onfocus

Long before Jon Stewart made a career of media criticism via judicious editing, and back when media went viral at the glacial pace of traded bootlegs, a few studio pioneers were using clips from television as their raw materials for media criticism.

Here's Emergency Broadcast Network in 1992 remixing Dan Quayle in Watch Television:



And here's another track from 1992—Steinski setting George Bush I to The Jackson 5 with the surprisingly relevant It's Up To You (Television Mix):



See also on YouTube: We Will Rock You by EBN. And there's info about a great collection of Steinski's work here: What Does It All Mean?

Don't hate the media, become the media! (And remix it.)

I'm enjoying just about everything from Bebo Valdés right now. He was a pianist, arranger, and band leader in pre-revolution Cuba. He arranged high energy big band songs like this, Bilongo sung by Rolando Laserie:



Valdés left Cuba for Europe and continues to record today. I especially enjoy his solo piano work where you hear echoes of his time at the Tropicana like Cuba Linda from his 2006 album Bebo:



See also on YouTube: Americana from his Blanco y Negro concert. You can find more of his early big band songs on Guapachá con Bebo Valdés y sus Amigos.