The Jam: Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals
On a Macbook, combine puree of top forty with remaining elements of vintage beats. Crush and stir in unexpected nineties hits. Boil vigorously with indie rock, stirring frequently with some eighties hairbands, for fifty-three minutes or until the jam is a set. Stir for 2 to 5 minutes while getting naked and then proceed to invite your audience to dance on stage with you. Enjoy.
Tastes a lot like: Blackberry Jam- unexpected but not inaccessible, unique yet familiar, perfect for the summer and oh, so dependably delicious.
Once upon a time there was this kid who used to be in a noise band, smashing up televisions who became a student of Case Western Reserve University with a laptop. This seems normal and relatively uninteresting but when combined with the crucial factoid of his name- Gregg Gillis- things come into perspective. And maybe you haven’t heard of Gregg but you probably have heard a lot about Girl Talk. And if you haven’t heard about Girl Talk, well, get out from under that rock.
Gregg Gillis is Girl Talk and Girl Talk is a man and his laptop making ridiculously lush and vibrant mash-ups. So, basically, he’s a DJ. Only he’s also one of the most prolific and talented experimentalists in the music industry right now. In 2002, he released his first album with Illegal Art and now six years later he has released his fourth full length, Feed The Animals.
Feed The Animals is absolutely filthy. The adjective usually has a negative connotation but in this context, it is in the highest of regards. Feed The Animals is such a outrageous collection of mash-ups and samples it is hard to decipher it without listening to it in its entirely. The first listen is a lot like taking a machine gun to your ears. You are hit with so many different sounds so quickly from so many eras that you are left defenseless. There is no point in even trying to comprehend it. Just accept the fact that in an hour you were just assaulted with Ace of Base and Cassidy, Rod Stewart and Ray-J, Quad City Djs and Question Mark & the Mysterians, Eminem and Yael Naim. And you liked it. A lot. Hold on… is that Rick Springfield?! With Soulja Boy?! Yeah, yeah it is. For each song, Gregg uses at least a dozen elements from other songs ranging from hip-hop to oldies to indie rock. On his previous album Night Ripper, he took in over six thousand samples from one hundred and sixty seven artists. He uses a calculator and a wav editor to concoct these hip-pop-classic-rockin’ orgies.
With Feed The Animals, Gregg is following the newly paved path that Radiohead recently led us down with the pay-what-you-want release. The album is intended to be listened to as if it is an entire set so if you pay a measly five bucks or more, you not only get the individual files but you get a seamless version of the entire album which is invaluable when it comes to parties, road trips or getting naked.
This album is not for the faint of heart, the closed of mind or the forgoers of fun. If you’re down to skip the Adderall and be immersed in a smorgasbord of surprise sounds, I promise you will not be disappointed. I would go as far to say that you will probably get your jollies off just thinking about that Kanye-Blackstreet mash-up.
Wait… is that Paula Cole?!
She hasn’t sounded this good since Joey loved Pacey.
Check out the new album at Myspace.com/GirlTalk.
Purchase the new album at Illegal Art.
