Girl Talk – All Day (Illegal Art)
May 2, 2008 was a special day for me. The events that occurred that evening set into motion something I could never have prepared for. That night at the now-defunct Toads Place (currently the Hat Factory) was the first time I had seen Girl Talk live, and there was no going back. I had heard of Gregg Gillis and his DJ pseudonym a few weeks earlier, when I was sent a track that he had created. Not being an avid party-goer or even dabbling in anything other than rock and roll and indie music at the time, Girl Talk was able to provide me, an inexperienced user, with an easy transition into electronic music. His cult-classic song sampling, mixed with driving electronic undertones, made me want to move. I was hooked from the start, quickly indulging myself in anything I could find. Having expanded my electronic music knowledge 100 times over since then, I would not now consider Girl Talk an electronic musician. Rather, he is a musician who has mastered the art of sampling, and has the ear to blend these samples into new works of art that leave him in a league of his own.
Girl Talk – All Day (Illegal Art)
May 2, 2008 was a special day for me. The events that occurred that evening set into motion something I could never have prepared for. That night at the now-defunct Toads Place (currently the Hat Factory) was the first time I had seen Girl Talk live, and there was no going back. I had heard of Gregg Gillis and his DJ pseudonym a few weeks earlier, when I was sent a track that he had created. Not being an avid party-goer or even dabbling in anything other than rock and roll and indie music at the time, Girl Talk was able to provide me, an inexperienced user, with an easy transition into electronic music. His cult-classic song sampling, mixed with driving electronic undertones, made me want to move. I was hooked from the start, quickly indulging myself in anything I could find. Having expanded my electronic music knowledge 100 times over since then, I would not now consider Girl Talk an electronic musician. Rather, he is a musician who has mastered the art of sampling, and has the ear to blend these samples into new works of art that leave him in a league of his own.
All Day, his latest album, was released for free on November 15, much to everyone’s surprise. Sources knew he was at work on a follow up to the critically acclaimed Feed The Animals (2008), yet no one knew to what extent it was being worked on. I woke up the morning of the 15th to find that pretty much every site I check regularly had some sort of reference to “the new Girl Talk CD IS OUT!!! WOW.” A quick Twitter check revealed that he had indeed released his 2-years-in-the-making follow up album. I was able to download the files, for free, in the early hours of the morning. Having been in class for several hours afterwards, I arrived home to see that Girl Talk was STILL making news everywhere. Twitter was flooded with Girl Talk references, Facebook users could not shut their mouths about the album, and it seemed the internet as a whole was crumbling around Gregg Gillis’ feet. At that point, the links on the Illegal Art website were either broken or inaccessible (they are working again as of now–see link at the top of this review). Later that day, a post on his twitter account revealed that his new album was the #1 US Search on Google for that day.
All Day is his most mature and complex album to date, not to mention the most lengthy. Coming in at 71 minutes and featuring 12 songs with over 370 samples, the high number of samples made me think of a few other notable musicians that were masters of sampling, DJ Shadow and the Avalanches–both of whom had to have inspired Girl Talk at some point or another. From the second I pressed play, I knew what I would be hearing. I knew that this album would have overplayed vocal hooks from Top 40 charts mixed with some classic rock samples and even some random indie favorites hidden inside. However, a few tracks in, I noticed a more mature element to this album. While there were indeed vocal hooks that I would deem overplayed, they were being combined with more notable song choices, such as Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker,” and “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” by Genesis. Who would have thought that layering James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Nasty Boy,” and Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” (as occurs on Track 6, “On and On”) could produce such excitement? The surprises are endless. I could imagine listening to this album around a bunch of new people and trying to figure out various samples–which could then be checked on the All Day Wikipedia article. The album is a step in the right direction for Girl Talk, who must have had a hard time trying to follow up Feed The Animals. All Day shows a more production-heavy element that was not as prominent on his other records, which just goes to show you how dedicated a producer Gregg Gillis is.
We are fortunate to have several upcoming shows in the immediate area that Girl Talk has already booked: Friday, January 28th at the NorVa in Norfolk, and January 29th right here in Richmond at the National. I would encourage you now to clear your calendar for one of these dates, as these live shows not only sell out quick, but will leave you questioning as to how you ever partied before then.
