Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Mash-Ups

Hey hey,
I've been pondering on the idea of trying to create my own acoustic mash-ups, and also considered the idea of artist medleys (this was inspired by Imogen Heap, there are so many bits of her songs that I'd love to put together - I sometimes sing one of her songs over another I'm listening to and it often works rather well).
Anywho, I began having a bit of a look on YouTube for artist medleys and I came across this rather good Taylor Swift one - arranged by Kurt Schneider, sung by Tiffany Alvord.



I think this is excellent. It helps that I recognise all the different snippets from the different songs. The video is really fun and well put together - also it was interesting to have a look at the other stuff on Kurt and Tiffanys' channels, they're both really talented - I've come across quite a few new artists/music producers etc. on YouTube which I think is really rather awesome :).

Someone else who I'd come across previously who has done a Taylor Swift Medley (and done it well) is Julia Sheer (ft. Tyler Ward) - this is an acoustic one, much more like the sort of medley I'd want to do (but with a piano). They've both got great voices, and the video is simple but it really cute. I've listened to quite a few of Julia Sheer's covers and original songs and I really like them - there are also links to few other good young artists on her page which I will hopefully have a look at at some point. But anyway, here's the Taylor Swift songs video:



Having vaguely browsed medleys, I started thinking about mash-ups a bit more and had a bit of a browse of them. I found a whole lot of mash-ups, some good, some not so good, but here are a few that I rather liked.

This first one is a Kelly Clarkson/Coldplay ('My Life Would Suck Without You'/'In My Place') mash-up which I think is good, in some bits it borders on uncomfortable clashy, but I think it just manages to stay on the right side of that line.
There's actually another Kelly Clarkson/Coldplay mash-up that I liked, using the same Coldplay song, but 'Behind These Hazel Eyes' from Kelly Clarkson, I kind of prefer that one, though it's more of a Kelly Clarkson remix (not sure it actually uses anything but the background music of 'In My Place'). However that one has just got a still image as the video so I thought I'd put this one up instead, for something a bit more interesting.



This next one is a Queen/Outkast ('We Will Rock You'/'Hey Ya!') mash-up that is good fun - very upbeat and boppy :). Plus, it amuses me because I remember when 'Hey Ya!' was in the charts and loads of people at school were obsessed with it, lol - it's one of the three songs that reminds me ice skating discos, the other two are 'Where is the Love' by Black Eyed Peas and 'Hole in the Head' by Sugababes...



Right, this one is amazing :P - 'Sweet Home Alabama'/'Country Grammar' - I'd never heard the latter until after I heard this mash-up, and I have to say I think the mash-up is better than the original, lol.



This one is a Kylie/Moloko ('It's in Your Eyes'/'Sing it Back') mash-up which I think works really well, it's a bit of dance music fun :).



And lastly, this is a Gwen Stefani/Britney Spears ('What You Waiting For?'/'Toxic') mash-up - This is actually the first ever mash up that I heard - quite a while before mash-ups became really popular. I still think it's great :P.



So I'd better stop there, though if anyone comes across any really good mash-ups, please feel free to put them in a comment so I can have a look :).
Right, better go now, I need to go figure out how to reattach the legs of my piano to the piano itself... (having taken it away to uni minus the legs to preserve space)
I shall enlist the help of my dear father, who is probably napping...

2 comments:

Jonathan said...

Nice mashups and analysis!

Found your blog from thebibleinoneyear site.

Here's an amazing mashup I came across recently! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uvAcWWlrkk

Hazelnut said...

Ooh, I really like that, lots of layers. It's interesting about the different songs being so similar in format too!