Tuesday Tuneage: Milkman ‘Algorithms’

In General (or whatever I normally put here):
So I found Milkman off the plan of a fellow Grinnellean when I was in Chicago weekend-before-last, avoiding the 17 pages of writing I ended up completing by the end of the day. The basic claim was that he was a better mashup artist than Girl Talk, and that it was perfect Weekend Anthem mix. Despite the fact that I normally have pretty boring-as-fuck weekends, I am always on the lookout for great weekend anthems (recent faves include ‘Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked’ by Cage the Elephant, ‘Ready for the Weekend’ by Calvin Harris and ‘TGIF’ by Katy Perry). Long-winded as this has become, I am truly blown away by Milkman’s mashups. They are, hands down, the most interesting, variable and catchy mashups. Girl Talk is good, hell I’ve seen him live and danced my ass off, but from track one of ‘Algorithms’, it’s an album you can’t put down, in a manner of speaking. There are so many different songs mashed into each track on the album, from about four decades of music, that you can’t possibly not recognize at least one part of every second of every track playing. Killer weekend music indeed.

About the Songs/Album:
I had a hard time conceptualizing how to make this section relevant. After all, each song is not in fact a unique product of sound, so much as the amazing blend of other awesome music. I mean no disrespect to mashup artists, but I can’t exactly call it a song, so much as a track. And even then, the true brilliance of each track is not in the particular songs chosen to comprise it, but rather the artful way they are put together. For example, an amazing mashup transition occurs at 2:30 of This One (track 11). Sky High (track 1) is brilliant throughout, but the smooth increase in sound from 0:00 through 1:09 is the perfect intro to the album. 1:40ish of Sky High is awesome too, pulling the smallest part of a couple songs to enhance an incredible beat and other vocalizations… I mean really, I could pull this whole album apart nearly every ten or so seconds. One more example okay? Another One (track 6) at about 0:44 to 1:20 is a great point to show the variety of music: some hip-hope, a little Britney Spears underbeat and Adam Levine a la Maroon 5 providing backup (about 40 seconds later, he pulls some Phil Collins instrumentalism in too… WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?). It’s the art of making something greater than the sum of it’s parts, and it’s an amazing album, start to finish.

While there is a lot more true hip-hop than I really love to listen to, and a fair bit of it is more vulgar than I’d prefer (’round 3:00 of Another One), it’s still fun to listen to. Put it on, get ready, drink a few High Lifes, and go cause some ruckus, okay? Also, post script, Dude includes Justin Bieber in his mashes. For you tween girls out there. Or just me.

Random Grade: A-