Wednesday 17 November 2010

Girl Talk - All Day

I don't like Girl Talk's new album. There. I said it. Happy now?

All Day is the follow-up to 2008 breakthrough album Feed The Animals, which itself was preceded by 2006's Night Ripper. For me, both these records represent a seminal moment in my consumption of music. They made me get the mash-up art form. Both where pacey, energetic, fun and intelligent. Somehow, Greg Gillies - aka Girl Talk - managed to coherently knit together five generations of music that seemingly spanned every genre known to man.


I heard All Day was two years in the making. A good thing, right? Such a length of time would allow an artist to consider their work, re-evaluate it, make changes. But for this kind of gonzo-genre, has it proved fatal? All Day sounds flat and lifeless, the fun surgically picked out of it. Samples are drawn out and hang around for way too long, a serious problem for this kind of record. There are moments that hark back to the genius of Night Ripper and Feed The Animals - Triple Double for instance - but they are few in number and only point to what could have been. Girl Talk was meant to be music for the ADHD generation. Well, this album is dedicated to those kids adequately medicated, attending after school catch up lessons and eating their greens.

All Day has been roundly praised on the blogs, but in the long run I fear the album will end up in the cupboard like a toy with a flat battery. On the plus side, All Day was released as a free download via the Illegal Art website.

MP3: Girl Talk - Triple Double DOWNLOAD

4 comments:

Alex Sherrick said...

I have to agree with you... I really enjoyed "Feed the Animals", but "All Day" isn't really cutting it for me. The real test will be to hear this stuff live... his shows are some of the highest energy shows I've been to.

B-TIPS said...

Haters unite! http://www.dutb.blogspot.com

Ghostface Millah said...

couldn't disagree more. i think this album shows maturity and purposefulness in a seemingly erratic and hodge-podge genre. it's still pretty dance-y and clever, and i like that the samples linger --it's less ADHD than NR and FtA.

also, it's greg gillis, not gillies.

.... said...

Meh, I'm sticking with Gillies. Just to be awkward.