Girl Talk 'Feed The Animals' album

For Gregg Gillis, the Girl Talk project has always been about embracing pop music. On his fourth album, Feed The Animals, Girl Talk celebrates pop to the extreme and continues his sonic evolution towards his party-infested live shows. The new album, which took two years to make, sees Gillis collecting material that was developed as part of his ever-changing live show. Using 300 samples in over 50 minutes, Gillis has created his most heavy-hitting, party-centric album yet. Throughout eight years of dedicating himself to creating sample-based music, Gillis has focused on the art of sampling and developing new tracks that have their own character, and surpass the original elements. He has refined his skill and technique and challenged himself with each new release, and in turn Gillis has solidified a specific musical identity and successfully created a particular style of music on record and in a live setting that excites listeners and makes them hungry for more.

Girl Talk has been
Many would be surprised
tour dates
As previously announced,
Thu-Oct 9, 08 Philadelphia Fri-Oct 10, 08 Washington Sat-Oct 11, 08 Baltimore Mon-Oct 13, 08 Carrboro Tue-Oct 14, 08 Asheville Wed-Oct 15, 08 Knoxville Thu-Oct 16, 08 Atlanta Fri-Oct 17, 08 New Orleans Sat-Oct 18, 08 Houston Mon-Oct 20, 08 Austin Tue-Oct 21, 08 Dallas Thu-Oct 23, 08 Tucson Fri-Oct 24, 08 Los Angeles Sat-Oct 25, 08 Los Angeles Mon-Oct 27, 08 San Francisco CA Tue-Oct 28, 08 San Francisco CA Thu-Oct 30, 08 Salt Lake City Fri-Oct 31, 08 Denver Sat-Nov 1, 08 Lawrence Mon-Nov 3, 08 Minneapolis Tue-Nov 4, 08 Milwaukee Wed-Nov 5, 08 Urbana Thu-Nov 6, 08 Nashville Fri-Nov 7, 08 Louisville Sat-Nov 8, 08 Chicago Sun-Nov 9, 08 Cincinnati Mon-Nov 10, 08 Cleveland Tue-Nov 11, 08 Pontiac Wed-Nov 12, 08 Toronto Thu-Nov 13, 08 Montreal Fri-Nov 14, 08 Foxborough Sat-Nov 15, 08 New York
biography
Pittsburgh artist
Girl Talk has been
A year after the critically
The new album, Feed
Before Girl Talk suddenly
While Girl Talk's known to underground audiences for several years, but it wasn't until 2006 with the release of Night Ripper that Girl Talk received recognition for his innovations and crossed over catching the attention of a much larger audience. Rolling Stone, SPIN, Blender, Pitchfork, and more included Night Ripper in their "best albums of 2006" lists and Girl Talk was solicited for remixes by artists including Beck, Tokyo Police Club, Grizzly Bear, Simian Mobile Disco, Peter Bjorn & John, and Of Montreal. From Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips nominating him for the Shortlist Music Prize to Representative Mike Doyle speaking about him to Congress (in relation to copyright laws), Gillis has quickly emerged from his underground Pittsburgh roots and become a public figure.
to learn that prior to the release of Night Ripper, Girl Talk would play shows to 0 to 30 people in half-empty basements. He'd play those shows like he was playing to thousands, but only few knew what a Girl Talk live show was really all about. Now it is widely known that Girl Talk performances oftentimes feature the stage being mobbed with a sweaty mass of dancers who surround Gillis as he triggers samples and creates mixes, new and old, out of loops from his hard drive. Such performances have quickly become one of the most entertaining and exhilarating live shows many have experienced as Girl Talk has the extraordinary ability to get the crowd ecstatic and keep the thrill going for the entire concert. In the past two years, Girl Talk has been be booked by major festivals (Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Virgin, All Points West, Pitchfork, DEMF, etc.) and with roughly 200 live shows over the last couple of years, Gillis has consistently played larger venues to capacity crowds (every date on his 2007 North American tour with Dan Deacon sold out).
Girl Talk will be touring the U.S. and Canada in support of Feed The Animals this fall. We are excited to announce Chicago and New York shows have been added to this tour! Girl Talk will play the Congress Theatre in Chicago on Sat. Nov. 8th and Terminal 5 in New York on Sat. Nov. 15th. This will be Girl Talk's first time playing these cities following his recent and much talked about Lollapalooza and All Points West performances. A complete list of tour dates is below.
PA Starlight Ballroom w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
DC 9:30 Club w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
MD Sonar w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
NC Cats Cradle w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
NC Orange Peel w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
TN Valarium w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
GA Variety Playhouse w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
LA House of Blues New Orleans w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
TX Warehouse Live w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
TX Emos w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
TX Palladium Ballroom w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
AZ Rialto Theater w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
CA Henry Fonda Theater w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
CA Henry Fonda Theater w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
The Fillmore Auditorium w/ Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet
The Fillmore Auditorium w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
UT In The Venue w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
CO Ogden Theater w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
KS The Granada Theatre w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
MN First Avenue w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
WI Turner Hall Ballroom w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
IL Canopy Club w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
TN Cannery Ballroom w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
KY Headliners Music Hall w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
IL Congress Theatre w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
OH Bogarts w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
OH Beachland Ballroom w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
MI Eagle Theatre w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
ON Koolhaus w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
PQ Club Soda w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
MA Showcase Live w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
NY Terminal 5 w/ The Death Set, CX KiDTRONiK
Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) has scrupulously created music from samples for over eight years. His fourth album, Feed the Animals, continues his sonic evolution towards his party-infested live show. While his first album, Secret Diary (2002), was full of purposeful glitches and noise, his subsequent albums, Unstoppable (2004) and the groundbreaking Night Ripper (2006), moved closer and closer towards dance-able mixes of varying genres, often including dozens of audio sources in a stream of juxtaposed hooks. With the fourth Girl Talk album on the Illegal Art label, Gillis steps even closer towards a creation that is centered on pop musicality rather than attention-deficit sample splicing.
known to underground audiences for several years, but it wasn't until 2006 that Gillis crossed over and caught the attention of a larger audience. With Rolling Stone, SPIN, Blender, Pitchfork, and even Beck including Night Ripper in their _best albums of 2006_ lists, Girl Talk has gone on to be booked by major festivals (Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Virgin, All Points West, Pitchfork, DEMF, etc.), and solicited for remixes (Beck, Thrill Jockey, Tokyo Police Club, Grizzly Bear, Simian Mobile Disco, Peter Bjorn & John, TeddyBears, and Of Montreal). And with roughly 200 live shows over the last couple of years, Gillis has consistently played larger venues to capacity crowds (every date on his 2007 North American tour with Dan Deacon sold out).
acclaimed Night Ripper release, Gillis quit his job as a biomedical engineer and now focuses on music full time. With his newly acquired lifestyle he can now work on music during the week and fly out to play shows on the weekend. With only a laptop in hand, the Girl Talk live show is more portable than a traditional band and has afforded Gillis the opportunity to travel the world with minimal overhead. A visceral culture of audience involvement has also become key to the live Girl Talk experience. Performances oftentimes feature the stage being mobbed with a sweaty mass of dancers who surround Gillis as he triggers samples and create mixes, new and old, out of loops from his hard drive. Such performances have quickly become one of the most entertaining and exhilarating live shows many have experienced as Girl Talk has the extraordinary ability to get the crowd ecstatic and keep the thrill going for the entire concert.
the Animals, collects the material that was developed over the last two years as part of Gillis' ever-changing live show. With hours of material in hand, it still took months to meticulously edit together the seamless album that combines 300+ samples in 50 minutes. Such fastidious care is what separates Girl Talk from the dime-a-dozen remixes that are posted to the Internet daily. In comparison to the previous release, Gillis has described this new album as expanded, with a larger range of tempos and samples. Yet, at the same time the focus has shifted from technical prowess to the flow and balance of each segment in an effort to successful translate the over-the-top party feel of the Girl Talk live show into album form.
reached critical acclaim, a typical show would attract 15-30 people. During those initial years it was an extreme oddity for someone to show up with a laptop and play elaborately constructed mixes of pop samples. In the last couple of years, though, not only have Gillis' live shows exploded, but he is also being recognized for his innovations. From Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips nominating him for the Shortlist Music Prize to Representative Mike Doyle speaking about him to Congress (in relation to copyright laws), Gillis has quickly become a public figure. Emerging from his underground Pittsburgh roots, he is now being lauded as the future of electronic music by techno pioneer Richie Hawtin, while celebrities such as Paris Hilton are vying to dance onstage during a Girl Talk show. Gillis modestly takes it all in stride and has stated in interviews that he will eventually go back to a normal job, all the while reveling in the party while it lasts.
music is often categorized alongside mashups, or DJ mixes, it is critical to note how distinct his assemblages are from the conventional mixing of two simultaneous tracks. Gillis' roots lie more in the rich history of sample-based compostion as demonstrated by artists such as Dickie Goodman, Negativland, John Oswald, Steinski, Public Enemy (The Bomb Squad era), and countless others. Rather than taking mashups to an extreme, Girl Talk is more focused on the art of the sampling and developing new tracks that have their own character, and surpass the original elements. Such transformative work is what helps qualify his output as being protected by the _fair use_ principle of U.S. Copyright Law.

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Tags

Details

Popular Songs

New Songs

Tracklisting

Girl Talk - Feed The Animals