Though often unfair, comparisons are inevitable when talking about music. They provide reference points for new styles and artists we're still trying to fully understand. Case in point, Toronto, ON DJ Kids & Explosions (aka Josh Raskin). Upon listening to his chopped mash-up record, Shit Computer, Girl Talk and his hyperactive sample-fests immediately come to mind.
Speaking of his recent release, Raskin admits to Exclaim! he's a "huge fan" of the Pittsburgh, PA-based DJ who has become the poster boy for mash-ups. So why then do we need Kids & Explosions when we've already got Greg Gillis?
"The biggest similarity is that we both use pop music as our instrument," Raskin says. But their end goals, he explains, are entirely different. "What he does is dance music and I'm not trying to be dance music. There are a lot of obvious similarities, but I feel like he's making music to make a party go off and I feel like I make music to make people move back to their mom's houses."
Raskin first came upon with his chopped-up pop music sound back in 2006, with no idea who Girl Talk was. "I'd played a show [in Toronto] and I'd played a show in Montreal. About a month later, a friend of mine who was at the Montreal show called me and he said, 'This guy is on the radio in North Carolina and he's doing what you do, but getting famous for it.'"
The comparisons will persist, Raskin says, due more to the recent rise in mainstream popularity of the genre than a misunderstanding of him or his music. "Because this kind of music hasn't been around for that long, it's easy to make those comparisons," he says. "But after a while it will be the same as saying Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash are the same because they both play the guitar."
Kids & Explosions' Shit Computer is out now as a pay-what-you-want release here. Also, read Exclaim!'s full interview here.
Speaking of his recent release, Raskin admits to Exclaim! he's a "huge fan" of the Pittsburgh, PA-based DJ who has become the poster boy for mash-ups. So why then do we need Kids & Explosions when we've already got Greg Gillis?
"The biggest similarity is that we both use pop music as our instrument," Raskin says. But their end goals, he explains, are entirely different. "What he does is dance music and I'm not trying to be dance music. There are a lot of obvious similarities, but I feel like he's making music to make a party go off and I feel like I make music to make people move back to their mom's houses."
Raskin first came upon with his chopped-up pop music sound back in 2006, with no idea who Girl Talk was. "I'd played a show [in Toronto] and I'd played a show in Montreal. About a month later, a friend of mine who was at the Montreal show called me and he said, 'This guy is on the radio in North Carolina and he's doing what you do, but getting famous for it.'"
The comparisons will persist, Raskin says, due more to the recent rise in mainstream popularity of the genre than a misunderstanding of him or his music. "Because this kind of music hasn't been around for that long, it's easy to make those comparisons," he says. "But after a while it will be the same as saying Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash are the same because they both play the guitar."
Kids & Explosions' Shit Computer is out now as a pay-what-you-want release here. Also, read Exclaim!'s full interview here.
