Mash-up culture has come a long way since the 2006 CMJ Festival, when Girl Talk first took the stage in front of a group of confused journalists, radio DJs, and Music Directors.

Since that dreary October, Mash-up, which was previously a little known sub-culture, has taken off with mashes ranging from absurdity of Stuntin’ Like Mufasa to the face-melting quality of the Hood Internet’s tracks. College students are beginning to eat up new mash-ups voraciously, so lucky for us, and The Hood Internet, a duo from Chicago that are at the forefront of this movement—which may very well end up being the music of our generation—are playing tonight in Bulldog Alley.

Vox sat down with members Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell, who go by the handles ABX and STV SLV, to talk about mash-ups and their future.

Vox: I feel like we should start from the beginning: what got you guys into mash-ups to start with? and did you have any other DJs that you looked up to when you first started?

STV SLV: ABX and I were playing in a band together in Chicago in 2007.  We were both fairly adept at reconstructing songs into “beats,” as it were, so when we started hearing stuff like Sammy Banana’s Big Boi/Broken Social Scene and Them Jeans’ Rich Boy/Spinto Band, that was pretty inspirational—in the sense that we were like, “That’s what we’re doing, and we could definitely put some tracks out there to see what people think.”

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The way I see it, there are two trends that have just about made their way into modern music: the mash-up phenomenon and the Indie-hop phenomenon. I’ve highlighted some the artists that have been at the forefront of these movements in the past, so I’m gonna repeat a couple of old artists today, but then add a couple others.

A plethora of bands have been hopping on the Indie-Hop band wagon. From rap legends De La Soul’s Matt & Kim remix to new kids on the block Chiddy Bang’s recent mix tape, everyone is realizing the market potential meshing these two genres together has. A new name to the list is the ever-fun Blue Scholars. They recently came out with a mix of Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream.” They’re not the first group to use this particular song for their rap, but that doesn’t take away from what they’ve done with Empire’s track.

Next, we have some new Chiddy Bang, this time using Hot Chip’s new “One Life Stand.” I’ve got to say the Chiddy crew came through pretty quickly with this one, as Hot Chip only just dropped the One Life Stand album a couple months ago. I also particularly like the shout-out to Virgin Atlantic’s free in-flight wireless. Oh cultural references…

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We’re going all around the musical spectrum this week: a house track, Mash-ups of Biggy and the XX, and a new track from the New Pornos. Basically, if you like music, you should be satisfied with today’s post.

I literally stumbled upon this Laidback Luke remix of Wynter Gordon. I didn’t know much about Ms. Gordon, so I did what any 21st century person does when faced with the unkown: I googled it. The rising New York starlet was featured on Mary J. Blige’s 2005 album, and is coming out with her own album later this year.

This track, “Dirty Talk” is the featured track. Laidback Luke takes this track into his workshop and produces a hard-hitting house beat. A great party song in my opinion, the original track will no doubt have some great success at Georgetown parties, I can promise that.

Next The New Pornographers is set to release their new album “Together” on May 4th. For those of you who can’t wait, here’s “Crash Years,” an early leak from the album. They retain the style they’ve had through the years, which is comforting for a kid who went through high school listening to Challengers and Twin Cinema on repeat. Hope you enjoy their youthful abandon as much as I do.

Finally, some mash-ups from Wait What. More specifically, a concept mash-up album of The XX and Notorious BIG. A couple months ago I posted the DMX/XX Hood Internet mash-up, which was superb, but Wait What takes the idea to a whole new level with 11 stunning XX/Biggy Mash-tracks. My favorite, mostly because Juicy reminds me of my own childhood, is going to have to be the Juicy/VCR mash. You can download the whole album at Wait What’s website here.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the few days of break we’ve got. Also, Super Mash Bros are officially coming to G’town to open for Third Eye Blind. Looks like GPB got some common sense. This means that the spring will include Super Mash Bro’s AND The Hood Internet.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get an interview for Vox Pop, but no promises.

Cold weather for GAAP weekend, but that won’t stop party rockin’ songs from finding their way onto Vox Pop. Without further delay, let’s get into this weeks Remixes and Mash-ups.

First off, I found more Lion King remixes. It turns out the creator of these funny mashes is DJDOYOU. An otherwise unknown DJ to me, his mixes are pretty funny nonetheless. The new addition to last weeks “Stuntin’ Like Mufasa” is “I’m A Lion King.” Give this song a second and then the Disney Classic will be more than apparent. DJDOYOU actually has a whole mixtape for Disney themed mash-ups here. I give it four weeks before the Man files a copyright infringement suit.

Next we have Drake’s “Over,” remixed by Hyper Crush. I highlighted Hyper Crush a couple months ago, and they’re one of my new favorite outfits hailing from LA. Their trip-hop style is definitely something I’m digging right now, along with the likes of LMFAO and Cataracs. So I would expect a lot more posts about them in the future as I keep track of their progress.

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It’s been so long, dare I say, since last we met? It’s NCAA season, so I’m allowed to throw down some school spirit on the remix post. But I digress.

It has been some time since I posted, and a combination of my hard drive crashing from hard rockage and spring break has kept me from doing what I love to do most: posting some tracks to make us dance. This week I’ve got a load of tracks that have caught my attention over the past three weeks, and they’re all going down in one post. So plug in those ear buds and get ready for a ride.

Most recently, I stumbled on what will no doubt be my “Track of Spring 2010″ by Berkeley’s own The Cataracs. Their new track, “Sippin’ Champaigne,” is utterly perfect for this whether: OE, blunts, hoes, and champagne. I don’t think I could ask for more from this white boy electro-duo. You can also download their new mix tape “I Thought They Were Black” here.

Next we have a nice little mash of the Office themesong with Lil’ Wayne, by Ohio’s Clockwork. This track may not be a sure-fire party banger, but I still love it. The sheer ingenuity it took to mash the two tracks together alone makes it worth a download. I also have another funny mash from which takes “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy” and mixes it right up onto the Lion King song. It’s equally as quirky as Clockwork’s mash, but almost funnier because of this video that goes with it.

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Another week, and some more music. A face-melting mix from FLVR BNK as well as another Ke$ha remix (I know, I know, I post so much of her music—but what can I say, I’m in love). But don’t worry, I’ve still got some great new Hood Internet and an unknown DJ mash to compensate. So without further ado, let’s get into this.

FLVR BNK, a collab project between DJ Renaisance, DJ Madmonk, and DJ Real Juice (great names, right?), gave us a hard-hitting mash/mix of Eurythmics and LMFAO, the results of which rock my socks right off. I also just love the groups tag-line intro, “Flavor Bank made it bettah.” Classic.

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As the snow keeps me holed up in my lovely apartment, gripping the last remnants of my waining sanity, I’ve found a couple great upbeat and downbeat mash-ups and remixes for us all to enjoy.

The first couple mash-ups are from the mysterious Radio Vampiro, a Mexican DJ collective (I couldn’t find much else out). The first, in the long line of Ratatat remixes, is Ratatat and Cypress Hill coming together to make a great, yet simple, mash. The second mash from Vampiro is admittedly a little worse, but nonetheless worth mentioning: a Kanye West/Amy Winehouse track entitled, “You Know Diamonds are Forever.” I couldn’t find much information about this group, so who knows if they will keep releasing tracks. Really who cares though? No-matter what, the Ratatat mash is pretty sweet, if a little overdone.

Next we have another The White Panda track, a sweet combo of The Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” and an Alphabet song from their recently released Verses. I’m not a huge fan of some of their mash-ups, the Ke-money-ha and Owl City tracks are sub-par at best. But the Beastie/Alphabet mash is pretty superb. People would be surprised how hard it is to mash “Intergalactic,” and Panda does it seamlessly. You can check out the rest of the CD here, and make your own conclusions.

Finally, some mellow tracks from rising stars The Kleptones. This DJ/mash-up collective out of Brighton has been around for some time, releasing their first internet-only album in 2003. Since then, DJ Eric Kleptone, a member of the collective, has been producing on a pretty regular schedule, and sticking it to the man the only way mash-DJs know how: mashing. A lot of his mashes won’t be for everybody, as they incorporate movie quotes from time to time. Regardless, a lot of them are good for chilling with friends, most notably “Stay.” This song incorporates a slowed version of The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Maps” which would be good for a “Sleepy Time” iTunes playlist. His whole Uptime/Downtime CD can be downloaded here.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy the snow!

There is snow EVERYWHERE! My California soul almost can’t handle it, but even in my stunned state I was able to find some great remixes for this week: a remix by Party Rock, and a Fredrick Carlsson remix a well.

The first song, Shwayze’s ubiquitous “Get You Home,” is a Party Rock remix with LMFAO accompanying on vocals, much like Party Rock’s Lady Gaga remix I posted some time ago. This song just goes to show how hard Party Rock parties when it comes to remixes: the group takes out the synths and revs them up at just the right moments, in short: it’ll make you shake that booty. Speaking of LMFAO here’s a great remix of their single, “Shots.”

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It’s cold. I mean freezing. Like, so cold I’m just going to stay inside lest my eyebrows freeze off in the arctic tundra that our campus has become. I wish I had a plethora of amazing mash-ups to keep you warm, but instead I have a handful of songs from a band I should have previewed long ago. But better late than never right?

Crookers, for those who don’t know, is a pretty heavy House duo that hails from Italy. They are a pair that I’ve heard a lot about over the past three or four months, starting in the summer. But I never really had a chance to listen to any of their stuff in depth until this weekend. I was asked to play their remix of “Thunderstruck” and I was amazed by the results: shit got crazy, and I’m pretty sure it was the sole reason why my whole body hurt Sunday morning. They take this classic AC/DC tune and turn it into a body melting track that makes every limb go buck-wild.

The duo also has a pretty decent selection of their own tracks featuring such big names as Miike Snow and Yelle. His collab with Miike Snow, “Remedy,” is a mellow techno track that nonetheless shows the duo’s acute skill on the board. There’s also a music video for “Remedy” which is pretty sweet. The whole time you think these two kids are jacking random items from people on the streets of New York to sell on e-bay and it turns out they’re just making some fan art for Crookers.

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School is back in full swing, which sucks. A lot. But, there are still a lot of things we can look forward to: seeing friends, shaking our booties on the dance floor, the coming of Spring, and of course, great Mash-ups.

In the great mash-up tradition of mixing rap artists with the Beatles (Danger Doom did this with Jay-Z a while ago on his seminal Grey Album, and he got in a lot of trouble with The Man as a consequence), producer Tom Caruana mashed up the Beatles with another one of my favorites: Wu-Tang.

He has wittily named the album “Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers,” and in my humble opinion, it rocks my socks. You can grab a listen and download the album at his website. Hopefully the Man won’t get a hold of Mr. Caruana the same way he did with Danger Mouse and DJ Lobsterdust. Until that day comes, go and give it a listen/a download!

I know that’s not a lot for this week, and for that I apologize. But it is a whole album of amazing mashed goodness which should more than satisfy your new music needs. Hopefully people will start releasing party-starting remixes and mashes soon, but in the interim, rock out to the amazingness of the Beatles mixed with the venerable Wu-Tang Clan.