Girl Talk: Not only mashing up pop music, but also pop culture.

Girl Talk  – Feed The Animals (Illegal Art)

In Feed the Animals, Greg Gillis’, the man of Girl Talk, greatest strength is soaking the popular top 40 tracks of today with the riffs, choruses and sounds of yesteryear in nostalgia. And that’s what he did in his latest album, Feed The Animals. If he did not depend so heavily on the classic rock connections (including some oldies, but goodies from the 90s), it would not be getting the acclaim it would be getting (including a whopping 8.0 on Pitchfork).

Now let’s put this album in context with today, outside of it just being noise and beats. Feed The Animals is successful the same reason why iTunes is the largest retailers of music, and why singles and “ringles” are the “current future”. People buy for the familiar. They buy what they hear constantly on the radio (the Top 40 playlists), they buy classic re-mastered albums, and they buy compilations of all their favorite songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s for their familiarity. Girl Talk gives that to them in a catchy way. He combined Busta Rhymes with the Police, two artists that haven’t been heard from recently but are known, at least by name. He brings 2 (or 3 or 4) samples of singles together from different times and puts it into an ultimate party mix, a mix where all the sounds we hear are familiar enough to sing-a-long to.

However, will you hear any of that at a party? No, probably not. Here’s why – people get excited when they hear a long forgotten favorite. (As an example, at the parties I go to, when Styx or Hall & Oates comes on, people hit the roof.) And as soon as a “hey, I love this song” level has been reached, that sample has been laced into another and is transitioning out into another old favorite. The listener reminiscences and the rest of the track and its carefully sculpted samples are left by the way-side.

But I’m not really reviewing. It’s an incredible album – anyone who is addicted to pop music or even pop culture should definitely, at the very least, appreciate the craftsmanship and expertise that Girl Talk puts into this very congruent album.

I listened to this album a minimum of three times before even picking up a pencil. It’s really incredible. There are a few breaks where the samples are too short, too choppy or just too many and fall into his biggest weakness from Secret Diaries. However, he carries one of his largest strengths from Night Ripper, his previous release. When Night Ripper was first released I heard it called “Jock Jams for kids in hoodies”. Jock Jams were compilations made from slightly dated electro-inspired hits and I had about 3 volumes. Girl Talk infused Jock Jams with every musical influence from television, the largest source of pop culture in America, including infomercials selling “Now” compilations and Greatest Hits, to the theme songs, like Dawson’s Creek or MacBook’s Air. But, oh my god, does it work! And it’s hella hot. In this energetic, high-octane music fest, Girl Talk produces an album ready for summer.

Another favorite thing about this album is how it was released. Playing off Radiohead’s 2007 release of In Rainbows, Girl Talk also let his consumers name their own price. Only, when you enter in your own price, you find out you don’t have to pay anything and can just download it for free. Why the unnecessary hoops? Irony? Maybe a little, but he, or they (from Illegal Art, the label), use this technique to survey why the price listed were listed as such. That is brilliant for this particularly “underground” artist. This type of release is something really of the future. As I mentioned in a previous post, this release supports the theory of having two emerging economies, one based on reputation, which Gillis is building, and one based on attention, which this album is deserving. The style of this release is almost as brilliant as the album it’s self.

The music snob and small connoisseur in me loves the album because it’s a pop music test. It’s like the speed round in name that tune. Let’s just say this, I’m good. (For a cheat sheet… check this out.)

Track list:

1. Play Your Part (pt. 1)
2. Shut The Club Down
3. Still Here
4. What It’s All About
5. Set It Off
6. No Pause
7. Like This
8. Give Me A Beat
9. Hands In The Air
10. In Step
11. Let Me See You
12. Here’s The Thing
13. Don’t Stop
14. Play Your Part (Pt.2)

Rating: A

The Death Set’s Full Length, Wordwide

The Death Set – Worldwide (Counter)

Fuck yeah! Finally a full length from cult favorites, Death Set. I wrote about their teaser EP, MFDS, a few months ago, and lucky for everyone, the attitude, high energy from that EP lasts for 25.5 minutes over 18 tracks on Worldwide. The album moves extremely fast each track averaging less than 2 minutes. It’s aggressive and spaz-tastic. It’s electro-induced, punk-rock influenced, it’s the mother fucking death set. (And for you who haven’t heard the album, the choice language refers back to their track “MFDS”)

Honestly, I would love to see these guys live. I feel like the magic of their on stage performance would transform the tracks into an incredible experience beyond just being really infectious punk pop.

Favorite tracks include, obviously, “Negative Thinking”, “Death Set Anthem”, “Intermission” and “Superzero” with its unstoppable beat. “MFDS” is attention grabbing with it’s Lil’ Jon similarity and hilarity.

The speed and length of the album goes well with the intensity and sound of the album. Any longer, the spastic-ness would become annoying. Dad, this isn’t for you.

Track Listing:
1. Solve It
2. Listen To This Collision
3. Negative Thinking
4. Intermission
5. Spaz
6. Cold Teeth
7. Around The World
8. Impossible
9. Superzero
10. Day In The Wife
11. Bla!
12. Moving Forward
13. MFDS
14. Had A Bird
15. Peak Oil
16. This Song
17. Heard It All Before
18. Selective Memories

Rating: B

Tally Hall falls under “work casual” genre

Think Bowie. Plus over manufactured Atlantic. Yep. You got it. Atlantic is holding on and trying to get money for recorded music. the rules have changes, so with bands like Tally Hall, Atlantic will hopefully seem indie enough for the music lovers that still buy music to buy their music. This move from Atlantic just shows the state of the music industry. They are going under, so they are trying to pull the right chord to inflate the life-saver raft.

But let’s talk about Tally Hall. I call this genre “work casual.” It’s family-friendly, but different than top 40 stuff, so you can get all the fun of being a casual “indie” listener without being indie at all! For the band work casual means falling under indie pop on iTunes or record shops (do they exist anymore), but signed to a major and appear to be doing it for the money (work.

So, cubical workers rejoice, here’s the band you’ve been waiting for! It’s the soundtrack to play quietly at your desk on casual Fridays, instead of easy-listening radio. It’s just fun, and cool, enough!

One final comment. Their album cover. Whatever is up with the background, I don’t care. I’m more focused on the members of Tally Hall. They remind me of either children show hosts, such as the Wiggles (with their assorted colors) or the Power Rangers, where even out of costume they would still wear their secret identity color in their street clothes, or rather their work casual clothes.

Chin Chin shows their mastery of fusion

Chin Chin – Chin Chin (Def Jux)

This Is Modern jazz and funk in a fuzz-tastic way. i haven’t heard anything like this groovy since the 70’s (and I didn’t exist then). Even after drawing heavy influences from the older time period, the band does not sound retro but more pop. when people speak of fushion, they should be citing Chin Chin as their exhibit A.

Their cultural and genre mixture is rich in sound and really full of flavor. Chin Chin has an influence from everywhere and every-when. “Miami” takes some Latin horns with a 70’s R&B sound. Rating: B-

Where Did The Unicorns Go?

So they pre-released their album cover. And then the album came out. (Well, technically it will be “out” in stores May 20th.) If the cover was any indication, I probably shouldn’t be surprised at the sound associated with that crazy looking cover.

I don’t know what happened to them. Was it the switch to Anti? Or the constantly changing and dropping of band members? Either way they seem to have lost their wit, fun and overall pop essence. If you still are looking for any connection to the Unicorns, forget it. The what- used-to-be-Unicorns seemed to have disintegrated somewhere in the album artwork.

Let’s talk about the artwork. What is it? What’s with it? Is the “epic” artwork an attempt to match their new “epic” rock sound?

“Creeper” brings back the memories of the Island’s glory days from their album Return to the Sea. “Kids Don’t Know Shit” also got my attention. It reminded me slightly more of Arcade Fire than the Islands I knew. Just when you think all is lost, “Life In Jail” breaks into a country-violin-based break down, and just confuses me more.

I know they are changing their sound, I know bands do that from time to time. But, I don’t consider this a smooth or successful transition. They may being taking a step back with this release.

Islands – Rough Gem (from their first album: Return To The Sea)
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=RpQwZ_gdE1w]

Rating: C