What do Jimi Hendrix, T-Pain, The Jackson Five, Kelly Clarkson and Journey have in common? They can all be heard, in part, on Girl Talk's latest release Feed the Animals.
Sampling everything from classic rock,'80s pop, and '90s grunge to modern hip-hop favorites and chart-topping hits, Feed the Animals is an addicting maelstrom of musical masterpieces that is bound to find its way onto countless students' guilty pleasures lists.
Girl Talk is a pseudonym for Pittsburgh based mash-up artist Greg Gillis, who has gained a reputation in recent years as a pioneer in the mash-up genre, combining samples from dozens of songs from various artists into one fast-paced, catchy track.
The album opens with the explosive "Play Your Part (Pt. 1)," immediately immersing the listener into Gillis' world, where Lil Wayne, Pete Townshend and Roy Orbison can exist in harmony and provide a perfect backdrop for Unk's "Walk it Out."
The rest of the album passes by like an intoxicating blur. With seamless transitions between songs, Animals feels more like one long track that never drags, bores or lets up.
Continuously evolving and randomly jumping between genres and decades, the album is energetic, disorienting and purely entertaining as the listener is left constantly guessing where Gillis will take them next.
On most tracks, there is a gradual build-up of momentum resulting in epic climaxes ranging from the electrifying to the downright hilarious. One such moment occurs toward the end of "No Pause," where Eminem's "Shake That" is combined with the instrumentals of "New Soul" by Yael Naim, creating an unexpectedly amusing sound.
One of the album's highlights occurs in its final seconds, with Outkast delivering an epic sendoff to the tune of Journey's "Faithfully."
Though there is technically little to no material composed by Gillis himself, it seems that he has somehow mastered the art of "borrowing" the talent of other artists to create something all his own.
Rather than mocking or stealing from these compositions, Gillis has rejuvenated them, offering a fitting tribute to some of the most famous artists of the past few decades while at the same time moving forward into new frontiers.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
