1 + 1 + 1 = 1: The new math of mashups
2005-01-10T10:05:33Z
The New Yorker: 1 + 1 + 1 = 1: The new math of mashups:
One of the thrills of the mashup is identifying two well-known artists unwittingly complementing each other’s strengths and limitations: bacchanalian rapper Missy Elliott combined with morose English rock band Joy Division, ecstatic Madonna working with furious Sex Pistols. The most celebrated mashups are melodically tuned, positing a harmonic relationship between, say, Madonna’s voice and the Sex Pistols’ guitars.
Mashups find new uses for current digital technology, a new iteration of the cause-and-effect relationship behind almost every change in pop-music aesthetics: the gear changes, and then the music does. [...]