Tying Up Loose Ends

2009 was one for the books for me, both here with Melismatic and offline as well. Here's to hoping that 2010 will continue to bring new and exciting prospects, not just to me but to you, too. I wanted to post this on New Year's Eve, but didn't get the chance. It seems several of my friends have beaten me to the punch, but it's worth mentioning again for those of you who may not have heard it already.

DJ Earworm is a mash-up remixer, who has an uncanny ability to mix together not just few songs, but a ridiculously lengthy amount of songs. He first jumped onto my radar in late 2007, when he debuted his first Billboard Year-End mashup that he dubbed "United State of Pop" (set to the structure backing of Rihanna's "Umbrella"), taking the top 25 or so songs of the year ranked by Billboard and mixed them into one big orgy of pop goodness. He has continued the tradition in 2008 with "United State of Pop 2008 (Viva La Pop)" (set to the the backing of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" and Rihanna's "Disturbia"), and now, he returns with his third installment: "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It On The Pop)", with the majority of the piece resting on Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" and Jamie Foxx's "Blame It".

Earworm has a gift of mixing things together that, when the prospect is initially given, you really couldn't begin to fathom these popular songs fitting together like puzzle pieces. But they do, to the point that they sound like they should have been like that from go. In terms of the 2009 remix, I was particularly struck by the similarities between Beyonce's "Halo" and Miley Cyrus's "The Climb." What stood out most to you?

The best part? DJ Earworm is a giving soul. All of his mashups are available for free on his website. If you're interested in some of his other mashups aside from the year-end megamashups, I highly suggest "Heartless (In A Bottle)", mixing The Fray's cover of Kanye's "Heartless" with The Police's "Message In A Bottle", and "Just Dance to New Order", mixing Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" with New Order's "Confusion" (with bits and bobs of Mary J Blige, Debelah Morgan and Queen thrown in for good measure). They have to be my faves.

I was also pointed in the direction of this fun rap send-off to 2009 by Skillz, in which he recounts several of the more popular and prominent events in pop culture that happened in 2009 in a clever and sometimes funny way. It's definitely worth a listen...