Booming again

22 January 2004

Well, blow me, if Boom Selection isn’t back with avengeance. I swear, the last site was completely pillaged by me in a quest for decent, non-clashy bootlegs in order to play at college bops. Did anyone appreciate them? No, but damnit I did. There’s some seriously wonderful cuts going around at the moment; favourite include Sexual High (Sexual Healing vs High and Dry, perfect in an indescribable way); Mark Ronson’s Ooo-wee against Kylie’s Slow (surprisingly good); and the classic “Kill Yourself”, pitting Loose Yourself against Hotei Tomoyasu’s Battle Without Honour or Humanity. You know, from Kill Bill. It’s mighty.

What is it about bootlegs that gets me going? Don’t know; it’s partly the attitude; yeah, it’s a remix, but it’s also this entirely punk collision of tune and acapella, and yet there’s still a great deal of skill to the art, simply because getting stuff that’s in tune throughout, not just briefly, is the trick. And then you kick yourself, for never realising that x goes with y so well.

It’s a musical joke; it takes the disposability of pop and squares it, throwing original tunes and lyrics out of the window in order to make something new. And yet, every now and then, that something new is something special.

Christ, I’m turning into a Q writer or something. Dreadful. Anyhow: the booms are back. Go download. Go support. And if you’re in Manchester, go to the damn club night.