quickcrit - music reviews

Pittsburgh's Girl Talk (real name: Gregg Gillis) is a former biomedical engineer who quit his day job to pursue his real art and craft: DJ-ing. Specializing in the creation of incredibly catchy “mash-ups,” he incorporates the best highlights from popular top 40, 80’s, hip hop and alternative rock songs we all know and love, to make brand new tracks for us to continue loving. Diddy might claim to have invented the remix, but Girl Talk took said remix, shook it up, and served it on the rocks with a twist of lime.

To understand his mission, he has said: "The whole basis of the music is that people have these emotional attachments to these songs… being able to manipulate that is a really easy way to connect with people." Ahh, the genius in conceptual simplicity that makes you wish you’d come up with it first! Feed The Animals boasts 14 stylized and ultra danceable tracks that are dizzying as they are intoxicating. Quite simply put, this shit is musical schizophrenia of the functional kind. Mixing upwards of 300 [unauthorized?] samples from artists ranging from (hip hop) Jay Z and Ludacris, to (electronica) Aphex Twin and Kraftwerk, to (mainstream pop) Rihanna and Britney Spears, to (classic rock) Pete Townsend and Steve Miller Band, Girl Talk has moxie. In fact, according to The New York Times Magazine, Girl Talk is a “lawsuit waiting to happen” and this is just as enjoyable to watch as tabloid fodder of good old-fashioned trainwrecks is to read (see: Amy Winehouse).

He’s even gaining a reputation for off-the-wall stage antics, all of which include the spontaneous removal of most, if not all, of his clothing during his set. Apparently, nudity never gets old. But half the fun is trying to identify the artists that are being used in each track [sometimes 18+]. Plus, his mixing choices are unique as hell. Who else would think to mix The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” with Busta Rhymes’ interjection of thoughts on making “booty clap?” File all this mad genius under Girl Talk, whose style will soon render traditional DJ’s obsolete. Seriously, just put this record on and the party will come to you. And if he doesn't make you dance, get your ass to a doctor immediately to check for vital signs.

Oh, and I couldn't resist: