Microcosmic Adventures in La-La Land

How big of a deal is Beyonce Knowles? A really fucking big deal. Sure, you could cite her success with Destiny's Child or her stellar solo debut in 2003 (remember 'Crazy in Love,' 'Me, Myself and I,' and even 'Daddy'?), but for the sake of this post, I'm going to stay fairly recent and focus exclusively on Sasha Fierce—namely, 'Sweet Dreams.'

Dedicated readers of Muzjiks know my stance on mashups. In general, I consider them the lowest form of music, except in cases where the artist takes two or more original pieces of pop music and fuses them to create an entirely new song that challenges our ear to decide whether the original is the predominant version in our mind any longer. Such is the case for The White Panda's 'Stuntin' Like My Energy' and the majority of Girl Talk's output (case in point: 'Here's the Thing'). However, 'Sweet Dreams' has gone above and beyond the mashup treatment, something that just about every top 40 hit of the past four decades has gotten at this point. That is, 'Sweet Dreams' has been sampled, covered, and altogether transformed several times over.

Allow me a brief digression: dubstep godfather Burial has taken such universally recognizable songs as Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful,' Destiny's Child's 'Emotion,' and Massive Attack's (of House fame) 'Teardop' and completely reworked them into brooding, experiencing-the-inception-of-the-apocalypse-in-the-dark-alley-next-to-a-British-club soundscapes. It is this relative of the mashup culture which I'd argue is the primary progressive force in popular music today—not only is it cognizant and respectful of the past, but it simultaneously pushes pop forward.

Jigga's got the hottest chick in the game wearing his chain, and her 'Sweet Dreams' received the aforementioned Burial-esque treatment. From psych-rockers (and Jaguar promoters) The Big Pink to dubstep behemoth Kingdom to the Great Weezy F, 'Sweet Dreams' has transcended the scope and reach that one could ever imagine a single three-and-a-half-minute song achieving. The Big Pink covered it and made it an atmospheric, drugged-out, introspective anthem of angst and waking-up-the-next-morning-with-the-taste-of-vomit-in-your-mouth-and-a-wholly-unfulfilling-cluelessness-of-who's-asleep-next-to-you. Kingdom offers a glimpse of what happened the night before in the club when that sweet dream hadn't yet morphed into the beautiful nightmare it would become. And Weezy—well, he and heiress to the throne/rapper equivalent of Beyonce Nicki Minaj just command 'Sweet Dreams' and have their way with it on No Ceilings.

Beyonce Knowles' 'Sweet Dreams': a microcosm of where pop is and where it's headed...

The Big Pink: Sweet Dreams (cover) [alt]
Kingdom: Fogs [alt]
Lil Wayne (ft. Nicki Minaj): Sweet Dreams [alt]

EDIT 9/4: It's Beyonce's birthday today. She turns 29. Totally didn't plan that! Weird.

Grimy, Filthy Dubstep

Picture completely unrelated.

If you're not already familiar with dubstep, you're missing out. A genre characterized by nasty basslines, crunchy synths, and neck-breaking head nod grooves, there's not a style of music better for testing out that new subwoofer. Perhaps what makes this genre so exciting, however, are the many variants that exist under the "dubstep" umbrella—from the desolate, alleyway house take of Burial to the drugged-out, hip hop fusion slant of Flying Lotus to club banger-meets-slaughterhouse floor style of Joker. Although it's impossible to cover all the bases, I'll try to offer a cross-section of what's out there in the world of dubstep...

Emalkay: When I Look at You [alt]
I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for drops. There's something carnal about that synth swell that explodes into a clusterfuck of bass and melody. If that description fits you too, then you're in for a treat. Hang in there for about a minute, and then prepare for your speakers to turn inside out.

Joker: Psychedelic Runway [alt]
An example of dubstep with a more distinct groove to it, this is what a UK drug kingpin might roll around town listening to. A little trippy, a lot gangsta, and criminally grimy.

Plan B: She Said (16Bit Remix) [alt]
A sort of sister genre to dubstep is grime, a UK take on hip hop that incorporates dubstep-esque beats with spitfire English emceeing. Here, 16Bit remixes rapper Plan B's "She Said" and takes it to whole other level of intensity.

Hyetal: Pixel Rainbow Sequence [alt]
Incorporating 8-bit samples from the original Donkey Kong and other nostalgic video game favorites, Hyetal offers another dubstep track with a sick buildup and release within the first minute of play. More laid back and less in-your-face than some other dubstep offerings, "Pixel Rainbow Sequence" is nevertheless super nod-worthy.

Flying Lotus: Massage Situation [alt]
Another more laid back track, "Massage Situation" features a soulful female vocal sample over a groove that builds, deconstructs, and rebuilds again. Although considerably less lysergic than, say, FlyLo's 2010 Cosmogramma, this song is nothing to scoff at.

Burial: Archangel [alt]
A dubstep primer would simply be incomplete without a sampling from Burial. Don't expect this to be part of your next party playlist. William Bevan, the man behind Burial, creates haunting soundscapes that are probably the club bangers of the underworld. As a brief aside, I must say that Burial holds a special place in my heart for the sole reason that his music was played as roadies set up Radiohead's equipment before I saw them in 2008. Burial's music is now forever synonymous with anticipation and happiness as the musical interlude to what would become the best night of my life beginning at 8:47 PM when Thom, Jonny, Ed, Colin, and Phil took the stage at Verizon Amphitheater in Charlotte, NC.