2008-12-02

Naked Lynch


Good or popular mash-ups have become quite rare after the scene retreated further into the underground or some producers went on to bigger, more legal things.

In this regard Mashed in Plastic came as a big, surprising bang! The idea to offer a full album mashing the dream-logic of David Lynch and the music of Angelo Badalamenti with other songs to create a consecutive listening experience could have easily turned into nightmare-logic.

There is always a big chunk of ambivalence in Lynch´s films and their reception.
Some say you either love or hate them, but I think this is not true. I´d say you can admire his strong sense for mood and obsessive imagery, be entertained by his craft and perverse meta-surrealism and still be annoyed by all of this at the very same time.


One positive thing about his films that almost everybody can agree on is the great use of music. The main compositions of Angelo Badalamenti and to a certain extent Lynch´s own work form a magical alliance with "borrowed" music and the moving images. (Although I never forgive him for allowing the dreadful Rammstein gaining international acclaim through the "Lost Highway"-Soundtrack)

Back to Mashed in Plastic. The whole project is remarkable for creating something that sounds like an interesting idea that is doomed to fail and turning it into a success on every level. The listening experience can be downloaded for free as a consecutive mix or as a package of individual songs.


Held together by Lynch´s own words, film dialogue and eerie sounds, the whole thing is highly complex, immaculately executed and challenging. As usual in this genre, not every song works perfectly, but when idea, ambition and craft do work, your jaw will drop and somebody might find it next to a severed ear in the front garden.

One should really listen to the whole experience in it´s entirety as it offers much more than it´s individual parts (be they good or bad).

There are a few of the usual acapella-suspects (Beatles, Kylie), some I usually avoid like the plague (Tori Amos) and some obvious from within the Lynch universe.

Highlights are the incredible "I´ll be there in Twin Peaks". Mashing the "Twin Peaks Theme", "Falling" with "I´ll be there" by Jackson 5 and some Leona Lewis. The effect is amazing and fits the season.

I´ll be there in Twin Peaks



Mashed in Plastic is much more than a listening experience. The presentation on the website is outstanding. There is a great mash-up photo to every song, extensive linernotes and -to top it all- there are videos to almost every song! These Youtube-videos will certainly guarantee that this project will receive a receptive audience beyond the mash-up scene.

In a way it is the definite "concept mash-up for grown-ups" and it might as well be the swan song for the genre. Anyway, it will be seen as a classic! Ear This!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for this exceedingly well-considered and mindful review of our project. Myself and the other gents of 1086 Productions are very glad indeed when we've touched people who appreciate not only music but a fuller experience. Thank you so much.

Cheers!
Alan
1086 Productions

Unknown said...

I fully agree with Alan; thank you so much for the incredibly generous review of our album. It was amazing to myself when we started this project how many people from 'the scene' actually liked David Lynch - he seems to completely polarise audiences on his work.

It was an absolute pleasure to see all this coming together (even if providing the majority of the artwork did drive me to the edge of sanity!) and the final result I believe speaks for itself, in conveying our shared love of all things Lynchian.

And on a personal note, thank you for the lovely words on my own track, "I'll Be There In Twin Peaks", possibly the best track I've ever made, and the one I'm most proud of on so many levels.

I hope your readers enjoy it as much as you

Kind regards,
Andy

Tim (Corkscrew Foley) said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this article, and thought it was done with the kind of fairness Lynch deserves. I've been a fan for almost nine years, and find he doesn't get the nod he deserves, or when he does, it's almost siccophantic.

Cheers.