dirty agency.

Yesterday, I watched a lecture on music from Evelyn Glennie, a world renowned deaf percussionist. In it, she talks about listening to what is NOT in the music she is reading in front of her. Rather than simply playing back that which is in front of her, she separates the technician from the interpreter.

It’s difficult to even begin to review Gregg “Girl Talk” Gillis’s follow up to Night Ripper. While preaching through a MySpace account with a simple “I Am Not A DJ”, Feed The Animals reinforces the notion that Girl Talk is not modestly regurgitating the last 40 years of music into our ears. Gregg is now toeing the line on so many different facets. This proverbial line is bordering on legality, composition and music theory, art, DJing, remixing, society, and (of course) partying. On the internet, we often call that last sentence “nuthugging”. However, let me explain…

Feed The Animals, is quite literally, an expansion on all of Girl Talk’s previous work. It’s hard to say the phrase “is maturing as an artist” while listening to Quad City DJs’ Come On Ride The Train over 96 Tears, but bare with me. Fans of Night Ripper will either be thrown by utter chaos of this album (yeah, believe that!) or they will simply accept it because it is a new Girl Talk release. However, competition, if any were to step to that plate, has simply been set back, once again, a few years. Feed The Animals is simply too far ahead. It’s un-remixable. It’s un-DJable. It’s an own entity deserving of the real-deal, one-man show. The catalog is so extensive this time around, you really have to wonder at the size of Gregg’s music collection, digital or physical. He pulls the tiniest bits of pieces from songs creating merely glimpses into what used to be and now is something completely self-serving and, at the same time, totally different. Wait, wasn’t that Night Ripper?

Yes and no. Night Ripper grabbed people by the balls. It was a constant barrage of samples. The softer ends were turned way up and the louder ends were smoothed out. The popular mix of Tiny Dancer with Juicy on paper sounded like the most ridiculous idea - and it was. But it worked. This time, Girl Talk let’s most of his music simply exist but only in brief moments. Imagine yourself watching Lost at home and having someone talk over it for a half hour. You would have only missed half an episode but would have missed almost everything about the confusing story arc that has gone on for years. Listening to Feed The Animals is best taken in alone at first listen, preferably in your home. For an interruption to happen, you will have missed something so small but so significant to your overall experience. And that is what Evelyn Glennie was getting at; experiencing the music as it is and taking in every last bit of it.

Gillis made a claim that this album was meant to be listened as one continuous track and he is absolutely right. The hesitations in track breaks really don’t do this album justice. Feed The Animals simply roars continuously - a celebration of complete insanity, patience, and meticulous construction. But maybe that is the lure of all of this. PR is working in Girl Talk’s favor… and he knows it. The album title, whether intentional or not, counters this very celebration of an artist. It is aptly self-aware and strangely depressing. The Animals weren’t just a band with a song about a house and a sun. The “animals” could be taken as a metaphor for so many things; the recording industry, musicians, music fans, Girl Talk fans, spin it any way you will. Whoever these “animals” really are, they will all eat it up.

Make no mistake, this album isn’t perfect. It is the very audio obsession of Girl Talk that also lends to a few weak points in this album. Pushing the release out as soon as possible so the sampled songs are current often leads to some flat mixes. You often wonder how long Gregg has sat on his acapellas to find just the right song to blend. Forcing Lollipop to mix with Red Hot Chili Peppers is teetering on the edge of not making a whole lot of sense but so do a lot of things on this album. When something just doesn’t sound in key, your concentration is broken by how great the next thing down the pipeline becomes. But the scary part is that Girl Talk is still a relatively young act but how long will the masses pay attention and when will this idea start to grow stale? It is inevitable. Remember when you thought you’d never get sick of Hey Ya? This album may not be the deal breaker for Girl Talk but his follow up to Feed The Animals (whenever that will be) will have even more wondering.

Girl Talk is really pushing the legal system this time around. Gregg went after all the heavy hitters. You name a popular act over the last 40 years and it probably snuck it’s way in to Feed The Animals somehow. It’s what makes this album so broad that it could literally appeal to anyone. Go ahead and buy a copy for your parents or your most status quo friend and let them listen to it. Mom may want to turn it down because of the swearing but then find herself nodding along to Sly and the Family Stone within minutes. It’s that accessible. But there in lies the problem. Gillis took the best way out he could and didn’t necessarily charge anyone to listen to this album. If you really want it, you can download it from his label’s website free of charge. But be cautious, my little pirates, after listening to this album, you will want to pay for it because listening to this on repeat on your iPods all summer will only heighten the grief you will feel for having every opportunity to pay whatever you wanted to for your listening pleasure.

It’s hard to imagine that nearly doubling the sampling catalog this time, Girl Talk will not escape his first slap on the wrist. But maybe that’s what this album is after all, a declaration of war from someone who says “Sorry, you’re songs just aren’t good enough anymore.” I can’t exaggerate it; he is REALLY pushing the legal limits like the raptors in Jurrasic Park testing the electric fences. With his quick rise to popularity and everyone sweating his nuts over this release, some bumbling musician out there is bound to throw a shit fit over the skinny white kid from Pittsburgh selling out shows by playing a few seconds of one of their songs. But they are missing the point. The is no use in throwing the law at this kid. It will only make him more significant to the mainstream and make his diehard fans turn their collective backs on his challengers.

And this is the discussion we will all be having for months and months ahead. Re-imagining the legality of music in the digital age. It’s the question that has been brought up when Night Ripper started to peak. It will no doubt be brought back to the table once again. Not only these political issues, but also the issues of the at-home producers who will no doubt once again divide themselves among the laptop musicians vs. the “real” musicians. The same tired arguments will be once again discussed and discussed again.

But maybe we have it all wrong. In this day and age while we continuously scour the streets of London, LA, New York, and so on for the next Beatles, Nirvana, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones (most of which lend a hand to the creation of Feed The Animals), what if we really are looking in all the wrong places? Now I’m not proclaiming Girl Talk to be the next man in charge of a music revolution but Gregg is certainly opening a lot of doors for the digital age to squeeze through. The fallout of this album will no doubt spur on louder voices and endless copycats. Night Ripper dropped on a much more local level and gradually climbed the mountain. Now that he’s near the top, more people than ever are watching.

Is this really a review or have I merely been discussing? Whatever the case, if you forgot about this guy or fobbed him off because he got popular, we are all the animals and this summer is going to be a feeding frenzy.

Girl Talk - No Pause

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