Travis Barker, Drummer for Blink-182, The Transplants and Angels and Airwaves, the man who made a Soulja Boy track moderately listenable to and that guy off that MTV reality type show “Meet the Barkers”. He has teamed up with now unfortunately deceased DJ-AM* (who was mainly famous for being in a plane crash with Travis Barker) and made a couple of mixtapes. With DJ-AM on the decks and Barker playing live next to him, they create an audio and visual treat for their audience and both mixtapes are available to download free from their website, www.trvsdjam.com.
First up is Fix Your Face. The first track, after Fat Man Scoop has finished shouting, has some brief but accomplished scratching (in my opinion, I”™m no expert) before going into one of the stranger additions to the mix, Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. They then proceed through some assorted hip hop and The Chemical Brothers before arriving at a highly electronic version of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing in the Name Of. I found this a little odd but enjoyable all the same. Another highlight is the end of track 4 mix into the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In contrast, the mix in the middle of Track 6 between Rock With You and American Boy is somewhat jarring, as the beat matches but the pitch of the music does not. This is a small blot on an otherwise good listen. Other musical highlights include The Police, the theme from Rocky and I Love Rock and Roll. All round a damn entertaining listen increased in quality due to a real drum kit being used.
The second mixtape available is Fix Your Face 2 ”“ Coachella 09. This has several very familiar tracks and mixes with the return of Rage Against The Machine and even the Rocky theme, but adds to all this with highly inventive use of Guns and Roses and The Beatles before you even leave the first track. This second offering has a more diverse range of tracks than the Hip hop heavy original. This is to its credit with good use of MGMT, Justice, The Who, The Wiseguys, Metallica, The White Stripes, Daft Punk, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Gossip, Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Bloc Party. Not to mention the climactic moments of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to conclude the mix. All in all, it is very good fun. My own personal highlight is the inspired use of California Dreaming by The Mamas And The Papas, which seems to move seamlessly into Jay-Z’s Encore.
In conclusion the second is much better than the first but both Fix Your Face mixtapes are well worth a listen. Especially for free.
*DJ-AM was found dead in his apartment on August 28th 2009. It has been concluded that he died of a drugs overdose possibly related to his post traumatic stress after the plane crash with Barker in Septmeber 2008. It is a shame to lose such a talent under these tragic circumstances. Check out the following tracks to hear more of his work:
Crazy Town ”“ The Gift Of Game
Papa Roach ”“ Infest
Will Smith ”“ Born To Reign
Lady Sovereign ”“ Public Warning
Nasa ”“ The Spirit Of Apollo
He also appears on the game DJ HERO.
