As a fan of original music, covering a mashup album feels a bit odd. After all, none of the parts are that novel. But there’s something undeniably transformative in William Maranci’s work. While his mashups are usually juxtapositions of disparate genres or a single song’s vocal line over changing beats from other songs, Meat Mountain also includes some more abstract mashups, employing samples from around ten songs or so. Sometimes, the result is humorous. Sometimes, things are confusing. And other times, songs that feel beyond redemption have been giving new life, even if merely for the sake of poking fun.

Some of these mashups have already seen the light of day. Take “Harder Better Psychosocial,” which pays homage to the now-defunct Daft Punk with Slipknot vocals to boot. For the chorus the the robot voice loops some of Corey Taylor’s lyrics. The end is chopped more finely than cilantro at a high-end restaurant. By no means is it my favorite mashup, but the fact these two songs have been interwoven in this manner is at the very least fascinating.

Soulja Boy meets Foo Fighters on “Superhero,” and this is certainly a prime example of Maranci’s chaotic genius. You can’t hear “There goes my hero, superman that hoe” and not crack a smile. And when the steel drum comes in, the hype is real.

Fred Durst’s vocals mashed with the already-sampled nature of J Dilla’s Donuts is an interesting combination. “I’m the only underneath the sun workin’ on it” is clever, and it’s just one of many charming moments on this bastardized blend.

“Blink 1-Oddity” mashes “All the Small Things” with Bowie’s “Space Oddity” to incredible effect. The first half sees Blink’s vocals, ethereally harmonized. The end flips the script, putting Bowie’s voice over Blink’s instrumentals. Space punk is real, folks, and it’s here to stay. It’s not the smoothest transition between the two halves, but the whole thing is so uncanny that you probably won’t notice or care.

Apart from these more standard, straight-forward mashups, there are a few others that toy with a wider degree of sampling to varying levels of success.

“Fly” in particular mixes everything from Disturbed to Owl City to Deftones to Sugar Ray (and more). Adam Young’s voice is chopped to say “I’d like to make myself believe that I could fly.” Still better than the original lyrics.

My personal favorite is “Wish” – “Unwritten” provides the instrumental base. Vocals are borrowed from Skee-Lo’s “I Wish,” but… there are some modifications here. “I wish I had balls;” “I wish I was like 1 ft 9;” “I wish I was a car;” the list goes on. Radiohead, King Crimson, and Paul Simon are all mixed in subtly. And the track ends with Soulja Boy yelling ” Youuuuuuuuuuu.”

The remaining tracks are a bit less interesting, but they’re still impressive in their own right. It’s also worth noting this collection is seamless, so listening to the whole thing front to back has a fair amount of continuity, even with everything that’s going on.

Maranci has fascinated me for a while. Many deem him an evil genius when it comes to these sorts of mashups, that he’s Frankensteining things together in a way that somehow works but feels morally suspect. This really speaks to the transformative nature of what he’s doing. Matching key, mood, rhythm, and more is far more complex than I think any of us might imagine. It’s like building a new song entirely, and his choices to combine never cease to amaze and amuse. While I don’t follow him with any expectation of any sort of proper release, seeing a few of his recent creations (and a couple brand new ones) organized officially is certainly welcome.

William Maranci regularly releases new mashups on his YouTube channel.