Key Of Grey

Album art courtesy of Minty Fresh Beats

February 7th, 2009 – A while ago, I downloaded a mash-up album by Minty Fresh Beats. Intrigued by the prospect of Jay-Z in concert with Radiohead, I had put it into my repository but hadn’t listened to it. I’m not even sure who turned me on to it, so if you were the one, let me know and I’ll credit you.

I just added it to my iTunes library and let me tell you, it’s possibly the best mash-up I’ve ever heard. I would never have thought that the music would work so well together. Honestly, I’m not usually a fan of mash-ups, and while I greatly admire Danger Mouse, I did not like “The Grey Album” at all. I felt like it was more an exercise in what could be done, than good music.

“Jaydiohead”, on the other hand, works so well musically that you almost forget that the songs are remixes. They work so well as cohesive songs, and are so different from the originals, that they become totally new songs. Minty Fresh Beats is able to bring a rawness and vulnerability to the Jay-Z songs that the original beats couldn’t, and conversely bring an aggression to Radiohead. One song that really surprised me on the album is “Lucifer’s Jigsaw”. When I first heard it, I laughed at the ridiculousness of it. It works so well in a way that is so far removed from the feeling of the original, that it’s almost whimsical.

Say what you will about Jay-Z’s flow, but in the context of Radiohead, it has an almost poetic rhythm that allows it to blend well with Radiohead’s lilting melodies. The mixing and production on Jaydiohead is top notch unlike so many other remixed albums, even professionally released ones. Everything about this album is fantastic. Download it now. Do it!

Jaydiohead download