Sunday Soundbyte: Let's Arcade!

Mashuptown's "Sunday Soundbyte" segment has been absent for a few weeks but now it's back spotlighting a relatively new presence to the mash-up scene.  This week, I bring you a producer that goes by the name of Pure FM Reloaded and/or DJ ViC.  His newest experiment, titled Keep the Car Crazy!, mashes Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" with Arcade Fire's "Keep the Car Running".  In many ways, this mash-up has a lot of potential. In terms of pure concept, both song elements appear to work well with each other.  There is a very nice element of tension and forward movement provided by the Arcade Fire instrumental lines and some of Beyonce's vocals.  In terms of production work, however, this one stops a few steps short of "being really good" and instead lingers around the "good but needs some work" world.  Although the structural lay out of the mash-up (verse, chorus, verse, chorus) is fundamentally correct and appropriately laid out against the Arcade Fire instrumentals, there are a number of noticeable production mishaps.  The first is the sound clips evidenced at forty nine seconds into the mash-up, and again at two minutes and fifty four seconds.  Next is the unclean Beyonce pella, which is particularly noticeable at the one minute mark behind her "uh oh, uh oh" vocals.  We are also treated to a stray "...car running" Arcade Fire vocal line at one minute and fifty four seconds into the mash-up.  Again, there are some nice conceptial elements here.  Concept in general, however, does not make a good mash-up.  An even bigger and more important element is having a good clean pella, free of sound clips and a mash-up free of stray vocal lines from the instrumental interfering with the acapella. Some tweaking is required. Although I don't personally like the abruptness of the ending, I'm not sure how to better orchestrate a more appropriate ending here.  All cards on the table dictate this is a good mash-up with some potential.  Three and one half stars (out of 5) is appropriate.

Acapella: Beyonce - "Crazy In Love"
Instrumental: Arcade Fire - "Keep the Car Running"

DJ ViC - Keep the Car Crazy!

Comments

[aw]

Q,

Sweet. Was listening to the Arcade album the other day and wondering when we'd see a mashup. Keep up the good work. art

[LeeDM101]

Actually I really like this one. Would work super smashingly great on the dancefloor. Have heard far, far worse mashes than this getting rave reviews in some forums.
Nice one ViC!

[ProfQ]

You're right. This is a nice one. However, my reviews are generally critical in nature. Whether or not a mash-up is a hit depends on how people enjoy the production. I listen to the production with a critical ear towards concept (whether the song elements actually work together harmonically and thematically), quality (are both the pella and instrumental clean, do they differ in EQ quality) and form (does the structural lay out make sense musically). Yes I have my personal favorites but I choose not to talk about my favorites, but rather write an un-biased critical review. Notwithstanding, thank you for your responses. I expect nothing but contrasting opinions about my reviewing style.

[ViC]

Thanks a lot Professor for your review!
It is a very meticulous criticism with a lot of points of (good) reflexions about this mash.
Thanks to everybody for your comments.
See you soon with a new mashup ;-)

ViC

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