''Jaydiohead'' is the
mashup project of the music of
Jay-Z and
Radiohead that was mixed and produced by New York producer
Minty Fresh Beats (Max Tannone). Tannone premiered the album ''Jaydiohead'' on his Myspace page on December 30, 2008,
[Goodman, William (2009-01-05)]
"Free Download: Radiohead and Jay-Z Mash-Up, 'Jaydiohead'."
''Spin magazine online.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 which was officially released to download January 1, 2009. The first album was followed up by the July 12, 2009 release of ''Jaydiohead: The Encore'', which featured five new mixes. The album ''Jaydiohead'' has been called an internet sensation.
[
]
Production
Tannone began work on ''Jaydiohead'' about a year prior to the album's completion, beginning with the tracks "Wrong Prayer" and "Ignorant Swan".[Miyamoto, Justin (2010)]
Jaydiohead: Our interview with the head behind the head, Max Tannone."
''Proxart Magazine.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 The remainder of the tracks, which incorporate Jay-Z's a capella releases and samples from Radiohead songs,[ were mixed and produced beginning in August 2008.][Montgomery, James (2009-01-06)]
"Jaydiohead DJ Says He'd Love Feedback From Jay-Z Or Radiohead."
''Mtv.com'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 Over the course of six weeks, Tannone had completed the album from his laptop.[Touré (2009-01-15)]
"Introducing Jaydiohead."
''The Daily Beast.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04
In an interview with ''The Daily Beast'' writer Touré, he explains that producing a song is a lengthy process that could take several weeks to complete.[ Using Jay-Z's a cappella songs as the master tempo, he searched through Radiohead songs that he believed would complement Jay's lyrics. He also states that cohesion between the songs was one of the most difficult tasks in mixing.][ But by splitting up Radiohead songs into smaller pieces, he was able to layer Jay-Z's vocal tracks on top of them, sometimes placing additional melodies, adding drums or percussive instrumentation, or other effects into the track.][ Due to copyright infringement issues, similar to the release of most mashups, the songs were offered free of charge from the official website,][ and no legal action has been taken against Tannone.][''Jaydiohead'' was also bootlegged on vinyl.
In addition, a video called "Ignorant Swan Medley" was made, and featured several clips from songs on the album.]["Staff Pick."]
''Vimeo via Twitter.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04
Style
The distinct sound of Jay-Z's vocal tracks with Radiohead's samples by Tannone have been described as fluid,[(2009-05-0]
''JUSTPRESSPLAY.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 uniting the sounds of two legendary artists[ and complementing one with the other.][ This fusion of the two artists has been described as not sounding forced,][Robinson, Iann (2009-04-28)]
"JAY-Z/RADIOHEAD: JAYDIOHEAD."
''Crave Online.'' Retrieved 2010-08-03 coming from artists with music that is considered to be polar opposites of each other.[ The songs' cohesion gives the impression that the two distinctly different genres have not been merged, but could pass as an original release by either one of the original artists.][(2009-02-07)]
"Jaydiohead mashup : Amazing bloody mashup…no other way to say it."
''Key of Grey.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 Aside from Radiohead and Jay-Z samples being alternative rock and hip hop, respectively, the music has been described as funky.[
]
Reception
Overall, most critics viewed the album generally as positive,[ and David James Young of ''Sputnik'' praises that "''Jaydiohead'' throughout the album bring(s) out sides of both artists in a subtle yet highly effective way."][ Also, fans of both respective artists typically received the album well,][Montgomery, James (2009-01-05)]
"Jay-Z And Radiohead Collide On Jaydiohead Mash-Up Album."
''MTV.com.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 as did fellow mashup DJ's.
Several critics have compared ''Jaydiohead'' to Danger Mouse's '' Grey Album'', also a mashup album, that featured samples taken from the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
''The White Album
''The Beatles'', also referred to colloquially as the White Album, is the ninth studio album and only double album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles, released on 22 November 1968. Featuring a plain white sleeve, the cover conta ...
'' and Jay-Z's ''the Black Album''.[French, Colin (2009-01-27)]
"Minty Fresh Beats; Jaydiohead."
''The Music Fix.'' Retrieved 2010-08-03 Others have mentioned the similarity between ''Jaydiohead'' with that of Girl Talk's track "Set It Off", which mixes Jay's "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)..." with Radiohead's "Paranoid Android", albeit for a very short amount of time in comparison with the full album Tannone has made.[ It even garnered attention by Jay-Z himself, hailing several of the tracks as "gems" in one of his own ]Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
posts.
Notable celebrities that have mentioned the album, or a particular song, include Gwyneth Paltrow on her blog and Carson Daly on his TV show ''Last Call with Carson Daly,'' as well as a few others that it has caught the attention of. It has made several ''Top of 2009'' lists, and the video for "Ignorant Swan Melody" was a Vimeo
Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...
feature staff pick.[ In 2010, ''Jaydiohead'' was included in a piece by ]NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
entitled ''The Mechanics of Mashups.''
However, not all reviews were positive.[Dombal, Ryan (2009-01-05)]
"The Jay-Z/Radiohead Mashup to End All Mashups (Please?)."
''Pitchfork Media.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 Vice Magazine
''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...
called the album "supremely lame and tame",[(2010-05)]
"In the magazine - Music Reviews - The Catholic Guilt Issue."
''Vice Magazine.'' Retrieved 2010-08-04 and some have joked that the track names leave little room for surprise.[(2009-01-06)]
"Radiohead and Jay-Z collaboration?."
''Mtv.com: UK'' Retrieved 2010-08-03[
Although both have performed, but not appeared in the same year at the Glastonbury Festival, critics have also played with the idea that this shared attribute would spark a '']Collision Course
{{wiktionary
A collision course, also known as a ''kamikaze run'', is the deliberate maneuver by the operator of a moving object (or often in Sci-Fi a spaceship) to collide with another object. It is a desperate maneuver since it often damages ...
'' and subsequent tour.[
]
Tracks
References
External links
*Official website o
Jaydiohead
{{Authority control
2009 remix albums
Jay-Z remix albums
Mashup albums
Radiohead remix albums
Unofficial remix albums