Friday 21 August 2009

Free Download Friday #23: Mark Vidler

What does the word Mashup mean to you? The first time I encountered it was in relation to a mashup of different parts of Web 2.0 technology to create something greater than the whole of its parts. For example putting a Google Map with pictures from Flickr into a blog post about your walk along the West Highland Way. I heard mashup used as a musical term later but associated it more with dance music than with rock.


silver masher
Originally uploaded by emdot
However, some time ago, I read in Classic Rock Magazine about a chap called Mark Vidler who does mashups with rock tunes. In particular Classic Rock described a mashup involving AC/DC and Queen. If you are anything like me, you are probably screaming in horror at the thought and imagining a mutant child produced from the meeting of Jive Bunny and Kid Rock. Unbelievably though, it is actually very good.

There is a problem though. I started the Free Download Friday feature to highlight links to free, legal, music downloads but the legal status of most mashups is at best... doubtful.

My problem is, I was planning to do the Radiohead free download of These Are My Twisted Words but it since loads of people have already posted that, I decided I need a last minute replacement... all I could think of was the slightly dodgy mashup from Mark Vidler.

However, when I went to his site, I discovered he had produced an album of original material which he was giving away free. The album is called The Future, The Past & The Present Tension and is an interesting mix of styles and influences. Bits of Oasis, a touch of Tom Waits, some XTC and, somewhat bizarrely, a large helping of Ivor Cutler. So, that's my Free Download link for today.

Check it out and let me know what you think. And of course, I strongly advise that you don't scroll down a bit and look for the Rock In Black mashup of AC/DC and Queen because that might not be entirely legal.

2 comments:

JT said...

I'm only about half a year late to this party, but WOW - "Rock in Black" is AMAZING!

David said...

Better late than never!

I am still concerned about the legality of it all, so I can't recommend the Thin Lizzy/Destiny's Child mashup, the Annie Lennox/Rush/Rolling Stones mashup or indeed the Blondie/Doors mashup. :-)