A classical piano plays a familiar melody. A comforting voice begins to sing, “Mama, just killed a man / Put a gun against his head / Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead.” It’s Freddie Mercury; this is “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a classic rock song long launched back into popular culture by the historically inaccurate, self-aggrandizing Queen biopic named after the track.
Suddenly, a new instrument enters the mix, a building electronic synthesizer, Freddie’s golden voice cuts out, the piano speeds up and now you’ve entered a full-blown tropical electronic dance tune. Sam Smith’s voice begins singing his 2013 hit “Latch” and then, quite surprisingly, Post Malone is singing the chorus of his breakout hit “White Iverson.” You have no idea what’s going on, and rightfully so. From Freddie, to Sam to Post all in under a minute and a half? Well, what’s going on is the Two Friends “Big Bootie Mix, Volume 15.”
Two Friends is quite literally comprised of two friends, Eli Sones and Matthew Halper. Together, they produce some original EDM, which can be found on their Spotify. But Two Friends are not known for their original works, rather they’re known for their “Big Bootie” mixtape series, which can be found on their Soundcloud.
The Big Bootie Mixes are hour-long mashups of well-known current and classic songs with electronic dance production. A fast paced melody will play, the chorus or a few memorable lines from a popular song will be sung, and then, a sudden beat drop, often accompanied by an audio sample from a popular TV show, movie or viral video, and then back to a new song — this process is repeated ad nauseam, with up to 200 songs included in a mix.
The Big Bootie Mixes are, quite simply, pure sugar. They are an hour of energy, perfect for only a limited number of situations — when you’re too lazy to DJ your dorm party, when you overdose on pre-workout and try to beat your bench-press record or when you need something to soundtrack your Fortnite sesh. Some of the Big Bootie Mixes are actually quite good if played in the right scenario, with volume 11 and volume 14 standing out above the rest. However, the latest Big Bootie Mix, volume number 15, clearly proves that you can in fact have too much of a good thing.
The problem with “Big Bootie Mix, Volume 15” is a problem that has cropped up in a number of mixes before. Songs that are too unrelated, too dissimilar and just too wrong for each other are placed together. Early in volume 15, Earth, Wind & Fire’s bop “September” is followed by The Neighbourhood’s slow jam “Sweater Weather.” Later, “Scar Tissue” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is succeeded by Kanye West’s “Yikes,” which, even on its own, isn’t a good song. A number of songs are also included that are just plain out of place, like Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah,” Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” and Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2” — all great songs on their own, but not great in an EDM mix.
“Big Bootie Mix, Volume 15” fails to create enough exciting moments and entertaining beat drops to justify an hour of listening. Granted, there are some good moments, like the transition from Sheck Wes’s “Mo Bamba” to Drake’s verse on “SICKO MODE” at the 38-minute mark and the Rihanna-introduced beat drop at the 23-minute mark. But as a whole, “Big Bootie Mix, Volume 15” is subpar; it sounds like what cheap vodka tastes like, or at least what I assume it would taste like: not good.
Artist: Two Friends
Mixtape: “Big Bootie Mix, Volume 15”
Label: None
Favorite tracks: The transition from “Mo Bamba” to “SICKO MODE”
If you like: to party
Shamrocks: 1 out of 5
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