Here’s an example of why people shouldn’t necessarily judge a book by its cover, or more appropriately, why we shouldn’t judge an album by its artwork. I admit, when I was initially sent some info on ALMAMY I thought the dood’s business was all rnb pop, but I gave a few tracks a spin or two and was hooked.
This unusual singer fuses his squeaky tenor, infectious pop melodies and cheeky lyrics with stripped down yet snappy electronic sonics with enough sass to give it the deserved attention.
Born in 1982 in Dakar, Senegal, Almamy started out as a dancer and an actor in his early teens, performing locally until he won a scholarship to study and dance in Paris in the late nineties. After relocating to New York in 2002, to study at the famed Broadway Dance Center, Almamy found himself immersed in the club scene began to explore sound. “Ballet couldn’t contain me anymore,” he recalls. “I was becoming a songwriter, I was singing and going out a lot to dance clubs, to listen to some cool electronic music.”
Collaborations with producers Peter McLean (D1 Music) and Mike Degen (RuPaul, Heavy D) followed but it was not until Almamy teamed up with guitarist and programmer Nick Holmes that he could produce, by layering his androgynous squeal of a voice and insistent melodies over skeletal instrumentations, a sound of his own.
Embodying the DIY aesthetic that is prevalent in the dance music scene Almamy then set up his own label, ModyWorks, in 2007 to issue a series of recordings. The first of which was a twin EP project released in January 2008 which was followed by a maxi-single featuring remixes of his best-selling song Like You Do by established (Seelenluft, Fonteyn) and up-and-coming (BeTrash, SilverSpirit) producers/remixers.
It was this release that caught the attention of Manalogue, particularly the remix from EN MASSE, which dices the original tune with lasers and electro chainsaws.
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MP3: Almamy – Like You Do (En Masse ‘Like We Do’ remix)
Almamy is currently working on The Love, a 5-track conceptual EP to be released this year. It’s the first installment in a series of conceptual EPs to be released every few months. The lead single, a cover of Daft Punk’s Digital Love will be out in March.
