Mash-up albums, as a genre, are great for their cleverness and their diversity and I think my brain likes figuring out what the elements are. Sometimes, though, they can create “unscratchable itches” when some small sample is familiar but escapes defining.There’s not much worry of that on Feed The Animals. Girl Talk uses plenty of samples from hugely popular songs. Here, the talent is not in record bin diving (as it is with DJ Shadow), but in layering things we’ve heard a million times so that they sound fresh but familiar.
Case in point, about 20 seconds into “Set It Off,” Gillis throws Jay-Z on top of Radiohead and then puts Mary J. Blige over the Guess Who’s “These Eyes.”
Check out “Set It Off” by Girl Talk from Feed The Animals:
And get the album. What have you got to lose?
1 comment:
Mr Gillis would say, and has on the occasions I've seen him perform, "I am not a DJ."
He also understands something that most mash up artists don't, more is less. He shows you he can find a way to mix Journey and Andre 3000 and then moves on. The result is that I'm being constantly surprised and look forward to what's coming next rather than hitting FF :15 in to a song.
- bm
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