More Bandwidth Than Sense: This is a neat concept (original vocals over R’n’B ringtones) and it’s not the creators’ fault that it sounds mostly really horrible. Having spent 4 solid weeks poring over mobile phone websites for work this mix has particular resonance for me – in a way it would have been more weird/interesting had 424 Sound Monster used the previous generation of ringtones, really stark BBC Micro bleeps, which had a kind of primitive charm and would have sounded very odd next to the slick original vocals. The tones you hear now suffer from being too recognisable, not sounding anything like ‘a phone ringing’ but sounding weedy and awful next to the source material. It’s like phone games – Snake II is pleasantly blocky and barely representational; the new colour ones just remind you what a fun machine your PS2 is. (Link via Philip Sherburne’s excellent site.)
(Update: the Eminem “Without Me” mix is much more like it, about 10 minutes into the first MP3 on the site.)