This Is the Shop (Excellent Candy)

Peter Gabriel v 50 Cent

So I was watching Laurie Anderson’s incredible 1986 concert film Home of the Brave, and when she got to the song “Excellent Birds”, a song she cowrote with Peter Gabriel, I was unable to shake the fact that the main melodic riff is extremely similar to the one in 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop”. I was shocked to find that no one else on the internet had pointed this out, so I had to make this.

I used the Peter Gabriel recording of “Excellent Birds” just because it had quite a bit more beef in the rhythm section, but if you’ve read this far please check out Laurie Anderson’s work especially Mister Heartbreak and Big Science. Thank you.

Semi-Charming Man

The Smiths vs. Third Eye Blind

The title came first. Once I discovered the fact that these two songs are in compatible keys and tempos, this could not be stopped.

God | People

Kanye West vs. Marilyn Manson vs. Stevie Wonder vs. Depeche Mode vs...

This is along the lines of what I’ve been working on lately, with no one song being the “main” instrumental or acapella for longer than a few bars. There are 22 songs sampled in all - find them all and win a prize!

Shake it Off (Like a Polaroid Picture)

Taylor Swift vs. OutKast

This was a fun challenge. Many have tried to do something with “Hey Ya”, often to mixed effect. Most people try to edit down the weird time signature into something more conventional, and the result usually sounds awkward or boring. I tried my best to make the Taylor instrumental sound like it was written for Andre’s vocal. It ended up making the Best of Bootie 2018, so I’m counting that as a success.

Blue Crystal Shelter

The xx vs. New Order vs. Rolling Stones

I wanted to try something with more interweaving of different sources throughout, basically trying to create new songs instead of join 2-3 songs together, if that makes sense. This is what set me down the path of becoming super-analytical and using songs with similar lyrical themes to “write” lyrics, which led to the creation of God | People.

Tears for Feist

Feist vs. Tears for Fears

I think this was a case of me hearing one of these songs, hearing some melodic flourish and recognizing that it appeared in the other song, and forcing the songs together through sheer force of will. Always fun to include a guitar solo in a mashup.

Ghostflektor

Arcade Fire vs. Ray Parker, Jr.

I put a lot of extra work into this one in order to justify using “Ghostbusters” well after it had been done to death in the mashup community. It was an honor to be included in the 2019 Bootie Halloween mix as the token “Ghostbusters” inclusion.

Damn All My Friends

LCD Soundsystem vs. blink 182

This works if you can let go of the fact that the Mark Hoppus vocal is way stretched out and focus on the fact that these two songs are about basically the same thing; “Dammit” from the perspective of your 20s and “All My Friends” from the perspective of your 30s.

Payday Rap (Remix)

Dean Craig Pelton

I made this, I think, the day after the Community episode it’s from aired - I had to pirate the individual episode and extract the vocal track from the 5.1 mix, which was the part that took the longest. The backing track is from one of those “Dusty Fingers” cratedigger compilations and is basically untouched.

This got retweeted by a few people tied to the show including Dan Harmon, and was reblogged by the… official Community Tumblr (remember 2014?). Very exciting!

Crazy Train to Chicago

Sufjan Stevens vs. Ozzy Osbourne

The Randy Rhoads guitar solo at 4:14 sounds so sick with the Sufjan track. In my opinion of course.