There is a definite pattern to Girl Talk’s albums: each one is easier listening than the last. Considering that he started out making noisy, barely listenable collages of glitched-out pop, this is no bad thing. Until All Day, that is. Greg Gillis’ latest release is far from bad, but it is, well, boring. (/p)
Night Ripper and Feed The Animals – Girl Talk’s two previous releases – were manic, overflowing, relentless mash-ups of everything from classic gangsta rap to 70s pop to the latest radio hits. The results were unexpectedly brilliant, and compulsively danceable. Gillis’ newest album is different. All Day is slower, the pace is less frenetic and there are far fewer samples per song. This could be a good thing, but more often than not it means the tired mash-up cliché of a pop backing track plus rap vocals. So the album gets off to a clunky start with a full two minutes of Ludacris yelling over Black Sabbath, and mostly sticks to that formula. (/p)
Much of the appeal of Girl Talk’s earlier albums came from the bizarrely perfect juxtapositions he effected: songs that you would never think of together, but which sound as if they were made for each other. Yet in All Day we often get unhappy matches such as Rihanna singing over Fugazi, and (worst of all) Bun B rapping along to John Lennon’s “Imagine”. (/p)
It isn’t not all bad: there is the occasional moment of genius; take “This Is The Remix”, where Gillis puts together Fabolous, INXS and The Clash. Girl Talk is a skilled mash-up artist, and even though he is not on top form here, there can be no doubt that he is far above his hordes of imitators. The best parts of All Day are not frantic or hyper, but nostalgic and wistful. On the whole then, the album is not a bad listen, and, what is more, it will cost you nothing (it is available for free download on the Illegal Art website). It makes great party music – it’s just a shame it isn’t more than that. (/p)
Review: ‘All Day’ by Girl Talk
