As far as cover bands go, Telephoned's probably not the one your cousin Lupo from Long Island's gonna call to play his wedding. Taking their concept from the old game of telephone, the duo of Maggie Horn and Sammy Bananas translate popular music through their various personal filters for an off-the-wall end version of the initial song, drawing on influences which seem to include: NYC nightlife, Hot 97, general fun times, 1990s club music, sequins and neon x-rays (see above). Their second mixtape sticks mostly to the top 40 R&B/rap bent of their first, twisting tracks everybody knows through their high-nightlife techno vision (though Chelley's "Took the Night" and Teki Latex's "Dinosaurs With Guns" both get the Telephoned treatment). A version of Donnis' "Gone" is turned into a kind of screwed down, emo-club Dem Bow, while Rihanna's "Rude Boy" and Jay-Z's "On to the Next One" are warped into clamoring, post-Swizz pop art, with Bananas blessedly dipping his foot in the long lost genre of drill n bass. If you're in New York, you can check out their pastiche-y party steez live tonight at their mixtape release party at Ella (info here), or see them on tour with Chromeo through the rest of the summer, dates after the jump.
