fourfour

New old rave

I'm like the millionth person to note this, but so much of what is deemed "new rave," when shit is actually still deemed that, doesn't sound remotely. And so, as a way of saying "fuck that shit," I've compiled a mix of new stuff (almost everything is from this year -- this is kind of my mid-year dance music best-of, actually) that actually does sound like back-in-the-day techno and ravey stuff. I figure that since the 4th of July is upon us, a mix is in order. I don't know why, something about celebratory spirit or some shit. This is probably the most tracky thing I've ever posted -- the vocals are at a minimum and it's not very hooky. But, as usual, I find it great for working out to (that's really the purpose of all of my mixes -- I find they make workouts go faster, especially when I'm drafting them and listening to them repeatedly to get them right). Anyway, enjoy. Go running and/or blow off your fingers with some firecrackers or something to this:

Download: New Old Rave

Track list:

1. Jamie Lloyd - May I (Quarion's Morning Rave Remix)
2. Lopazz - We Are (Rex the Dog Remix)
3. James T. Cotton - Got To Let You Know
4. Feadz - Numanoid
5. Bobmo - Rock The
6. Moby - Everyday It's 1989
7. Utah Saints - Something Good 2008 (Ian Carey Remix)
8. Fake Blood - Mars
9. Moby - Disco Lies (Diskokaine Old Rave Remix)
10. John Dahlback - Pyramid (Dirty South Mix)
11. Diskokaine - Rimini
12. Crookers - Lolly Pop
13. Underworld - Ring Road (Fake Blood Remix)
14. Armand Van Helden - Je T'aime (Switch Mix)
15. Róisín Murphy - You Know Me Better (Trevor Lovey Dub)
16. Kris Menace and Spooky - Sterophonic (Extended Mix)
17. Surkin - White Night Two
18. Inner City - Big Fun (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
19. Fred Falke - 8:08 PM At the Beach

Better than heaven

Completely obsessed with this:

In true mash-up style, Swizz Beatz taken two songs with similar names and put them together: Alicia Keys' stomach-turning "Teenage Love Affair" (I seriously can't believe that anyone likes it in its original form) and Slick Rick's classic "Teenage Love." But the results are much greater than just impressive pop-culture referencing. What once sounded like a saccharine take on '50s jukebox favorites (with none of the character-boosting scratchiness) in Keys' first go 'round, now sounds like plausible nostalgia -- Keys wasn't a teen in '88, but at least she was, you know, alive. For the sake of familiarity, LL Cool J plays himself (immediately referencing "I Need Love") and former Def Jam labelmate Slick Rick, though I doubt today's kids even know the difference. They probably don't even know who Slick Rick is. You know how teenagers are!

The real credit goes to Keys, who takes no shorts in stepping up to Swizzie's brilliant idea, rerecorded vocals and all. I had no idea that she was down enough to sing over something this hip-hop -- the original track is barely touched (as far as I can tell, it's merely been sped up slightly) and she's, like, fluttering over boom-bap. As Michaelangelo Matos' ingenious review of the equally ingenious compilation Gold: New Jack Swing points out, it was only at new jack swing that rap and R&B did meet. Back then, you just did not hear people singing over straight hip-hop beats (when "Teenage Love" was out, Mary J. Blige's What's the 411?, the album that pretty much changed the musical world forever, was still four years away). All this is to say that there's a sort of anachronistic chic going on here. And like using an Atari joystick as a CD spindle, it works almost eerily well. This record is perfect.

Better than Xtube

Of all the search terms that guide people to this blog, the most commonly recurring (besides general queries for kiddie porn) is along the lines of "better than Xtube" or "Xtube alternatives." I can only imagine the disappointment people experience when fourfour is what comes up (Winston = boner killer).

Regardless, I have a word for all those future porno harvesters (who are now even more likely to land here, since I titled the post with their common search term): nothing. Nothing is better than Xtube. Half the time, real sex isn't better than Xtube (and all the time, Real Sex isn't better than Xtube). What kind of Holy Grail of smut are you freaks after?

Seriously. Stop looking.

Mariah Carey, art object

I love this:

It's a video remix of sorts of Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" by digital artist Oliver Laric (site blurrily NSFW). Basically, it replaces everything in the video that isn't Mariah with green, giving the video the appearance of something shot on a green screen. I don't know if it's a comment on egocentrism (i.e., the only thing that matters in Mariah's world is Mariah) or phoniness or what. The Dr. Katz-like moving edge around Mariah at all times suggests that Laric went frame by frame and cut her out of each one, a tremendously tedious task that makes this ultimately a document of obsession, something that Mariah is no stranger to arousing. I think I may have found a kindred spirit.

Bit, wet, sloppy hat tip to Art Fag City for showing me this.

It's been a great week for homophobia

I'm harping, yes, and I'll continue to do so till things are right. Call it a quirk, call it a flaw, but sometimes I get so mad, I shake.

"I have two amputees standing before me...kinda"

"Perhaps you've heard of the new BBC show, Britain's Missing Top Model. It's a reality show in which disabled girls compete to win a photo spread in a top glossy magazine and representation by a top modeling agency." So much more at ONTD.

I'm sorry to be disgusting but the only word that can do justice to my excitement over this is "leaky." You can bet your amputated ass that I'll be torrenting the fuck out of this shit. I know somewhere, Tyra is dying inside because she didn't get to exploiting things of this nature first. Saturday Night Live, on the other hand...

Jealous?

New jill swing back

Alicia Keys performs with SWV and En Vogue at the BET Awards:

A real pity that no one sounds good, save Alicia, who looks suspiciously like Beatuful from Flavor of Love 2. I suppose this means she has herpes. But whatever, don't act like it's AIDS and shit. On the more tragic end of the VH1 resemblance scale, SWV's Taj is giving me serious Sister Patterson vibes. And to think that Coko is the one who's known for having talons! At least En Vogue look good. I'm gonna guess it's all the grown sex these ladies are undoubtedly getting. This video inexplicably leaves out (I didn't upload it, see) the TLC segment of the performance, but that's for the best. It was the most depressing, as T-Boz had the range and disposition of a flat tire. Chilli kept her mouth shut and looked pretty. But then, of course she did: old habits die hard, I suppose.

This is just to remind you that everyone is getting so old. Have a happy Wednesday and stay out of the damn sun.

Update: Because no one knows how to have fun anymore, this video was, of course, removed from YouTube. You can watch it here, though, with the painful TLC performance intact and everything.

It's that time of year!

Once again, Winston has been shorn, and once again, he's uneven to the point where it looks like he was intentionally trying to blend in to the Williamsburg crowd we live amongst. Life is simultaneously cyclical in lopsided. Now Cute Overload will never pick him up again!

The short account is in the video. Longer, illustrated explanation is after the jump.