BAH & THE HUMBUGS: BIGGER THAN SANTA
A 25th Anniversary Humbug Tribute
Featuring Humbugs songs performed by the following bands:
DJ CrispMix
Currier vs. Ives (christmashup)
"Monster Mashup" (2008) by DJ CrispMix was the most ambitious mashup in history, a 23-minute excursion in sound with a record number of those little moments of consonant serendipity that make the mashup genre so much fun. By its completion the piece was literally like nothing ever heard before or, even more literally, like everything ever heard before, all at once.
After encountering DJ Earworm's multilayered mashup in which Laurie Anderson, The Beatles, Pat Benatar and Eurythmics are brought in alongside Dolly Parton's appalachian-twinged "Stairway to Heaven," DJ Krispmix was inspired and became determined to bring excessive quantity to a genre previously based on quality. Yes, he would do the World's Biggest Mashup.
The logical starting point for this 'Monster Mashup" was the 1962 hit "Monster Mash," which was quickly paired with "Octopus's Garden" as well "Crocodile Rock," overlaid with snippets of Adrian Belew's Lone Rhinoceros. Onto that was added Warren Zevon repeatedly howling his "Ayooo" from "Werewolves of London." Then came "Dinner With Drac," "Leader of the Pack," "Captain Jack," "Get Back," "O Little Town of Hackensack." By this point the multiple overlaps, while uncannily consonant, were getting hard to keep track of. The rhythmic pulse, though, was still strong.
Once Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music," Reich's "Four Organs" and Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" were added, the texture really started getting somewhat thick. But DJ CrispMix would not stop there, because as strange as it was, the music was still danceable. He went on to layer in The Beatles, The Crickets, The Byrds, The Bears, The Monkees, Gorillaz, Gomez, Guns & Roses, Stone Roses, Stone Poneys, Joni Mitchell, Eddie Money, Eddie Albert, Herb Alpert, Al Hirt, Alice Cooper, Super Troopers, Supertramp, Superchunk, P-Funk, P-Diddy, Gordon Liddy, Fiddy, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Duran Duran, Manfred Mann, Jan and Dean, and Janis Ian.
Probably what really took this mix over the top was DJ CrispMix's descision to then proceed with all of "Ommadawn," "Olias of Sunhillow," "Einstein on the Beach" and Shostakovich Symphonies #1-15 (excepting 7, for which there were licensing issues). The resulting sound was indescribable, except for perhaps the descriptor "bad," yet fans snapped it up and gave it a try, mostly to see if they could pick out the clip of Eddie Albert.
The record turned out to have an odd effect on listeners: Rather than just turning it off in disgust, most people who listened to Monster Mashup found themselves removing the CD, unplugging their stereo, carrying it outside and tossing it in the trash. Worse, the listeners would not only not remember having done so, they would claim not to recognize the name "DJ CrispMix" or, in fact, the word "music." The mixmaster himself went through something of a nervous breakdown at this point and only after six months was he allowed near a turntable. His "baby steps" toe-in-the-water exercise back toward musical combination is heard here a rocked-out version of "A Charles Ives Christmas" from the original Humbugs album, 12/25/01, a proto-mashup that CrispMix aptly retitled "Currier vs. Ives."
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Currier vs. Ives (christmashup) (Lehmkuhl) (instrumental) |