MasaMIXES: Transnational Pop Mashups

Mixing grungy Nirvana with Korean pretty-boys is probably tantamount to sacrilege in some circles.  It’s hardly a likely pairing, but it’s the dramatic difference in cultural sound which makes Sorry, Smells Like Easy Ding Dong worth talking about:

Displacing a familiar form in an unfamiliar context is the task of all translators. How successfully does Carlos ‘Masa’ Brandão introduce J-pop / K-pop / A-pop to a mainstream Western audience?  I’m more inclined to listen to these subgenres after listening to a few of his Youtube mixes.  The 200,000+ following on Last.FM would suggest that whilst not popular, Masa certainly has some influence.

I particularly liked Try to Say Aha, which uses elements from Santagold’s Say Aha and 2NE1′s Follow Me.  Both songs share a similar beat and tone, and might broadly be classified as Hip-hop. Masa increases the tempo and alternates between the vocals of both tracks.  It sounds pretty good, providing you already have an appreciation of the genre:

There’s a lot more of his tracks available for free on his website, or at various new-media outlets:

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mmixes
Last.FM: http://www.last.fm/music/mas4

There’s currently a discussion on Metafilter which is fairly empty currently, but may become populated with interesting commentary in time: http://www.metafilter.com/91484/Apop-Kpop-Jpop