Highlighting singles have long dominated on here. We’re coming up on our thousandth post, this will make 999, and we’re slightly shifting from singles towards playlists. We really just no longer have time or the writing prowess to cover every single track we love.
Pop remixes especially have fallen back from the spotlight, but we’ve collected quite a few over the past few months and a playlist of the best seemed like the perfect way to share. We may not have much to say about every single track, but they all have taken their original and slapped a new style (usually better than the original).
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/143929366" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]
Last year we picked a theme for our Best Mashups of 2011, which we dubbed, “Mashups Not Inspired by Glee,” but this year we decided to go with a more positive approach. For 2012, our tribute goes out to Ms. Anna Kendrick. She first caught our eye in Rocket Science and now most recently in Pitch Perfect. And although Pitch Perfect wasn’t really all that good, kinda funny, Anna playing an aspiring DJ & mashup artist was probably the hottest thing, and “DJ”, of 2012.
Another change to this year’s list from last was expanding into remixes & covers. The point of this top 2012 list is to feature the best reinterpretations of memorable hits this year, whether it be mixed, mashed, covered and everything in-between. Whatever it may be, as long as it’s not inspired by Glee, it’s all good by us.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/39696388" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18"]
Late Nite Tuff Guy’s smooth soul reinterpretation of the Jackson 5’s ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ starts off with a slow buildup seen in so many downtempo tracks. But unlike most, this buildup doesn’t stretch out too long and brings in MJ’s vocals at times quite nice. Things start to pick up around two minutes in, but it really gets good at just after the three minute mark. What’s really nice about this is to hear Michael Jackson’s voice at a more youthful time. I sometimes forget how different his younger year’s voice brings out a whole different set of emotions along with it.
I should point out that LNTG retitled this remix ‘Don’t Wanna Let U Go [LNTG Interpretation]’ without any reference to Jackson 5 in his SoundCloud. I believe this is so it doesn’t get taken down by those pesky copyright bots scouring SoundCloud to fuck over the remix community.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/52696858" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" width="60%"]
Even more than Earth, Wind & Fire or Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers is my go to guy for all things soulster. So if we get any half decent rework of his, you know I’m gonna be all over it.
LNTG’s rework, now that I think about it, starts off a lot live Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” and slowly works its way into Wither’s classic “Just the Two of Us” vocals. It does take a bit to get into the good stuff, like too many downtempo tracks, but once you’re in, it’s pure suaveness from the man himself – whom I still gotta give most the credit to for this rework, those vocals are on a level like no other.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/38965982" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18"]