Girl Talk: FEED THE ANIMALS
Posted 6/25/2008 by cal
An initial-reaction blow-by-blow by Matthew Krenning, in real time (sort of).
Five songs in...does the new Girl Talk, Feed the Animals, retain the sublime sugary charm of Night Ripper? No. Now, mind you, at this moment I still need to spin though another nine songs, but the formula established so far is disjointed, overbearing and lacking any cohesion or direction whatsoever. The samples and themes have no time to breathe before being stuffed with another pop reference. Consider it the KISS of DJing: overindulgent and empty yet enjoyable enough to hold your attention for a few repeat listens (most likely).
OK, done with seven songs. "Lip Gloss" is sampled pretty well; I am fairly certain that I am biased on that one. Ditto on the of Montreal sample in track eight, "Give Me a Beat." That right there is the blatant problem: the majority of the appeal is a pseudo-game of Name That Tune.
Fuck, you just had to sample "Love Fool," didn't you? You sneaky cheap bastard. "Hands in the Air" is the best track so far for sure.
So, at the Pitchfork Festival last year, Leslie and I tried to attend the Girl Talk set. We waited in the audience for well over an hour in an over-saturated crowd that was impatient and fucking hot. The prior set had been shut down by the fire marshal due to the crowd almost taking down the stage from being over-crammed. So the sad story ends with him starting up, the sound sucking beyond all hell and the only crowd members who enjoyed anything being within a 20-foot radius of the front (we were probably 40 feet back).
"Let Me See You" had some wicked 80's nostalgia against M.I.A.; again, really awesome initially but based completely on my specific taste and not necessarily any unique personalit y or creativity in the music itself. I like Girl Talk, I really do! Night Ripper was fun and still has legs for repeat listens now and then. The issue is that the formula is never deviated from; it's an empty emulation of a proper presentation of his live set.
Side-Note: A friend of mine from the Co-Op, Peter, noted the irony in sampling Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" behind Too $hort's "Blowjob Betty."
OK, playing the last track; the second half had more stand-outs than the beginning but overall it's too schizophrenic. Using "Lollypop," Lil Wayne's worst track on the awesome Tha Carter III, doesn't help finish the album off.
But you should probably download it anyway.