Ok, i’m conflicted. I think what Girl Talk represents- the future of music, say some, its demise, say others- is interesting and worthy of analysis. (Also, the GT album is “pay what you want,” also a worthy convo topic). But do people actually like the music?? I mean, Greg Gillis is talented, very talented. He has a great ear and knows how to structure songs and to make people dance, which are all good things. But what he does to me, and i believe many others, is sad and hard to get over. When he starts playing a funky De La Soul or Tony! Toni! Tone! (heh heh) break, I want to hear that shit! I don’t want it to fade into some other bit from another undoubtedly great song, even a mix messes with it. (Hey yous with the opposing opinions, I want to hear from you!) This is my opinion, and i’m sticking with it.
We all know how it is- you walk into a club, a bar, a party and a song that just makes you want to move is playing. It feels great. And this feeling is EVEN BETTER when nostalgia is part of the mix, which is often the case with Girl Talk samples. Nostalgia is one of the most powerful mind trips- it can make you cry, laugh, whatever. To have that nostalgia brought to a grinding halt by mashing it up is potentially really dangerous. I could freak out!
So, should I go on Sunday?? (He does strip down often, and it will be hot….)
Girl Talk plays for free at the Jelly NYC Williamsburg Waterfront “Pool Party” on Sunday afternoon.
Girl Talk: Bounce That
Girl Talk: Bounce That
6 comments
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August 20, 2009 at 6:38 pm
uncle leland
your “anti-mix” opinion is so tired and old, that I actually feel nostalgic for it. if you want to hear the whoooooole song, then you should go home and listen to it on your stereo. when you’re out, the DJ is king and mixing/mashing is the game. if Girl Talk played the whole De La Soul song, instead of mashing it with whatever, he wouldn’t be an artist playing huge, sold-out shows. he’d be an iPod shuffle. or a radio station.
August 20, 2009 at 6:47 pm
fiercetalk
true enough. but i think there is a difference between the DJ and Girl Talk. A DJ doesn’t mix samples in the same way…he/she will fade songs out sooner, or will cross fade from one song to another and maybe back again, but Girl Talk actually samples different parts of songs, sometimes lots of them, and puts them together before hand, purposefully. though i guess many dj’s do their mixing pre-show nowadays too, on laptops.
my opinion is not tired and old if it’s still current for me.
August 20, 2009 at 7:42 pm
amanda
because he doesn’t mix in the conventional dj style, and does it so artistically, is what makes him so important. girl talk represents a piece of the natural evolution music in the digital age: a combination of access to a huge amount of sample-able music (via download, legal or not), technological tools to put it together (garage band, et al), and a generation with a 30 second attention span and premature nostalgia of the times before the world was full of scary extremists.
He tells the crowd on the “Girl Talk Murders Seattle” recording:
“Get the fuck up here [onto the stage]! Let’s make a fucking connection!”
if you can’t tell, i’ve got nothing but love, mainly because it’s a great freaking dance party.
August 20, 2009 at 7:51 pm
fiercetalk
i love the dance party too, as you know amanda!!
and thanks for the great quote- making a real (and sometimes physical) connection between audience and artist is something that is totally rad about our changing cultural landscape. you see it happening all over the place, in DIY shows with no stage, for example.
of course you have a live seattle recording!!
August 20, 2009 at 8:51 pm
uncle leland
I’m still confused by your point, Ms. MME, that the art of the mix is somehow anti-nostalgia. that by being denied the full song you are somehow disrupted from a nostalgic reverie that thus ruins the experience. what difference is it whether you hear the full track or 20 seconds mashed up with another song, especially when its in the context of trying to create something else entirely, like Girl Talk? are you still brought to a “grinding halt” when the next song elicits an even greater “oh shit!” moment than the one before?
August 20, 2009 at 8:54 pm
fiercetalk
i don’t like when good feelings are interrupted. that’s all i’m saying. if the next bit is better, awesome, but that one will end to. then all you end up with are false starts and no climaxes. and we all know how that ends…