Girl Talk - Page 2

No. 24: Girl Talk, “Feed The Animals”

mariasci | December 24, 2008 10:00 am
mariasci | December 24, 2008 10:00 am

The non-music media loves to write about mash-ups, because it allows them to talk about the niche concern of pop music without much discussing music at all. Because mash-up artists use existing songs, journalists trade the difficulty of understanding new artists for reliable classics. They can talk about all the non-musical aspects of music—MP3s, piracy, copyright, major labels, downloading, iPods, etc—and they don’t look like the kind of old fuddy-duddies who champion bands that sound like the bands they themselves loved when they were young, such as Dr. Dog and Wilco.

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Stephen King Takes A Shine To Girl Talk And Al Green

noah | December 1, 2008 1:00 am
noah | December 1, 2008 1:00 am

Last year, Stephen King could only pick seven albums that he liked from the year’s offerings, but 2008 has apparently been kinder to King’s ears: Not only was he moved to pick a full top 10, he placed two albums—Buckcherry’s Black Butterfly and the Pretenders’ Break Up The Concrete—at No. 1. Whoa, don’t get too crazy now!

THE GOOD: Hey, I liked that Al Green album too.
THE BAD: The gallisticle (my new term for those pageview-inflating lists that are presented as galleries: feel free to pass it along!) is peppered with “dancing about architecture” punnery and “aw, gosh, EW, you don’t have to give me space in your mag” bloviation like the following: “Of all the things I write about for EW, pop music’s the hardest, because a columnist doesn’t get paid for saying, ‘I dunno, I just like it.’ But can I really explain why I love ‘I Kissed a Girl’ by Katy Perry and would be delighted never to hear Taylor Swift’s ‘You’re Not Sorry’ again? No. All I can say is that I find ‘the taste of her cherry ChapStick’ in ‘Girl’ entrancingly sexy, while everything about ‘You’re Not Sorry’… makes me sorry.” That’s the sort of wordplay that gets Uncle Stevie the big bucks! Suck it, layoff victims!
THE WHAAA? “This is as dense and allusive as James Joyce’s Ulysses, only you can dance to it.” Guess what copyright-busting PC user he said that about? Somewhere, some dude who gets paid to write about rock full-time (well, at least most of the time in this economy) is sobbing for not having thought of the Joyce allusion first.

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“Paste” Inspires Many A List-Watching Music Fan To Ask, “She & Him??”

Dan Gibson | November 21, 2008 3:00 am
Dan Gibson | November 21, 2008 3:00 am

Paste‘s 2008 best-of isn’t unlike the magazine itself: largely predictable, but with a few surprises seemingly thrown in to confuse or distract. The list hews rather closely to their adult alternative aesthetic, but as likely obligated by law, they threw in Lil Wayne (No. 29). He’s not quite as good as MGMT, in case you were wondering.

THE GOOD: It cheered my heart to see that Ida Maria’s Fortress Round My Heart placed highly (No. 13); the odd, but charming acknowledgment of Torche (No. 34) elicited a similar reaction. For the Christian rock enthusiast portion of my heart, seeing Sandra McCracken buried near the bottom of the list was nice, although almost a wink and a nod to those who wonder if Paste is a undercover Christian rock mag. They may recommend Lil Wayne, but don’t worry, true believers. They still have room for Jesus rock.
THE BAD: Im sure any Idolator reader could pick out a record they don’t particularly care for and go all critically nutzoid, but Girl Talk at No. 7 seems like an odd slap in the face to the parade of “real musicians” who fall afterwards. I like Girl Talk; I downloaded the disc, and it stayed in my car stereo for a few months. But the question ends up being whether these best of lists are really running down the “best” of the year, and that the idea of lasting value and meaning is taken into consideration, or whether a disc’s inclusion just means that it was awesome to hear at parties.
THE WHAAA? Although I was surprised not to see Al Green on the list, and to note that Santogold’s Diplo mixtape outranked her actual album, nothing could top my shock to see She & Him at No. 1. The magazine defends the selection: “Maybe it’s just a sweet little folk record—a tiny, flawless diamond. Or maybe it’s a pristine distillation of harmony and craft; 50 years of songwriting experience served up on a spinning silver platter. Either way, it’s our album of the year.” To my ears, neither assertion is true. Volume One is a cute novelty record that has more preciousness than innovation, skill, or any other sort of metric people tend to judge great albums by. Last year’s number one was the National’s Boxer… this year’s pick is a long slide down in quality.

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The Idolawyer Gives Us Some Real Talk About Girl Talk

kater | November 11, 2008 3:00 am
kater | November 11, 2008 3:00 am

I’ve been asked to comment on Mike Barthel’s excellent “Girl Talk is Not Fair Use,” which appeared on Idolator yesterday. I’m a transactional entertainment lawyer, so I never actually litigate copyrights. Nevertheless, I’m treading in dangerous waters because I often represent copyright owners. I don’t claim to know how federal courts would analyze a hypothetical infringement claim against Girl Talk, a.k.a. Gregg Gillis; historically courts have been inconsistent in applying fair use analysis. I do, however, have some thoughts about how such a case should be decided.

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Girl Talk Is Not Fair Use

mariasci | November 10, 2008 9:30 am
mariasci | November 10, 2008 9:30 am

Toronto alt-weeklies Eye and Now took sides on Greg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, in warring cover stories last week. Marc Weisblott’s piece in Eye takes the “anti-” position, expanding on some of the criticism of copyfighters posted here in recent weeks and raising further questions about the implications of the BoingBoing model for the record industry. Evan Davies’ Now piece goes for the “pro,” though copyfight supporters might wish he didn’t, given ridiculous arguments like “what [Gillis is] doing isn’t really any different from what Beethoven did early on after studying Mozart.” While both articles assume that what Gillis is doing amounts to theft, they never actually demonstrate that this assumption is true. Indeed, Gillis contends that his CDs are entirely legal, and should be classified not as copyright infringement but as fair use. But would his fair use defense really stand up in court?

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Idolator Takes On The Perspiring, Stripping, Pretty Young Masses Of Girl Talk Fans

noah | October 30, 2008 10:00 am
noah | October 30, 2008 10:00 am

A lot of you out there have probably heard about the sweaty, dayglo, incessantly referential shows put on by the apocalypse-anticipating laptop-slinger who goes by the stage name Girl Talk. You might be wondering, “Are these shows for me? Would I have a good time? Where would I keep my wallet and keys during the parts of the show where everyone in the audience takes their clothes off?” We sent Molly McAleer to two Girl Talk shows in Los Angeles this weekend in hopes of bringing our readers a field guide of sorts to their shows. After the jump, the fruits of her labor.

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noah | August 28, 2008 1:00 am
noah | August 28, 2008 1:00 am

Ever wonder what Gregg Gillis would have to go through if he wanted to actually clear the hundreds of samples he stitches together on the albums he records as Girl Talk? More »


noah | August 11, 2008 9:15 am
noah | August 11, 2008 9:15 am

The Girl Talk dude is planning his final show for Dec. 21, 2012–the day that the world will end, according to the Mayan calendar. It’ll be 24 hours long and “really make it bad for [the audience] for like 20 hours and … kill it for four hours, and everyone will be really excited.” More »


Should Writers Tell Rappers About Girl Talk?: A “Post-Millennial” Dilemma

anthonyjmiccio | June 25, 2008 11:30 am
anthonyjmiccio | June 25, 2008 11:30 am

biz.jpgMTV’s James Montgomery recently found himself in a bit of a kwinky-dink when he realized he was listening to Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals on a plane while LL Cool J, whose “Mama Said Knock You Out” is sampled with impunity, sat in first class, oblivious to the lift. Should the writer leave coach and (if he doesn’t get tackled by a member of L’s entourage or an undercover agent) reveal this thievery to the superstar? “It’s an entirely post-millennial dilemma, one that’s right up there in the minds of today’s music journalists with ‘If you are talking to Paris Hilton on a red carpet, do you acknowledge the fact that you have seen her naked?’ and ‘Do you tell a band that you’ve downloaded their new album from LimeWire to prep for this interview?'” Yeah, what could be more “post-millennial” than using an uncleared sample? The idea of using someone else’s hook without permission would undoubtedly blow LL Cool J’s mind in its post-millennial audacity. What ’80s rapper wouldn’t be shocked to hear of such a thing?

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Girl Talk: The Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers Of The Modern Age?

anthonyjmiccio | June 19, 2008 11:30 am
anthonyjmiccio | June 19, 2008 11:30 am

Girl_Talk_Feed_The_Animals.JPGARTIST: Girl Talk
ALBUM: Feed The Animals
WEB DEBUT: June 19, 2008

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