Zuzu Wheeler - Feature Story

A New Kind of Beat
Girl Talk. Milk Man. The Hood Internet. All sound like names of cartoon shows, but they are actually names of artists who are part of a new and growing trend in electronic music: the mash-up. Today’s technology has allowed them to combine songs together to creatively make a whole new song.
Most times with mash-ups, the vocals of one track are layered over the instrumentals of another track. This effect creates a new outlook on often times already known songs. Imagine a Madonna vocal with a Rolling Stones instrumental, and you’ve got a fresh new song.
Fort Collins frequently hears mash-ups at its local bar scene on Friday nights, which have gotten good reception. But a new sort of mash-up has crept up that no one really knows about just yet.
Junior journalism major Steven Sandler, 22, may go to school and play for CSU’s lacrosse team, but his true calling is music. And technical music he knows like the back of his hand.
Already devoted to his solo electronic project Radar Noon, Sandler turned to a different take on his less-than-favorite original songs.
“At first, I wrote some original songs, but the ideas weren’t really going anywhere. I hit a brick wall with them. So I found some popular songs, took the vocal versions of them, changed my original songs a little bit to fit them, and went from there,” he said.
To most, his mash-ups will sound like a simple remix of a popular song, such as “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry. But he writes his own original music to go along with them and records all of his creations on his Mac in the comfort of his home. And, to top it off, they sound like professional recordings.
While at first he wrote his original songs before he mashed them with a popular song, he has now changed course while starting his new project under the name War Feather.
“People suggest songs to me now that they hear of what I’m doing,” Sandler said. “Instead of writing my songs first, I find a song that I like or other people like and then write my own music to correspond to it. I’ll change the vocals or tempo to make it sound even more different.”
Some other songs Sandler has mashed-up include “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha and “Get Low” by Lil’ Jon. Future works will include “Firework,” another Katy Perry hit, and “Forget You” by Cee-Lo Green.
When all is said and done (or mashed), Sandler wants to release a CD of his original mash-ups to get the word out.
If all goes according to plan, Fort Collins will soon be dancing their Friday nights away to mash-ups by War Feather.