Girl Talk’s latest album All Day was sneak released online yesterday – this time eschewing the “pay what you want” model of 2008’s Feed the Animals for an even simpler “download it for free” scenario. Christmas has arrived early.
After trying in vain to download it from http://illegal-art.net/allday/ like the rest of the Internet, I consoled myself by singing “Play Your Part (Pt. 1)” a cappella in my vacant apartment. It wasn’t half bad, if I do say so myself – though I undeniably appeared to be schizophrenic and obsessed with top-notch hoes.
This evening, I tried to download again, and was finally successful. I hesitated to listen to it at first; listening to Girl Talk is such a communal experience, whether jumping and dancing like fools with your friends or simply sitting and listening and playing Guess That Sample. When I first discovered Feed the Animals 2 years ago, I regretted not being able to share some of the surprise with others when the guitar from a Rod Stewart song appeared, or a 2 second drum break from a Ben Folds Five song that I somehow recognized danced across the speakers. This time, I wanted to share it.
Well, upon seeing DOWNLOAD COMPLETE flash across the screen, I knew my efforts to wait were futile. I unzipped (the file), uploaded (the file), and hit it (the play button).
A couple seconds of silence. What a tease.
Air rushing to a crescendo, and at the peak – Oh my God.
He starts the whole thing off with Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”
And not the slow intro (while unquestionably cool, not the way to start a party), but the sweet guitar part. The awesome call-to-action of Tony Iommi’s D-to-E power chords. He even lets it play as is for a couple bars, showing reverence to the source and acknowledging how awesome this 40 year old (!) masterpiece is on it’s own.
Then the syncopated drums from some other unknown sample come in, right as Jay-Z slips in the door. It’s not long after Ozzy finishes his first line describing generals and masses when suddenly Ludacris rudely insists that we get out the way. All Day has begun.
As the type of rabid nerd that reads more about music than actually listening to it, I had read that Girl Talk (Greg Gillis to his friends) aimed to focus more on each sample this time around, veering from the frenetic pacing and swift left-turns of Feed the Animals. While reminiscent of his earlier work, I was skeptical, considering Animals is clearly the most perfect manifestation of the Girl Talk aesthetic. I wonder if Greg himself ever though classic rock samples layered under popular hip-hop would garner such scholarly assessment.
Suffice it to say, my worries were vanquished when Gillis somehow managed to squeeze 3-4 of my favorite songs in the first 10 minutes. Elation was at a high when 7 minutes and 10 seconds in I immediately recognized the piano intro to the best song ELO ever wrote, and certainly on my short list of desert island tracks: “Mr. Blue Sky.” I love this man.
Despite the rapid delight filling my face, wiping away a day’s worth of stress and distraction, I opted to stop the music at around the 10 minute mark. It’s not fair to have this much fun by myself. I have to have to have to wait and share this with someone. Or at least play it over the phone to Jeana.
If the beginning was this joyous, I know the rest will be euphoric.