It had been a while since I had thought about The Kleptones, and until I was reading a friend’s blog I had sort of forgotten they existed. Sure, their mash-ups of Queen’s A Night At The Opera and The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots were entertaining, but they were more amusing than revealing. Personally I dig a mash-up that does more than just stick two-songs together. I’m looking for something new to arise out of that marriage in order for it to capture my attention beyond a listen or two. A great example of a successful mash-up, in my opinion, is Aggro1’s “Since U Been Hard 2 Find” since it turns Kelly Clarkson’s triumphant original into a haunting meditation backed by American Analog Set.
Anyway, The Kleptones.
So I revisited their site recently and was met with two pleasant surprises. The first is that they’ve reposted their entire discography in files that are of a uniformly quality bitrate. The second, and biggest pleasure, was the discovery of their latest album of mixes, a two-disc concept album covering a day in the life of an average joe. The mash-ups throughout the disc are strong, inventive, and playful while still managing to convey the feeling of a cohesive storyline.
Download the whole thing here. And, as a sample, here is one of my favorite tunes on the album:
As is most often the case, Tankboy and I share da brainz. 24 Hours, as unlikely as it may seem, is actually one of the better albums released this year.
That Aggro1 mashup is a complete reversal and an improvement of the original song. Thanks for linking it.