > song is neither fish nor fowl; it is a crossbreed that neither band
> ever
> > intended, or even dreamed of.
> >
> > It is something that is completely different, often illegal and,
> thanks to the
> > Internet, becoming explosively popular.
> >
> > Songs like this one, which combine different hits without adding
> any original
> > music, may represent the first significant new musical genre to be
> lifted out
> > of the underground, developed and then spread, mostly via the Web.
> The songs,
> > called mash-ups or bootlegs, typically match the rhythm, melody and
> underlying
> > spirit of the instrumentals of one song with the a cappella vocals
> of another.
> > And the more odd the pairing the better.
> >
> > The music industry has greeted them with mixed response. A radio
> station in
> > London playing a popular mash-up with Christina Aguilera belting
> her hit
> > "Genie in a Bottle" over the retro-rock of the Strokes was served
> with a
> > cease-and-desist order by Ms. Aguilera's publisher,
> Warner-Chappell.
> >
> > On the other hand, in Britain last week, Island Records released a
> legal
> > mash-up, which entered the pop charts at No. 1. It combines music
> from three
> > different artists — the new-wave icon Gary Numan, the R&B singer
> Adina Howard
> > and the girl-pop group the Sugababes.
> >
> > The music — there are hundreds of such recordings — is particularly
> popular in
> > Europe, where D.J.'s play mash-ups at parties. But through the
> Internet it is
> > spreading not only there but also in the United States. There are
> so many
> > bootlegs using Eminem and Missy Elliott songs (Missy mixed with the
> 80's group
> > the Cure, Eminem with the fey pop of the Smiths, and Missy with the
> heavy
> > metal group Metallica, for starters) that some practitioners refer
> to making a
> > bootleg as "doing a Missy" on a song.
> >
> > The growing scene is a result of two technological forces that have
> been
> > revolutionizing music-making and the record business: cheap
> computer software,
> > which makes it possible for a teenager with no musical knowledge to
> create
> > professional-sounding productions at home, and Internet
> file-sharing services,
> > which provide a quick way to gather and share music. Naturally, the
> music
> > industry is concerned about this, because in most cases the tracks
> are being
> > used without permission.
> >
> > But, today, when the Internet seems to loom larger in many music
> fans' heads
> > than lawyers' threats, bedroom musicians on both sides of the
> Atlantic are
> > undeterred. All they need to do is download or buy software
> programs like Acid
> > (which automatically synchronizes the rhythms of different tracks).
> Then they
> > can scour a file-sharing service for a cappella versions of songs,
> which
> > record companies sometimes include on promotional singles for club
> disk
> > jockeys. Using a program like Acid, they can combine their source
> material
> > into a new song.
> >
> > Afterward, the creators upload their musical patchworks back onto
> the same
> > file-sharing service they grabbed the source material from.
> >
> > The mark of a good bootleg, fans say, is that it doesn't sound at
> all like one
> > song superimposed on top of another, but a new song in itself.
> Among the most
> > popular bootleg artists are Freelance Hellraiser (responsible for
> the Aguilera
> > mix), Osymyso (who combines more than 100 songs in one mash-up),
> Kurtis Rush
> > and Richard X. The more popular acts create their music through
> sampling their
> > own records and then spread the mash-ups through white-label (i.e.
> anonymous)
> > singles or playing them on the radio. But the music can also be
> accessed on
> > file-sharing sites like Kazaa and Audiogalaxy.
> >
> > "If you take two or three or four great records and mix them
> together, you
> > should end up with a superior product," said Steve Mannion, a
> co-editor at
> > Boom Selection (www.base 58.com), a Web site dedicated to
> documenting the
> > do-it-yourself remix, bootleg and sampling movements. "The best
> bootlegs don't
> > sound like bootlegs; they work at a profound level, and actually
> sound like
> > they are the original record."
> >
> > Completing the circle back to the record store, an illegal CD
> collecting the
> > years best mash-ups, "The Best Bootlegs in the World Ever,"
> recently appeared
> > on the shelves of some underground music retailers in England and
> the United
> > States. It was created by profiteers who simply downloaded the
> songs from a
> > file-sharing service and then burned them onto a CD. "It is a case
> of
> > bootleggers bootlegging bootlegs," said David Dewaele, who, with
> his brother,
> > Stephen, make up one of the most accomplished and long-standing
> teams, known
> > alternately as 2 Many D.J.s and the Flying Dewaele Brothers.
> >
> > Last year, the Dewaele brothers, Belgians who also play in the
> popular rock
> > band Soulwax, created a legal mix album, but not without a lot of
> difficulty.
> > It took the brothers two weeks to make the album, released as "2
> Many D.J.s:
> > As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2" — there is no Part 1 — but nine
> months to
> > license the music (which includes songs by Dolly Parton, Sly and
> the Family
> > Stone, and many others). And, even then, they were only able to
> clear the
> > music on the CD for release in Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland.
> >
> > Pirated copies of the album have been circulating in the United
> States, and
> > some music executives who have heard it cite it as not only the
> remix album of
> > the year but the best album of any kind released so far this year.
> >
> > "It's my favorite record of the year so far," said Steve Greenberg,
> a former
> > Mercury Records executive who now runs the independent label
> S-Curve Records.
> > "It looks at music in a fresh and original way, and breaks down
> walls in ways
> > that are particularly exciting considering how categorized and
> fragmented
> > music is at the moment."
> >
> > One of the Dewaele brothers' first mash-ups was a combination of
> the rapper
> > Skee-Lo's light-hearted "I Wish," Survivor's anthem "Eye of the
> Tiger," and
> > the Breeders's rock song "Cannonball."
> >
> > From the opening track of their album, there is a distinct style
> and aesthetic
>
=== message truncated ===

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