If the mid-’00s blog-house production line didn’t discredit the bootleg to death, then this decade’s YouTube generation and its endless dubstep remixes of The Snowman will. 

Look beyond the landfill though, and there are still some cracking bootlegs about – or mashups, as nobody really enjoys calling them anymore – and coming from sources that you might not expect. Sure, at the format’s worst it’s a cheap way of getting Soundcloud hits off someone else’s work, but at its best it can make you reevaluate songs and lose your head on a dancefloor at the same damn time. Here’s some of our recent favourites, courtesy of Oneman, Pearson Sound, DJ Dials and more.

NB: We didn’t include them here, but shouts to the incredible partyrockish YouTube channel and ‘Stolen Thong’, both of which make YouTube a far, far better place.

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ONEMAN
‘STRUNG UP HYPE’
(DJ Oddz vs. Tempa T)

There’s at least a dozen remixes of Tempa T’s bahl in a china shop anthem ‘Next Hype’, including official takes by Brackles, Plastician and DVA, a Baltimore-style edit by Mosca and a delirious bootleg that pits it against Untold’s ‘Anaconda’, but sometimes it’s simplicity that hits the hardest – none of them have the same impact in the rave as Oneman’s version, which sits the acapella over the top of oft-forgotten grime producer DJ Oddz’ ‘Strung Up VIP’.

DJ BC
‘NOT LIKE PINK ROBOTS’
(Flaming Lips vs. Snoop Dogg)

In the wrong hands, the combination of guitars and rapping can represent one of music’s most truly evil forces (for every ‘Another Body Murdered’ or ‘Thugs Mansion’ Remix, there’s an entire album of Collision Course), but when it’s Snoop – with Soopafly and RBX in tow – over the top of The Flaming Lips’ ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1’, the results are just too damn sweet to deny.

PEARSON SOUND
‘DES BISOUS’ vs. ‘GABRYELLE REFIX’
(Kowton vs. D Malice)

One of the most respected labels in the UK underground or not, it wasn’t that long ago that the Hessle Audio crew were students, and it shows in Pearson Sound, who simply loves a mashup. The last release under his old name, Ramadanman, was a white label blend of S-X’s ‘Woooo Riddim’ and his own ‘Glut’, and this marriage of Kowton’s grit-blasted grime-house anthem ‘Des Bisous’ and the string section shock-out of D-Malice’s ‘Gabryelle Refix’ has been providing a highlight of his recent sets.

DJ ORGASMIC
‘GET CLAP LOW TRAP’
(Ludacris vs. Joe)

French veteran Orgasmic has been playing bootlegs of dance music and hip-hop acapellas since back when the words “grey album” made you think of ‘Babylon’ before Brooklyn, and this version breathes new life into one of the best DJ tools around.

GIOGRAPHIC
‘RIDE MAD SAX’
(Ciara vs. Guido)

Incredibly, there’s not one but two mash-ups of Ciara’s ‘Ride’ and Guido’s ‘Mad Sax’ that have done the rounds in recent years, with Baby Armie – the producer behind the second to emerge – claiming that he had no idea of the first. Still, Giographic’s is the first and for our money the better version – good luck finding a download though.

RYAN HEMSWORTH
‘DON’T GIVE A…’ (DANKEY KONG BOOTLEG)
(Danny Brown vs. Donkey Kong Country)

Ryan Hemsworth’s remixes are like an IV shot of sheer nostalgia – check his Chrono Trigger-sampling version of Jeremih’s ‘773 Love’ for one of several examples – and SNES game Donkey Kong Country‘s underwater levels were basically the birthplace of cloud rap. OK, so that latter point’s a lie, but listen to this and try telling us that a combination of the two isn’t pure stoned bliss.

LUNICE
‘HUSTLIN’ REMIX’
(Rick Ross vs. Final Fantasy XII)

If Ryan Hemsworth’s approach to video game nostalgia leans on heavy reverb and hidden subtleties, then Lunice’s… let’s just say it’s not quite as subtle. Long before the Canadian livewire blew up with TNGHT, he uploaded this gem to the world – the fact that it sounds like it was mixed down on half an iPod earbud only adds to the charm.

DJ DIALS
‘HYPH MNGO TO BLOW’
(Joy Orbison vs. Young Money)

A once-secret DJ weapon of the LuckyMe crew, Jackmaster and others, San Francisco’s Dials eventually let out this show-stopping blend of Young Money’s ‘Money to Blow’ and Joy Orbison’s ‘Hyph Mngo’ – the latter’s drums and structure edited by Dials – to one of the most divided comment sections that FACT’s ever seen.

THE HEATWAVE
‘ROLLIN’ IN THE HEAT’
(Jamie xx & Adele vs. Mr. Lexx & Timberlee)

London dancehall unit The Heatwave must have a ton of fun with their edits – whether it’s chopping Mr Lexx and Nikisha vocals over TNGHT’s ‘Higher Ground’ or dropping Sean Paul’s ‘Temperature’ acapella smack bang in the middle of UK Funky anthem ‘Sirens’, the results are consistently some of the most fun you can have on a dancefloor. Their crown jewel though, has to be this Carnival mash-up of Jamie xx’s remix of Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ with acas from Lexx and TNT’s Timberlee – so good that Jamie xx regularly chooses to play it over his original when DJing.