By Andy Rehfeldt's own admission, it's unlikely you've heard of him: "I never fulfilled my lifelong ambition of being a rock star." But the jobbing musician/composer from LA has wracked up 7m YouTube views in the last year. That's because he had the splendid idea of taking videos of metal acts performing their songs, stripping away the music (but not the vocals), and then using his apparently abundant musical skill to create an incongruous new backing track. So, at youtube.com/AndyRehfeldt, you can see Metallica performing a smooth jazz version of Enter Sandman, Motörhead belting out Ace of Spades in a bombastic Broadway musical style, and Nirvana playing a wonderfully silly reggae version of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Rehfeldt has also begun to reverse the process, seamlessly turning tracks by Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Shakira and Beyoncé into full-on metal bangers. A deal for a Christmas novelty album can't be too far away.
Smells Like Teen Spirit is also among the tracks on an excellent free mixtape from Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, which the DJ/producer has made available from fatboyslim.net ahead of his appearance at London's SW4 festival later this month. Among the other highlights on the party-starting mix are Talking Heads' Psycho Killer and SJ feat Simon Ki's Something Happening, a hulking dancefloor anthem built around the horn hook from Dexy's Midnight Runners' Geno. As is often the case these days, you'll have to swap your email address in return for the mix. But it's interesting to note that when you click the link to download the mix, you're also offered the chance to buy a selection of Fatboy Slim merchandise. Seems we really have got to the point where artists will give away music in the hope of selling T-shirts.
Meanwhile, the SW4 festival website itself (southwestfour.com), is offering free mixes from many of the other DJs appearing, presumably in the hope that a sample of their sonic wares will entice people to buy tickets for the event. Sign up as a member to the festival's site (and, naturally, its newsletter) and you can take your pick from 14 free DJ mixes from the likes of Josh Wink, Benny Benassi, Erol Alkan and Kissy Sell Out. There's also a link to an external site where you can, once again, sacrifice your email address in return for a wonderful half-hour "old school" mix from Carl Cox, which harks back two decades to the piano-driven house of Kariya and Alison Limerick.
Thing is, having downloaded many hours of quality music from some of dance music's best DJs, sticking some speakers in your garden and inviting a few friends round suddenly seems like rather better value than a £50 SW4 day ticket.
