I received an email from YouTube a few days ago informing me that they have flagged one of my videos as containing copyrighted material. Here’s the start of it:
Your video “Shakedown My Heart” has been identified by YouTube’s Content Identification program as containing copyrighted content which Sony/BMG claims is theirs.
Your video “Shakedown My Heart” is still available because Sony/BMG does not object to this content appearing on YouTube at this time. As long as Sony/BMG has a claim on your video, they will receive public statistics about your video, such as number of views. Viewers may also see advertising on your video’s page.
Interestingly enough, it is the visual content that they are laying claim to. I’m actually really surprised they are able to detect something like this automatically — especially since this is a highly edited mashup video! Maybe they do character recognition to discover song titles, artists, etc. that might appear in introductory credits of music videos.
Sasha Frere-Jones gives his take on laptop DJs in The New Yorker magazine.
I’m no fashionista, but some do consider me an authority on DJ fashion. Okay, so that’s totally a joke, but it does make a great segue into what I’m about to say about some of the sick threads DBM Labs is selling.
Everything in the Spring/Summer 2008 lineup is awesome. Okay, except the pink one. I just can’t do pink. I personally have HEADSPIN but I’ve also got my eye on TONEARM and NEW ORDER.
From a quality standpoint, the fabric is 100% thick cotton. It’s probably the most comfortable t-shirt I own.
I’m also what some might call slender, so actually finding a t-shirt that doesn’t look like a moo-moo on me is usually kind of hard. DBM Labs has a simple sizing chart on their web site so you can avoid that moo-moo look if you so desire. I hear that this is fashionable with the kids these days, though.
And of course if you are too poor to actually buy clothes, you can pick up some free stickers, slap ‘em on a wife-beater, and you’ve got yourself a custom DBM Labs shirt. Yeah, not as cool as the real thing, but that’s what you get for free.
PS. I’ll update the post with a picture of HEADSPIN once I can find my camera.
I’ve been told Kate Perry’s I Kissed A Girl is this year’s Umbrella. And in the bootleg world, this means everyone is making a Kate Perry mashup. I guess you might call it a contest — who can come up with THE best mashup for the biggest pop hit of year.
Anyways, here’s my unofficial entry — proudly presented in conjunction with Audioporn Central. Hope you like it!
Kate Perry (”I Kissed a Girl”) vs. New Young Pony Club (”The Bomb”)
I Kissed the Bomb (DJ Matt Hite Mashup)
A Minor, 137 BPM
Major thanks to Simon Iddol who once again came through with an awesome cover. He’s currently having a summer design sale so if you need any graphic work done, now is the time to contact him.
PS. There are a few audio minor clicks you might hear in the recording. Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about them — they are in the original instrumental. C’est la vie.
It seemed like just yesterday that promoters Adrian & Mysterious D were starting up a modest little mashup night at a tiny, border-line dive bar in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Times certainly have changed — Bootie is now a twice monthly, filled to maximum capacity affair at one of San Francisco’s largest nightclubs. As the club turns the “big 5″ this Saturday, I would like to not only congratulate but also thank Adrian & Mysterious D for making Bootie happen. I’ve enjoyed every minute of working with both of you, whether as a DJ or just making tracks that help keep the party going. Thanks for everything.
I’ve been fiddling with this one for far too long. DJ Adrian gave it a test spin at last month’s Bootie and it went over huge. It’s had a few more tweaks and twiddles since then — hopefully for the better!
This one’s short and sweet. The vocal pairing of Ric Ocasek’s Just What I Needed over the instrumentation of The Ting Tings’ That’s Not My Name sounds surprisingly natural. If you’re a child of the 80s, you’ll like this one.
The Cars (”Just What I Needed”) vs. The Ting Tings (”That’s Not My Name”)
That’s Just Not What I Needed (DJ Matt Hite Mashup)
E Major, 145 BPM
Don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I truly appreciate them. Thanks!
Update 7/14/2008: Simon made an awesome cover for me! Thanks, Simon.
I’ve been studying music theory off and on for the past few years, slowly trying to retrain my brain to understand the actual mechanics of music. It’s not often that you see a writer talk about music theory in terms of Pythagoras and Einstein, but Seed Magazine writer Dmitri Tymoczko has embraced his inner mathematician and done just that. Here’s an excerpt:
Western music can ultimately be represented as a series of points and line segments on abstract shapes in higher dimensions. If we can understand their structure, then the deep principles underlying Western music will finally be revealed.
If you are even vaguely interested in the science behind the sound of Western music, you’ll want to read Dmitri’s article. Good stuff.
I’m playing the Electro-Bootie room inside Bootie this Saturday, June 28th. It’s Pride weekend in San Francisco so I fully expect the party to be completely off-the-hook insane. Join us if you dare!
How to mix disco — in case you were wondering.