I got in touch with producer Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Daniel Merriweather, Duran Duran) three weeks ago to talk about his favorite beats of the year. After he thoroughly educated me (I’ve listened to “Katy on a Mission” 40+ times), Mark was nice enough to field some questions. I was surprised to find out the Grammy winning, actress dating musician is just as disillusioned with pop music and celebrity antics as us normal people.
Twitter
I have a really hard time with celebrities or famous musicians sending each other tweets across the thing when they could just get each other’s phone number. I always accuse Wale of being guilty of that. Like ‘Yo Diddy, what are we doing tonight?’ which I just think is like, ‘OK, you have his phone number, you could text him.’
Yelawolf
I would listen to [Trunk Muzik: 0-60] over the new Eminem album fucking any day of the week and I’m not comparing [Yelawolf and Eminem] because they’re white. It’s got the same rebel spirit and a lot of the same pain and passion, all that thing, but it’s got such a better– it’s light and he’s got a sense of humor about things and he has clever lines and stuff like that. Eminem’s just become this moan-y, whiny like, ‘me, me, me’ thing. It’s like, ‘dude, you’ve fucking got 50 million in the bank, what is still so horribly wrong?’ But anyway, that’s not for me to say.
Every artist has a vault of unreleased material; rarities, remixes, and alternate versions that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. This week, Mark Ronson used the holidays as an excuse to excavate some music from his hard drive and post it on Facebook. So what did the super-producer/Beat Drop contributor have in his vault?
I actually asked Mark about this track two weeks ago (full Q&A coming soon) and he told me he had no plans to release it. I guess Boxing Day changed his mind.
Here is an unfinished cover version of “Let’s Ride” by Q-Tip that Mark and Daniel Merriweather recorded during the Version sessions. “Stop Me” remains Daniel Merriweather’s best work. And last but not least,
here’s a reversion that i did of one of my favourite late-era MJ songs, “Happy Birthday, Lisa”. me, victor axelrod, nick movshon, homer steinweiss and thomas brenneck were in the studio working on “Record Collection” when we got sidetracked and made this….
Mark Ronson has three DJ sets tonight in England. Set times, locations, and a flyer after the jump. If you’re stuck in NY like me, go see Q-Tip at the Ace Hotel. Happy new year, fam!
So what’s an Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson song doing on a Quincy Jones album? Q Soul Bossa Nostra consists of reinterpretations of Quincy Jones songs. Quincy explained his role in the project in a recent interview,
These weren’t like sessions where I’m there producing the records. I’m just observing, really. I was just there for them if they needed me. I’m never in my life going to do a record that’s a tribute to myself. I don’t need it. A lot of people have misunderstood that. This is not a tribute to myself.
Of Amy’s track, Quincy said that she was originally going to cover “You Don’t Own Me,” but she settled on “It’s My Party” — both are Lesley Gore songs. “It’s My Party” works, but I think the slightly darker “You Don’t Own Me” would have made more sense for Amy.
Here are some picks from ML (but don’t forget that discovering new artists is a clutch aspect of any music festival):
Muse; Ozzy Osbourne (that guy from MTV!!); MGMT (be sure to see mostly KIDS, if they do it lawls); Drake (Please report on his knee.);Metric; Hot Chip (sleeper pick of the festival!); Deadmau5 (biggest buzz on the festival scene this year?; Street Sweeper Social Club (Tom Morello+Boots Riley from The Coup=Win.); Paul Oakenfold; Florence and the Machine; Raphael Saadiq; Janelle Monae (one the best live acts of the year); Afrojack; Kelis; the Crystal Method; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Crookers; Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Boys Noize.
The CMJ Music Marathon is upon us next week. New Yorkers have an endless supply of shows (“showcases,” they call them) to chose from, so ML filtered out the interesting ones. If you know about something we don’t, let us know. Check back because we’ll be updating this post as more comes to our attention.
I might be trying to wife MNDR. She and Q-Tip get down like long lost siblings on the Late Show stage. Neither acknowledges the awkwardness of their pairing, but the song is so dope that it almost never occurred to me that the guy who produced “One Love” is on David Letterman with an electro-dance-pop Brooklynite who looks like she could be a Charlie’s Angel. Like I said, I might be trying to wife MNDR.
The Virgin Mobile FreeFest is tomorrow in Columbia, MD at the Merriweather Post Pavillion, and since ML hascovered manyVirginFestivals in it’s history. We think it’s appropriate that we share our picks on who to check out this year.
The Temper Tramp (killed Bonnaroo this year.)
Trombone Shorty (Yes, the same guy from HBO’s Tremé)
Will Eastman (DC DJing god, yes please.)
T.I. (Sike! He’s not coming.)
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (To hear Home is reason enough.)
Neon Indian (ML’s chillwave fav).
Thievery Corporation (To chill out for all the raging that will happen afterword)
Chromeo (2 things: Bring dancing shoes & try to not OD on funk)
Ludacris (The (sole) RAPPER of the festival!)
Sleigh Bells (you brain will melt from this electronic group)
M.I.A. (A lot of prayers from fans that her live show returns to form here. The B-More dance child Rye Rye might appear, too.)
LCD Soundsystem (Must catch these guys before their impending retirement, your grandchildren will be jealous)
If you are looking for some non-music things to do, my guy James from Fanscape suggested ML readers check out State Farm’s Club 17k where they will hook you up with chair massages, custom t-shirt printing and a boat load giveaways (trust me, it’s their job to giveaway stuff.). If you click that aforementioned link and install a ringtone they’ll even bless you with some VIP treatment at their compound.
ML’s attendance this year can be best compared to a star football player coming back from an injury– a last minute decision. So if ML does end up crashing the Virgin Mobile Fest gates, we’ll be sure to rant on twitter.. or mess around, and *gasp* make a review post.
While the free tickets are long gone, there have been some $30 tickets released, and that craigslist site is sure to be flooded with them. Lastly, check out the nice preview Express put together.
On Friday evening (I know, I know) I was aimlessly flipping through the ol’ cable box, ready to turn the TV set off, when I saw RZA’s face on NBC. Apparently, RZA was guest starring on a new NBC show starring Jimmy Smits (of NYPD Blue fame). I only saw the tail-end of the episode but RZA was playing.. a wait for it..a person jailed for a crime he didn’t commit. Anyway if you care to see RZA’s acting the embed is below.
Now, these days, a rapper appearing on a TV series are more common than bedbugs in Manhattan, but then I stumbeled across this on youtube.
Late pass please.
RZA co-starring with Joe Jonas (Jo Bros!!), Jake Gyllenhaal, & Lil’ Jon in a video for indie darlings Vampire Weekend’s Giving Up The Gun?
Yeah.. all of that combined let me to ask the question that you see in the title of the post. I’m not in the least bit upset or worried about RZA doing all this stuff, I’m just saying, hopefully there is enough beats to do a 2nd Beat Drop this decade.
The great Kanye, Raekwon, Justin Bieber collaboration is actually a mashup of “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F’ Wit” and young Bieber’s “Runaway Love.” The story begins on Twitter when Kanye shouted out Justin. The two got to patting each other on the back and Kanye suggested they work together… along with Raekwon.
An I’m honored that you like my Music @JustinBieber!!! You gotta hear the album. Maybe we can do something together. Me, You and RaekwonSun Aug 15 15:14:44 via webKanye West
kanyewest
Justin Bieber, a throwback to virginal Mickey Mouse Club pop, recognizes the irony aligning himself with big scary rappers. Both he and Kanye understand the pop culture magnitude and humor in remixing “Runaway Love” with Raekwon the Chef. Delighted to see his name mentioned by two of the biggest artists in the world, Rae got his ass over to Kanye’s studio.
Kanye is the master of making authentic yet mainstream rap music and thus the ideal candidate for such an undertaking. Raekwon raps his heart out because he knows what it means for his career to make headlines with Kanye and Justin Bieber. Kanye breaks out his sharpest Wu references to keep up.
Heads can rest easy. The “Runaway Love” remix is unfettered Wu-Tang with Justin Bieber doing his best Michael Jackson impression. Not only does the song work, it sounds eerily natural. Justin appears as a sample on the hook and Raekwon doesn’t strain himself to accommodate the teenyboppers.
The track is more a quirk of the Internet age than a major crossroads in popular music, but if Team Bieber starts bumping Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, we can look back on “Runaway Love” as “Walk This Way” 2010.
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