Friday Dance – Girl Talk

You won’t find too much dance music post 1980’s on my iPod, interaction with a dance floor for me ended with the burning down of Akrams.

I have however enjoyed the odd mash-up a concept which interweaves two songs into one, it was a concept which expanded upon the act of sampling and was a great success back in 1987 for the JAMMS (The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu).

Todays artist takes this to a new level with their latest album “Feed The Animals”

Girl Talk

Girl Talk is the stage name of musician Gregg Gillis (born October 26, 1981). Gillis, who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has released four LPs on Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles. He began making music while studying biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He specializes in mashup style remixes, in which he uses often a dozen or more unauthorized samples from different songs to create a new song; The New York Times Magazine has called his music “a lawsuit waiting to happen.”^[1] He has given different explanations for the origin of his stage name, once saying that it alluded to a Jim Morrison poem^[2] and once saying that it alluded to an early Merzbow side project.^[3]

Feed the Animals is the fourth album by Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis), released on Illegal Art in 2008. It is composed almost entirely of samples taken from other artists’ songs, plus minor original instrumentation by Girl Talk.

As of June 19, record label Illegal Art is selling the album in a similar fashion to how Radiohead sold their 2007 release In Rainbows – a “pay-what-you-like” system. Gillis states that the goal behind this is to “make it easier for people to get their hands on the music, which is my number one priority.”^[2] Users choosing to pay $0.00 have to explain why, selecting “I may donate later”; “I can’t afford to pay”; “I don’t really like Girl Talk”; “I don’t believe in paying for music”; “I have already purchased this album”; “I don’t value music made from sampling”; “I am part of the press, radio, or music industry”, or “other reasons”.^[3] However, those who pay $5 can access FLAC files and a one-file seamless mp3 version of the album. For $10, users can obtain a physical copy of the album, once it is released. Originally, the physical copy was subject to be released on September 23. However, Gillis has stated that there were “manufacturing issues” involving the production of the CDs, forcing the date to be pushed back to October 21.^{[4] [5]}

Further information and a full list of known samples can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_the_Animals#Track_listing

In the meantime here are the samples used in Track 1 “Play Yout Part (Part 1) which you can listen to below.

1. “Play Your Part (Pt. 1)” – 4:45

0:01	UGK with OutKast	“International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)“
0:01	Spencer Davis Group	“Gimme Some Lovin’“
0:01	Roy Orbison	“Oh Pretty Woman“
0:42	DJ Funk	“Pump That Shit”
0:55	Cupid	“Cupid Shuffle“
1:08	Pete Townshend	“Let My Love Open the Door“
1:19	Unk	“Walk It Out“
1:59	Twisted Sister	“We’re Not Gonna Take It“
2:04	Huey Lewis and the News	“The Heart of Rock & Roll“
2:13	Lil Mama	“G-Slide (Tour Bus)“
2:29	Ludacris	“What’s Your Fantasy“
2:36	Temple of the Dog	“Hunger Strike“
2:48	Birdman featuring Lil Wayne	“Pop Bottles“
3:01	Rage Against the Machine	“Freedom“
3:02	Birdman and Lil Wayne	“Pop Bottles“
3:02	Aaliyah featuring Timbaland	“We Need a Resolution“
3:05	T.I.	“What You Know“
3:15	Lil Wayne	“Stuntin’ Like My Daddy“
3:17	Edwin Starr	“War“
3:41	Sinead O’Connor	“Nothing Compares 2 U“
4:13	Shawnna	“Gettin’ Some“(which samples “Blowjob Betty” by Too Short)
4:32	Jay-Z	“Big Pimpin’” (which samples “Khosara” by Abdel Halim Hafez)
4:33	Kelis	“Bossy“

“Play Your Part )Pt 1) – Girl Talk