Defending Lady Gaga?

I don't know why I am defending Lady Gaga.

I am a fortyish man who should be waaay beyond having heated discussions about pop stars.

However, when I mentioned that I was enjoying the new single Yoü and I from her new album, my friend D said that it sounded too much like Shania Twain. Now, ever since the song Born This Way was widely criticized to sound too much like Madonna's Express Yourself, there seems to be a major backlash going on against Lady Gaga.

For the general public, I get it, we always want to tear down our idols, especially when they get too big, probably because maybe we can't give our love to someone and then have them be a happy, successful millionaire. We want them all to ourselves, poor, hungry and coke-addicted, preferably in Alexander McQueen.

However, I don't understand how gay people could be tearing down such someone who has been a trailblazer for GLBT rights. Especially one who is clearly talented. I mean, NOBODY, not even the holy Madonna has ever put in the words "no matter gay, straight or bi / lesbian, transgendered life / I'm on the right track baby / I was born to survive."

I particularly see this in gay men of a certain age (read: old middle-aged queens) who are constantly comparing Lady Gaga to Madonna. Seriously? First of all, Madonna didn't even write Express Yourself by herself. Stephen Bray probably wrote the song and Madonna hummed along and got a songwriting credit. Don't get me wrong. I LOVED Madonna. I was CRAZED about her. But even I can see that her songs are collaborations with whomever producer/songwriter she is working with.

Yes, I can also stand back and suspect that Lady Gaga is exploiting us and our culture, but to be honest, I don't see how putting her neck on the line so overtly sounds calculated. If anything, I am sure her managers are screaming at her to tone the gay down.

Madonna, who mined gay culture for years never actually put the word "gay" in her songs. She never championed for gay rights in a nationally televised HBO show explicitly, without talking between the lines. So while giving Madonna her props, I think that Lady Gaga has far exceeded Madonna here. Lady Gaga has done something nobody has ever done at this level: push GLBT rights and made it the #1 song in America.



I could write more about the music itself, Lady Gaga's originality etc. etc. but I'll be more honest and just include the e-mail I sent D. This was my response when he said Yoü and I sounded like Shania/Mutt Lange. It's rambling and somewhat pointless, but that's really me. Please also note that I typed this out in my ipod and I hate typing in that shitty thing.

Are you talking about the melody or the production? ;) I think that her singing sorta sounds country in this song but that's what's unique about the record : it is 80s rock with 2012 dance sensibility. Nobody said she was the most original songwriter (or imaginative). The chord progressions are pretty standard dance or rock progressions. So yes you can practically sing any song on top of them :) but she is very entertaining. Before this record nobody ever said that this or that song sounds like something else, but if you think about it the whole record is a throwback and sounds like a whole genre. I think that ultimately is what is new with this: it takes a whole stack of 80s records and remixes it for this generation but then adds Jesus, opera, glbt, metal influences and blends it together. If you sit back and listen to it, the whole thing makes sense. This is what I love about the record, it "recalls" something else while being about millenial themes. However nothing will save the unicorn song . It has the stupidest lyrics in the world no matter how catchy. The only person who can sing about unicorns and pull it off is rainbow brite. My favorites are government hooker and scheisse because that is what metal/grind/dance should sound like. Against this backdrop born this way and judas fit amazingly well. If you listen to the Bollywood remixes of her songs I challenge that they sound like anything else. This is because stripped of the familiar 80s production they sound pretty original. J and I were saying how we can listen to the whole record over and over and see how the whole concept goes well. It isn't perfect but the great thing about it is that she tried to do something completely different instead of doing exactly what was expected. That's ultimately what I can respect. Word to your mother. :p

Check out the Bollywood mixes of Lady Gaga's songs @ DJ Evil Twin.

UPDATE: Lady Gaga premieres the video for Yoü and I. Check it out at DJ Evil Twin.

Evil Videos

Hey there, I just wanted to post here because while it may seem that nothing's going on, in fact a ton of stuff has been happening at DJ Evil Twin.

First, I have been learning to use MovieMaker to make music videos to accompany my remixes and I've made YouTube videos of all the Tracey Thorn mixes that I've created as a way to promote them. A couple of the mixes have been very well received, but I've also had some people exclaim that they totally suck.

In the past, I would've totally stewed on this and it would be such a blow to my self-esteem that I would be driven to drinking and lowering my standards for one night stands, just to re-assure myself that I am a decent human being.

Has that happened to you? Someone disses you online and it cuts you to the core?

But with the wisdom I've gained through many years of blogging, I've learned to cope with this and take criticism in a stride. I do this primarily by hiding in a closet and smoking a joint.

Check it out below. You can download the mixes here.

  
  
  

All My Children

If you have kids, you probably know what I mean. You try to not play favorites among your children, but the fact is, you do, even if you don't tell them. And you know what? They probably know too, but it's ok to keep the fiction that there is no favorite.

But now and then, you may 'switch favorites' for awhile and it's not for any reason, but truly because you love them all. But maybe one week, one of them comes up and has a hold on your heart, or needs your attention, or has a knife at your throat and you spend more time with that one.

This past month, DJ Evil Twin has been my favorite child. I should be spending time writing my novel, or writing stuff for No Milk Please, but Tracey Thorn's CD Out of The Woods has really inspired me to remix some really great songs in the album to dance greatness. Tracey is the vocalist of the group Everything But The Girl and as usual, she sings with emotion and depth. But underneath the subdued production, I hear the notes that are the bones of a soaring dance anthem.

The album already has a few singles out that have been remixed like "Grand Canyon" (amazing mixes!), "It's All True," and "King's Cross" so I am concentrating on the other album tracks. Of course, I also enjoy designing the graphics that go along with the mixes. I imagine that I am designing the CD covers of these songs if they were released as singles.

Along with the ones I already mixed below, I am planning to do a couple more mixes from the album, probably "Nowhere Near" and "Piccadilly Station." The keys in those songs are itching to be sampled and looped. Stay tuned.

Each mix can take up to a month to do. So if there is no new post here, check out DJ Evil Twin and see what's happenin' there.





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Tracey's CD:

What Your Remix Says About You

When our new neighbor downstairs moved in, Brian and I were very excited. This was because the guy was HOT. When he was looking over the place, we ran into him in the hallway and we prayed--prayed--that his credit check was good so he would get the place.

He is a tall, trim black dude with nice broad shoulders, very Tyson Beckford in those old Ralph Lauren ads. I looked forward to fantasizing about him when I'm having sex with my boyfriend. What? It's true.

We speculated whether or not he was gay, which for you two straight guys that read this blog, is a compliment, because we would never speculate if someone was gay if he looks like he could have skidmarks in his underwear. If we fags like you, you should have no trouble picking up girls, and if you do, then what the fuck's the matter with you? Get it together, or get a gay guy to give you a makeover. Every dude should have a good gay friend.

Anyway, Satan answered our prayers and a few weeks later he moved in. However, we couldn't determine our man's sexuality because he didn't really have a lot of furniture. Apparently, he just moved into the city from Denver or DC or something, I don't know, I was distracted by his gorgeous brown eyes when he was telling me this.

The following weeks, there were noises indicating industry beneath our floors. We would peep into his back window to see if we could get a glimpse of his decorating style, thinking we could figure out his sexuality pretty easily that way. Thank God he hadn't bought any window treatments yet although that would've answered this question right then and there. Window treatments inevitably speak louder about you than anything. If I were a shrink, no treatment would start without visiting my patients' homes and checking out the window treatments.

However, all questions were settled last Saturday afternoon when loud music filtered through our floor. It had a nice thumping groove and immediately made me want to shimmy. We tried to place the song because it was so familiar, but it took us a few long minutes because the melody was muffled. Then suddenly, it came to us--Deborah Cox! Nobody's Supposed To Be Here, the Hex Hector remix! He's gay! He's gay! Hurrah!

If it had been Whitney Houston or even Mariah Carey it wouldn't have been as definitive, but it was Deborah Cox and the dance mix! He's sooo definitely gay. Mystery solved. We congratulated ourselves on our excellent CSI skillz.


In the next episode, we try to find out what that funky smell coming out of the place inhabited by the couple two floors below us. Is it kimchi or boiled cauliflower? Stay tuned.

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Related posts:

Tug of War - What our decorating says about us.

DJ Evil Twin - My alter-ego. Totally eeevil and remixed for your pleasure.

Marquis de Sade

DJ Evil Twin is back! Check out these new remixes of Sade classics. Four of them are new, the others are mixes have appeared here before.




I am extremely proud of this project; I think it is some of the best ones I've done. These are all pop/dance mixes of the original songs, geared towards shaking your booty.

In the Soulful Mix of No Ordinary Love, I added a gospel vocal sample and a pulsing bass. The keyboards in Somebody Already Broke My Heart reminded me of Ciara's My Goodies, so I cut a small sample of that song into the DJ Evil Twin Hearts Ciara Mix. In the Deep Sea mix of Pearls, I added a deep house sample and the ping from The Killers' All These Things That I Have Done. I thought it added a bit of drama into the song. I went totally Old Skool with Cherish The Day by adding a lot of scratches, a metallic beat and a surprise sample in the breakdown.

As with my previous DJ project "Best Beths," I will be giving away 5 HAND-MADE (wow! ;P ) CDs to the first 5 people who request it. All you have to do if you're interested in it is to send me your mailing address and your blog URL so I can send it to you. You MUST have a blog.



DJ Evil Twin in MySpace!
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Best Beths - DJ Evil Twin remixes 11 songs by Beth Orton. Wow.

I AM the Evil Twin - Okokok, my secret identity is out, now read about why I'm eeeevil.

Recommended Sade CDs:

Best Beths

I've been very inspired by Beth ever since I had "remixed" Stolen Car. I had bought all of her CDs and decided that if anybody was ripe for a remix, it was her.

Beth's songs are quiet and never over-produced, they lend themselves to my idea of lazy mixing and production, which is basically to add beats and atmosphere and possibly speeding it up to 30%. Many people describe her music as a fusion between trip-hop and folk. I took many of these quieter songs and made them more upbeat--pop, if you will. If you like Everything But The Girl, Fiona Apple or Cat Power, you probably will like her too.

Yes, yes, I should probably stick to writing my stupid little blog posts, but ya know, I follow my Muse wherever she takes me even though one time, she led me to a sex party where people shit on each other. I made her promise to not ever do that to me again without telling me. I would've taken some Metamucil before going.

I put the mixes up at BestSharing.* When you click on the images below, it should take you the BestSharing site and you can DL them there. They will be there for a limited time, so get them quickly.




But listen, if you want a bona fide CD of these DJ Evil Twin mixes, I'll send them to you. I only have 5 of these CDs to give. The CD contains these 11 mixes as well as 8 other great songs.

I want people to listen to the damn thing and short of selling the thing on eBay, nobody will. All you have to do if you're interested in it is to send me your address so I can mail it to you. You MUST have a blog. Yes, this could be my way of showing up unannounced on your doorstep, but if you've read my blog, you know that this will never happen because I am waaay normal and not crazy at all. Seriously though, if you're worried about that, send me your work address, I would NEVER dream of showing up there. TRUST ME.



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*If you are using Firefox, the song downloads, but may need to be renamed to a .mp3 extension.

#1 Single

I got to spend some time with the #1 Single girl herself, Lisa Loeb, who came to the Greater Chicago Jewish Festival in Skokie to perform.

The festival was well attended with lots of booths, activities and food. I must admit, much as I was excited about trying some of the food served, I felt a little trepidation when I walked into the perimeters of the festival. Would people recognize that I wasn't Jewish? I was tempted to use the paper plate as a yarmulke except mine had some mustard left on it from my hotdog. I didn't want to have to wear a pickle to match my outfit.

The act before Lisa was Rabbi Joe Black, who had a rousing rendition of "Who Led The Jews Out" sung to the tune of "Who Let The Dogs Out." We were told to respond with "Moses, Moses, Moses" when he sang this line. It was pretty funny.

When Lisa stepped onstage at about 1:30 pm, I had already whipped myself into a frenzy. Another minute, soft peaks will form and I can be folded into a dessert base. I was just a little off to the side of the stage, within spitting distance, although she's probably too ladylike to spit at me. Maybe if I carried a sign that insulted her outfit, she would. But I loved her too much to hurt her feelings. Besides, that would be a lie. I loved her outfits.

Even though there were a lot of people around me, I felt like she and I had a connection, you know, singer and stalker-fan as one.

In between songs, she chatted to the audience about the fantastic Chicago food. She had spent some time a few years ago in Chicago when she was filming an episode of Cupid. It was at this point that she had turned her attention to me in the audience and we had a little conversation.

She was telling the audience that her mom tried to get her to date Jeremy Piven, the star of Cupid, and Lisa said "Jeremy? No, mom, Jeremy was nice, but not for me."

I yelled out, "Yes!" urging her to go out with Jeremy, who I think is quite hot.

Hearing my cry, Lisa turned to my general vicinity and shook her head and said, "Noooo, have you read Page Six?"

I nodded vigorously, thinking she must see me, I am the only Asian in the audience, and my hair was perfect.

"Well then," she said.

Then she went on to sing some of my favorite songs: "Truthfully," "Let's Forget About It," "I Do." Here are some pics:




During the concert, I ran into fellow blogger Rob from Welcome to the Bloghouse, who writes funny celebrity and entertainment commentary.


Here is a picture I took of some random gays in the audience. If this was you, I wasn't making fun of your outfit, or your hair. I only said that because it's my way of saying I want to fuck you. Call me?


There was also a truly bizarre fan in the audience who brought his cat Sheena to the concert. On a leash. Dressed like she was going to the Kentucky Derby. I think that people were either fascinated or repulsed by the cat, or maybe its owner, I don't know.


I just have only one thing to say: I think it was cruel to put this outfit on a cat and not have any matching booties.

UPDATE: Sheena plots her revenge! (thanks to the very wise Gurustu)