“Mouth Moods” is the third mash-up album released by Neil Cicierega. Mash-ups are when an artist takes samples, voice clips, or sometimes the entire song and mix it up with other songs. Mash-ups are usually memetic in nature using songs like “All-Star” by Smash Mouth and “Space Jam” from the Space Jam movie soundtrack that have a reached a cult following on the internet. Mouth Moods is no exception. It uses samples from popular songs and changes them in mostly humorous ways but they are able to stand on their own as artistic expressions.

The album starts off with the song “The Starting Line”. The song is very repetitive in the beginning with the same three voice samples from the songs “All-Star”, “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies, and “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” by Nine Days but eventually you’ll start to get into it before the real song comes in, which is good but the beginning of the song really cements the memery of the album.

The next stand out song is the one right after “The Starting Line”, “Floor Corn”.  A combination of just two songs “Bodies” by Drowning Pools  and “Popcorn”  by Hot Butter it takes what is normally one of the edgiest songs out there and making it more funny than it should be. Just the idea of this song is hilarious..

The next song isn’t in chronological order with the past two but it needs to be written about. Undoubtedly the best song on the album ”T.I.M.E.” It’s so simple but it’s so good. A combination of Han Zimmer’s “Time” from Inception and the famous “Y.M.C.A.” by Village People with the whistling bit of “All-Star” at the end it sounds simply epic. It’s one of those mash-ups that proves simplicity can go along way to make a memorable reimagining of two songs.

“Smooth” is another good track on this album. Mainly it’s “One Week” and Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” with bits of Canada’s national anthem as well as “Smooth” by Santana. The mix of “Smooth Criminal” and “One Week” works really good as Cicierega is able to make them sync up really well when you listen closely to the song.

There are far more good tracks on this album than I went over. “Bustin’” has grown cult popularity on YouTube with 2.4 million views on the platform. “Tiger” is a very humorous edit of “Eye of the Tiger” that shifts the focus of the song to be about actual tigers complete with sound clips of Tony the Tiger saying his iconic “They’re grrrreat!”.
Overall it’s a great mash-up album and just a great album in general. If this is your first time hearing hearing mash-up material you’ll be blown away. Highly recommended.