kleptones

WFMU may save my soul. Thanks to this internet-friendly radio station, I just discovered the Kleptones, an English "collage band" that recently produced a free, fully downloadable album called "A Night At the Hip-Hopera" superimposing Queen's music and excerpts from 20 years worth of hip-hop recordings. Apparently Disney, who owns the rights to the Queen catalog, is working hard to supress this thing. It's an exhilarating and oddly emotional listen that, somewhat mysteriously, takes me back to when I first "discovered" rock music (about 12 or so, and it was Purple Rain that turned me on). Perhaps it's the knowledge that something vaguely rebellious is going on, combined with a general love of collage. And then there's the way a project such as this seems designed to bring both homophobia and racism in popular music into an uncomfortably bright spotlight. Is combining Queen with hip-hop homophobic? Is it racist? Is just the opposite of either one or both of those things? Is it commentary on racism within the gay community, homophobia within the hiphop community, or both? Does it suggest that the music industry has a divisive effect on society as a whole by marketing clearly racially segregated product lines? Or is it taking the project way too seriously to even ask these questions? Although the album isn't available via the Kleptones' site due to bandwith problems, the site contains links to several mirrors.