Brought to you by a delicious glass of Redbreast Irish Whiskey, here’s what I thought about last night’s episode of Lost (Recon), in more-or-less realtime:

1. Last week on Lost: just read what I wrote last week, slacker. But, oh yeah, there was a SUBMARINE!
   Continue reading »

Wait, what was this episode actually called? Oh right. “Dr. Linus”. Anyway, I didn’t do a whole fancy liveblog thing but my spoiler-filled bulletpoints follow:

Today’s song is so epic that I had to take a day off of blogging to prepare for it. That’s my official explanation for missing yesterday’s scheduled post. Okay, let’s get to it.

Girl Talk. How somebody can go from this complete pile of crap to the best album of 2008 in just two years is utterly beyond me, but Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) managed it with the life-affirming Feed the Animals. Girl Talk takes the mashup mentality to one of its logical conclusions: why just put two or three songs together when you can put the best eight-to-fifteen seconds of a few dozen songs together instead? This strategy is risky, to say the least — if the samples aren’t awesome, if they don’t mesh well, if the listener is sensitive to the rampant obscenity Girl Talk favors, it just comes off as a horrible mess (see Girl Talk’s aforelinked 2006 album Night Ripper for just how bad this can get). But with Feed the Animals, which incidentally has a fascinating commercial history (it was originally sold In Rainbows-style but now can (and should) be purchased at Amazon’s MP3 Store), Girl Talk managed to make an album I’d put up there among the very best of the last five years. It’s lively, funny, artful, and assertive, and incredibly compelling. And, for what it’s worth, it’s the best music to run to (up-tempo and continuously changing).

Now I think I’ll let my judgmental friends over at Pitchfork say a bit:

Another remix today, AND another mashup today. And the best part is they’re both Biggie jams! First the remix, by our old friends Ratatat. I have nothing to say about this except that it involves a bubble goose and a lot of obscenity, and it may be Ratatat’s best remix work. Here you go: Party and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix)

And second, here’s a mashup that pretty much epitomizes the phrase “guilty pleasure”. It combines the aforementioned “Party and Bullshit” with, well, let’s just say that Miley Cyrus is involved. Check it out, internet: Party and Bullshit in the USA

Tomorrow: best. mashup. ever.

Unrelated Postscript: Archer is funny. It’s deeply obscene, irreverent, and morally bankrupt. And the son from Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist voices the protagonist. It’s the closest thing we have to Arrested Development, at least until Dayman returns. You should probably be watching it, friends.

Whoops. I swear I didn’t forget about you guys. Although I totally did. But let’s not dwell on that, let’s dwell on today’s song, which is a remix involving the Beastie Boys. The incomparable Fatboy Slim puts on a hell of a mediocre live show. But, more relevant, he is good at repurposing other people’s work (examples A, B, and C). So anyway, here’s his remix of “Body Movin’”: Body Movin’ (Fatboy Slim Mix)

We have one more Beatles mashup, by dj BC, who made a couple of albums blending the Beatles with the Beastie Boys (the albums are purportedly the work of The Beastles). Today’s selection, “Tripper Trouble”, is a really solid production mixing the Beatles’ iconic “Day Tripper” hook with the Beastie Boys’ born-to-be-remixed “Ch-Check It Out” . The result is pleasing, if uncomplicated: Tripper Trouble – dj BC

Lazyblog today. A couple of months back some dude in Britain released a Beatles/Wu-Tang Clan mashup album. It 90% sucked, but I like this track: Uh Huh – Wu Tang vs. the Beatles

Ready for some Lost spoilers? Here’s what I thought about last night’s episode (Sundown) in delayed semi-realtime–just think of it as my Olympics feed.