dig around the ireallylovemusic archives,
and you'll probably piece together a very simple jigsaw that proves i love
sample heavy music.
so you'd think i'd be all over the latest
cut-n-paste star on the blog, girl talk, aka gregg gillis
and his new album, night ripper.
despite the fact that gregg has painstakingly
spliced together 100's of brief but easily recognisable (with a list being
provided on the inner sleeve should you be so inclined) pop-n-rock-n-rap
untreated samples to build up a continuous 41 minute mix, that should on paper
have my love and devotion, something about the unsubtle result just doesn't
click.
perhaps it's the complete lack of flow that
permeates the adhd infused mix (the brevity of the sample loops making
litigation improbable but for a very disjointed listen) , or the lack of
originality in the sample choices, but you can be sure, after a couple of
spot the sample spins, this high profile media baiting release isn't
going to be getting too many rotations @ ireallylovemusic hq.
i have to say this lack of harmony is a real shame
as i would love for someone to put cut-n-paste back on the map in the same way
that steinski did back in the 80s, or dj
shadow did in the 90s, but there is no way to avoid the simple truth
that the whole strap a rap chant onto a pop sample loop backing idea
has been beaten to a bloody pulp in recent times, making this album sound so
corny and obvious in 2008, it's hard to see just who is going to actually prefer
this over the far more accomplished albums/mixtapes that have been available for
ages since the likes of freelance hellraiser kicked off the
chaos back in 2001.
that is until you drop a search on youtube for
girl talk.
gregg is obviously not about the creation of a
classic genre defining album, but the party.
he's a showman with a laptop, and the
diplo/2 many djs/go home
productions starved crowds seemingly love him.
which is all well and good, something that can't be
said for this pretty below average mash up album.
i could be proven wrong and find myself during the
summer months revisiting this, realising that the fragmented sonic collage be a
perfect soundtrack to my commuter related hell, but having endured the album
thrice now i very much doubt it.
yes if you have no access to the online glut of
these type of mash ups then by all means pick up this album as you may be
fascinated to hear so many well known sources be put through the cracked
software blender, but i suspect that the real funk is to catch gregg playing
this stuff live where gregg is not restricted to sample/copyright laws and can
actually let loose with his bits-n-pieces recipe.
