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Big Ass Manatee - 1994Ever / Self-Released
Group of musicians from Morgantown, West Virginia send us a blast from the past, along with some current favorites. While not totally fitting into either the mash-up, nor the remix communities, BAM keeps the mashup production qualities. Sounding more like real-time DJing, leaving out over-produced dance music, BAM keeps the focus on one song at a time rather than trying to mashup multiple mediocre songs together to make a tolerable one. BAM goes beyond a remix, to a total reevaluation of the song, taking a lot of the elements out of context, and showing them for what they really are: usually ridiculous (see lyrics: "My Humps"). Even though these songs have been rebuilt, the vocal tracks are usually wholly original (the most they do is slow them down or add some distortion). From a DJ's perspective, preserving the original acapella track allows old true fans to still enjoy the remix. My favorite would have to be "Billie Jean," being one of the better remixes of the song that I have heard in a while. - Chris Dreyer - Music Director @ WLUW
Discography
Albums
1994EVER (2008) - Self-released
1. Return of the Mack (Single)
2. My Humps
3. Milkshake
4. Smile
5. Bootylicious
6. She's a Bitch
7. Dangerous
8. This Is How We Do It
9. We Be Clubbin'
10. Billie Jean
Physical and digital copies of this record have been distributed via AAM promotions to several hundred college radio stations. The record is available for free download at our official website, bigassmanatee.com.
Photos
Bio
The basic right of any human being is to express himself through the art form we call dance. But a right cannot exist without men to protect it.
There are seven among us who have accepted this responsibility. Big Ass Manatee is a collective of sonic sculptors and party professionals remaking top 40 songs into something their own using only the acapella track; meaning, the instrumentation, a blend of the digital and acoustic, is entirely original, demanding listeners to rethink the emotional character of the vocalist's delivery and ultimately the original song. For example, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison, initially a passive mid-90's club song, became an emotionally charged attention-demanding dance anthem. This kind of recontextuatlization is done by other artists but rarely as such a total transformation.
Although a relatively young live show, Big Ass Manatee has shared the stage with artists such as Kid Koala and Girl Talk. Party time is obtained through an unforgiving blow of heavy percussive textures and brilliantly raw melodies that leaves that shit a sweaty mess.
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