06/24/08
Text: Nik Mercer
When discussing Girl Talk's 2006 LP, Night Ripper, people usually bring up one of two points: (1) before Greg Gillis, there were many DJs who created "mash-ups," just under a different moniker and (2) a crap ton of samples were used on the record. Strangely, no one really knows just how many bits and pieces of previously recorded tracks were used, though... "somewhere around 500 - 600" is about the sturdiest response you'll get.
With Feed the Animals (yes, it's worth your $5 and no, you won't find a review of the full-length here right now—wait a little longer), Gillis resolved to list out every sample he used... for no specific reason.
Check out all fourteen cuts at the Feed the Animals YouTube page. Every song's notes include a complete rundown of the jam's samples. While Gillis' diligent effort to be open about the samples he used on his forth long-player yielded something of modest intrigue, we're left wondering why he decided to exert the effort.
If one views Girl Talk as a soloist with a unique style, sound, and aesthetic unto himself, naming every "instrument" (a.k.a. sample in Gillis' case) appears pointless, futile. Radiohead wouldn't call out, in chronological order, every guitar, bass, drum, keyboard, synth, and filter they used on In Rainbows, so why is Gillis doing the same? If he's wanting to project himself as a serious musician over a simple-minded hypey DJ, Gillis ought to have skipped the meticulous liner notes.
Regardless, we're still hooked on "Set It Off" (above), but could've totally told you Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" falls in at the 0:21 mark.
