Remember that “Blind Alley” challenge I put to folks about a few weeks back?
Here is a running tally of our entries:
First was an entry from TBird of TBird and the Breaks.
Then came a flip from 2 Mello:
First off, I like how both flips really laser in on the big horns on the song; whereas most uses of “Blind Alley” have typically focused on the opening bars, they’re looking at other key moments in the tune for inspiration.
TBird’s is more like a straight loop in that regard though I do like his use of a high-pass filter (or is it a low-pass, I always get the two confused?) to tinker with the sound.
2 Mello touches on some of the same parts but his is a longer, more aggressive production, featuring a chop-fest that atomizes key bits of the vocals in interesting ways. There’s a certain unpredictable swing to it, as if he recorded this live, improvising which bits he wanted to loop and chop, all on the fly. I like how he keeps that “foghorn” deep brass blaring constantly in the background.
Then we had…
Mighty Narrow: Blind Alley Flip
Both of these are a bit rougher around the edges, with some slurry, off-beat qualities. I’m digging on Palos bringing back the intro bars that we know so well but playing off them with some beat-doubling and a slow, elongated chord progression. Meanwhile, Mighty Narrow also revisits the intro bars but seems mostly focused on cutting up parts of the vocals to throw back on. A short but sweet track.
July 10: Here’s the latest batch.
Mighty Narrow: Blind Alley Flip 2
Mighty Narrow decided he needed a second crack, this time with a more subtle and refined flip. He reworks a different part of the main break, still keeps those horns and vocal snippets heavy in the mix, including an actual use of the chorus (which many others have avoided).
David Bujalski (Time Bandits Music): Awww Shit
This has been one of my favorite entries so far; Bujalski grooves the track the f— out here; this swings hard ,especially with its use of some of the vocal screams (that sound reminiscent of the Jackson 5 in a way I hadn’t noticed before). Plus the incorporation of BDK’s “awww shit”? Awwww yeah.
Love that last one!