Bloggers loved the track but struggled to place a label on it. The new vocals led some to call the effort a cover, but the track was far from some unknown college student belting out an acoustic version of his favorite pop song on YouTube. The revamped instrumental screamed remix, but the song as a whole was more than that. It was something altogether different from the original a phenomenon not unlike the end result of the children's game "Telephone," in which there are no true duplications, just replications with a variety of unexpected twists and turns. The artists referenced this phenomenon later when they chose the name for their group: Telephoned.
The duo kicked off their debut with a mixtape "Off the Hook Mixtape," released in mid-January as a promotion before the drop of their debut EP two days later. The mixtape uses a formula similar to the one they used on "Can't Believe It." When attacking Ron Browz's "Pop Champagne," Sammy slides a charming, bubbly beat under Horn's seductive vocals. It's the same when Telephoned tackles The Dream's "Rockin' that Thang," Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" and Jim Jones and DJ Webstar's "Dancin' on Me." Each song is familiar enough to draw in Top 40 fans while still being original enough to interest the most jaded of hipsters.
Telephoned keeps things fresh in a variety of ways. On the rework of Soulja Boy's "Turn My Swag On," for example, Sammy crafts yet another comforting instrumental with Horn crooning over top at first, but soon abandons it in favor of an aggressive dubstep backing as Ninjasonik's Telli takes over the vocals. Wild stylistic shifts such as this keep the listener intrigued throughout the mixtape.
The duo throws the listener for an even bigger loop when they take on Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" an originally dull alt-rock track and turn it into a pop gem. Sammy lays down perhaps the dreamiest, most comforting instrumental of the entire mixtape and Horn rivals Kings of Leon lead vocalist Anthony Followill in earnestness and intensity.
Although Telephoned masterfully twists Top 40 tunes into unique club hits, they fare even better when adapting lesser-known tracks. They do so first on a rework of "Breakfast." Here Sammy and Horn put a funky disco spin on Le Le's quirky club anthem.
They take the opposite approach when reworking Duck Sauce's 2009 anthem "aNYway." Rather than singing a widely-known track over an underground beat, Horn belts out a hipster staple over the instrumental to Soulja Boy's "Turn My Swag On." Sammy and Maggie thus prove themselves enthusiasts of both mainstream and underground club music. What's more, they show a remarkable ability to mesh the familiar with the unfamiliar to create a product that's entirely new, yet still accessible to the masses.
In the end, it's this ability to playfully and seamlessly switch from one genre to the next that proves Telephoned's most useful skill. Although Sammy's abundant music knowledge and Horn's vocal work both impressed fans of their previous projects, their open-mindedness and compatibility make their work together more than just a lighthearted collaboration between two friends: Telephoned is something truly impressive. This is certainly an outfit to keep an eye on.
