Girl Talk - All Day

All Girl Talk albums are basically the same thing. That's not really a knock, he does one thing and does it very well. A good mash-up can be a very surprising and entertaining thing, and Gillis is pretty much the Picasso of the medium. Even if you've already listened to a lot of his work, a new batch of it is always worth checking out just to see what he managed to cram together this time. No one else even seems to be trying to do what he does regularly. He released the fifth album earlier this week and broke the internet when everyone tried to download it once. I managed to grab it from a torrent linked on his website, and wasn't surprised to find I enjoyed it about as much as the other two records of his I've heard. Like the last one, it's meant to be heard as one long, continuous piece of music, and it's even available as a single hour long file if you're so inclined. You can spot a few places where he takes a breath before jumping straight into the next sequence of co-mingling tracks from all eras and types of music, but it's pretty much a constantly evolving and continuing enjoyable jumble of sound. I could do what I've done before and point out some of the more inspired selections, but really you should just find a list and check it out yourself. Everybody likes different stuff, and pretty much everyone could probably pick a handful of favorites from the literally hundreds of sources he used to put the album together. It's not something that I could really see elevating to truly great music status in my mind, but it's certainly a good time to listen to.

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

Much like the last one I reviewed, Girl Talk's latest album is one extremely dense and elaborate mashup, and what's even better, it can be downloaded in MP3 form on the label's website using the In Rainbows price model of whatever you feel like. Feed the Animals has fewer tracks than Night Ripper despite being about ten minutes longer, so the songs feel fuller, although it can still be easy to miss the transitions from one to another. I don't feel like it has quite as many stand out moments, but it's still a pretty thoroughly enjoyable listen, taking pieces from tons of songs across many genres and eras and turning them into a cohesive experience. There's just something irresistible about mixing UGK with The Spencer Davis Group to start off an album. A few other things that stood out were Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" transitioning straight into "15 Step" by Radiohead, "Gronlandic Edit" by Of Montreal appearing, and a bunch of random stuff you might not expect like "Superstar" by The Carpenters. I'm not sure what the creative process for mashing stuff together is like, but I imagine it's gotta be fun to experiment with.

Girl Talk - Night Ripper

Girl Talk is a mashup DJ, but instead of throwing two songs together like anyone else, he creates epic, album-length operas using dozens of artists and songs. It's generally pretty entertaining, and at times comes together into something pretty amazing. There's only a few different things being sampled at any one time, but things get switched up often enough to keep it from getting stale while the good transitions keep it as a cohesive experience. Night Ripper really can be listened to as one long piece of music, with some of the breaks between songs completely unnoticeable. Most of the vocals are from rap which is to be expected, but the instrumentals come from everywhere, and it's always a treat when you recognize something from a song you really like.

Some samples that jumped out at me or were used really well were The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony", "Where Is My Mind?" by Pixies, "Holland, 1945" by Neutral Milk Hotel, and Smashing Pumpkins' "1979". Girl Talk plays a lot with pitch both in the music and the vocal bits. It's cool how he can take a well known melody and use it in a completely different way, even making a voice into percussion or something. There are also a couple instrumental bits used here and there he made himself, mostly crunchy electronic stuff that enhances the mood effectively. Throwing other people's music into a blender isn't the height of the creative arts, but Girl Talk sure does a hell of a lot with it.