Breaking down Girl Talk

I've been listening to Girl Talk's latest release, "All Day," which was made available for free download earlier this week. 

The famed DJ/remixer, aka Greg Gillis, is alarmingly good at "mashing" disparate songs and musical styles into one seamless sound. I first got into his work with 2008's "Feed the Animals," which crammed 322 song samples into 14 dance cuts. It was often chaotic but surprisingly smooth and comfortable.

"All Day" isn't growing on me as quickly. Perhaps it's because I've already been exposed to Girl Talk's over-the-top skills. I'll give it more time, but I still find myself amazed at his ear for picking the right songs to layer on top of one another. 

His song "Steady Shock" is just one example, mashing 19 songs in under 6 minutes (including one short segment when five different songs become one). An fun site called All Day Samples not only streams the new album but IDs the samples the moment they are introduced into the song (Wikipedia has a text list of all samples for every "All Day" song as well). 

Girl Talk mashes 19 songs into "Steady Shock," including five disparate songs at one pointHere are the songs used in Girl Talk's "Steady Shock":

• "Lil Freak" by Usher featuring Nicki Minaj
• "Go Shorty Go" by Travis Porter
• "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult
• "Bird Walk" by Soulja Boy
• "Moving in Stereo" by The Cars
• "Fire and Ice" by Rihanna featuring Shy Ronnie
• "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen
• "Everyone Nose (All the Girls STanding in the Line for the Bathroom)" by N.E.R.D.
• "Flex" by Party Boyz
• "Alright" by Supergrass
• "1st of tha Month" by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
• "Over" by Drake
• "Shine" by Collective Soul
• "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger
• "I Ran (So Far Away)" -- A Flock of Seagulls
• "B.O.B." by OutKast
• "Aneurysm" by Nirvana
• "Who Run It" by Three 6 Mafia
• "1901" by Phoenix

What I find amazing with Girl Talk is his ability to "hear" a song and match it with something completely different, all while keeping the beat steady (he makes his living as a DJ, so beat is of prime importance). 

Some of his songs warrant only one listen, while some I go back to repeatedly. And there's the ongoing argument whether what he's doing is illegal when it comes to the law of the land or the spirit of creativity. The bottom line is what he's doing is polishing a very different art form that warrants attention. 

Parental advisory: As with many of Girl Talk's creations, there is some foul language in "Steady Shock."