Girl Talk

[ryguillian]

I don't listen to much music other than classical piano (and even within that a limited subset of very dense and complex piano music), but I do sometimes listen to jazz (Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and sometimes even Cecil Taylor) and various electronic music (Autechre, Venetian Snares, Squarepusher, et. al.; anything complex). Recently, I listened to Girl Talk's album Feed the Animals and was blown away. Girl Talk combines different bits & scraps of pop music into one continuous mishmash (think of John Zorn's Carny for an analogue in 'classical' music). Normally this would just be another "mix", but Girl Talk's musico-alchemy shows a sensibility for counterpoint and combinations that's not entirely dissimilar to that of Bach or Elliott Carter. Of course, the basic materials here are sound bites, not melodies, but the strategies seem kindred. Of course, this comparison shouldn't be taken too literally; fugues and what Girl Talk does are very different (e.g., there's no repetition of subject or stretto or anything like that). Similarly, Girl Talk's music, from what I heard, lacks formal structure (there's no recapitulation or 'form' in that sense), but some clips do seem to have a "climax" function and the ending of Feed the Animals is very effective and points to lots of possibilities in the future for this expanding genre. My main problem with pop music is that it's repetitive, but this album is decidedly not; and the fact that he goes straight through for 50+ minutes is very impressive and shows an ability to think beyond a 5 minute song (which most pop artists don't seem to have the attention span for).

Anyway, brilliant shite. You can download Feed the Animals for free at the following URL (it was released this way by the artist; name your price at $0.00): https://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/__girl__talk___feed__the__anima.ls___/

Enjoy,

Ry

[arensky]

Just listened to Play Your Part (Pt1), Give Me A Beat, Let Me See You and Here's the Thing, while looking at his Wikipedia page, where the NY Times comment that "his music is a lawsuit waiting to happen" struck me funny. In a way it is but after the 70's pop tunes (mostly) are used they seem to disappear into his own thing, so we'll see what happens there.

Btw we enjoy some of the same music, the jazz pianists and Squarepusher and Autchere (and Bach and most Elliot Carter). I really like Squarepusher. I think GT is pretty good for modern pop (I hadn't heard of him before I looked at this thread) but it still is just that. I was bothered by the gangsta sheet, come off it dude you're a white biomedical engineer. 

He seems heavily influenced by Squarepusher and other serious musicians of that genre, and will serve to popularize the idiom, but this is basically just what it samples; lighthearted dance music for girls, and there's nothing wrong with that. A lot of his samples took me back a few years and I enjoyed the snippets of The Emotions and Stevie Wonder and others, heard bizarrely out of context. Hey, maybe this will bridge the musical generation gap! 

Anyway for musical sophistication, look to Squarepusher for the new "counterpoint" that electronica is bringing to music. Thanks for posting this! 

[general disarray]

I'd rather listen to Duke Ellington's "Harlem," but thanks for the heads-up on the latest stuff out there.  Worth a listen, that's for sure.

[ryguillian]

I'm not sure how to take what you wrote really. It seems to be a mix of hot & cold. Anyway, I'll proceed point-by-point in my usual fashion.

Just listened to Play Your Part (Pt1), Give Me A Beat, Let Me See You and Here's the Thing, while looking at his Wikipedia page, where the NY Times comment that "his music is a lawsuit waiting to happen" struck me funny. In a way it is but after the 70's pop tunes (mostly) are used they seem to disappear into his own thing, so we'll see what happens there.

I encourage you to listen to the whole album, maybe twice. Like Carter (ha!) the logic of the music might take a couple listens before it's really captured and can be enjoyed as such. As for litigation, I have no idea, but ASCAP and their ilk are psychotic enough that I wouldn't really be surprised, even though it's quite clear to me that Girl Talk's work is very much original work.

Btw we enjoy some of the same music, the jazz pianists and Squarepusher and Autchere (and Bach and most Elliot Carter). I really like Squarepusher. I think GT is pretty good for modern pop (I hadn't heard of him before I looked at this thread) but it still is just that. I was bothered by the gangsta sheet, come off it dude you're a white biomedical engineer. 

I'm glad we enjoy some of the same music; even on a forum such as this, I find few who share my particular musical persuasions. (Also, I hate to be pedantic but his name is "Elliott" with two "T"s!)

Describing Girl Talk's output as mere "modern pop" is inadequate. The emotions he conjures transcend their components; restated: the whole is greater than its constituent parts and shows a vision beyond them. In a similar vein and in response, I do not have a problem with his particular sources, whether they be hiphop or Avril Lavigne (inter alia). The point, as hinted at, is that they're used incidentally and do not form the content of the music: the content is in their synthesis, so the sources themselves are secondary and often used ironically (which I enjoy).

He seems heavily influenced by Squarepusher and other serious musicians of that genre, and will serve to popularize the idiom, but this is basically just what it samples; lighthearted dance music for girls, and there's nothing wrong with that. A lot of his samples took me back a few years and I enjoyed the snippets of The Emotions and Stevie Wonder and others, heard bizarrely out of context. Hey, maybe this will bridge the musical generation gap! 

He at least listens to Aphex Twin (the latter's music appears in Feed the Animals). I'm certain that Girl Talk listens to a lot of music as the encyclopaedic spectrum of music he samples contests. His music is very different from the stuff of Squarepusher or Aphex Twin or Venetian Snares, though. As you note, much of the music is "bizarrely out of context" and this is why I think it's very much something more than "dance music for girls" (and I won't even get into that sexist b.s.). As for the music's ability to bridge generational gaps... I care about that about as much as I care about Rzewski's politics... precisely zero. (I'm not an extramusical fellow, you see?)

Anyway for musical sophistication, look to Squarepusher for the new "counterpoint" that electronica is bringing to music. Thanks for posting this! 

I never once called this "new counterpoint", and think I was quite conservative in how I framed Girl Talk's techniques. Squarepusher is something fundamentally different and not really worth comparing: there's a totally different type of poetry here. I'm glad you liked it.

Best,

Ry

[ryguillian]

Worth a listen, that's for sure.

Quite. That's why I started a thread about it!

Best,

Ry

[arensky]

I'm not sure how to take what you wrote really. It seems to be a mix of hot & cold.

It is a mix of hot and cold, while I respect the music intellectually, it doesn't do much else for me.

I encourage you to listen to the whole album, maybe twice. Like Carter (ha!) the logic of the music might take a couple listens before it's really captured and can be enjoyed as such. As for litigation, I have no idea, but ASCAP and their ilk are psychotic enough that I wouldn't really be surprised, even though it's quite clear to me that Girl Talk's work is very much original work.

I just listened to a few more cuts, but as with a lot of "techno" music I can only listen for so long before it starts to physically agitate me, and I have to turn it off. I agree that what GT does ends up being original, just like Bach's Vivaldi transcriptions.

Describing Girl Talk's output as mere "modern pop" is inadequate. The emotions he conjures transcend their components; restated: the whole is greater than its constituent parts and shows a vision beyond them. In a similar vein and in response, I do not have a problem with his particular sources, whether they be hiphop or Avril Lavigne (inter alia). The point, as hinted at, is that they're used incidentally and do not form the content of the music: the content is in their synthesis, so the sources themselves are secondary and often used ironically (which I enjoy).

I will have to listen to a lot more of this, or else I don't see what you see in it. For me it's not much more than the original sources, which is not bad (as I said before).

As you note, much of the music is "bizarrely out of context" and this is why I think it's very much something more than "dance music for girls" (and I won't even get into that sexist b.s.).

Oh, please. 

As for the music's ability to bridge generational gaps... I care about that about as much as I care about Rzewski's politics... precisely zero. (I'm not an extramusical fellow, you see?)

Well why does an extramusical fellow care about "sexist b.s." then ? Hmmm... 

I never once called this "new counterpoint", and think I was quite conservative in how I framed Girl Talk's techniques. Squarepusher is something fundamentally different and not really worth comparing: there's a totally different type of poetry here. I'm glad you liked it.

No, I called it "new counterpoint", and I meant the juxtaposition of different sounds and textures, not the "note against note" of the past. It seems to be how music is e(or de) volving. Regarding  Squarepusher I was listening to Burning'n Tree yesterday, and it is very different; he seems to me to be more concerned with pure sound itself (abscence of text and lyrics)and I believe all his music is "original" in that he wrote it himself, he does not quote and sample the music of others (I believe), although that doesn't realy matter anymore. Anyway thanks again for posting this!

[ryguillian]

Well why does an extramusical fellow care about "sexist b.s." then ? Hmmm... 

What? Let's me clarify: I could care less whether or not a composer is sexist or socialist or a member of the KKK, however I do find sexism, socialism, and Klu-Klux-Klan membership all reprehensible.