Girl Talk
Night Ripper
( Illegal Art ) 2006

 
Everything was going great - better than great - until I heard that Beatles sample ["Come Together"] followed by some Smashing Pumpkins ["Today"] on "Too Deep". Oh shit-snap. You don't fuck with Michael Jackson's ownings. Do you? Well, Girl Talk didn't, cause he went and sampled Aerosmith's cover of the original. Clever - just like his excerpt of the Verve snatchin' out of the Stones' cookie jar on "Bittersweet Symphony" [see opener "Once Again"]. Has it all been done?

You see - In the beginning [Day One] - God invented Rhythm and Blues. Day Two brought Disco, which cleaned the slate by ridding the land of the polyester junkies . On the Third Day, a hangover prevented any work. Day Four brought 2 Live Crew - and that was all she wrote. God packed up a small brown bag of beats and retired into the tides of the Pacific Ocean. What followed [post-Grunge] was a nation of wise men who decided to retreat into the initial days of R&B - rummaging through the crates of Brothers' Isley and George McRae to make what was once old new again. DJ Clue, the Avalanches, Danger Mouse - all men who could take cloth that was cut in specific fashion and do the unthinkable re-thread.

Enter Girl Talk - Gregg Gillis - and Night Ripper's 160+ samples that range from Better than Ezra to BBD to Wings. They're all in there, crammed tighter than camel toe in preshrunk sweatpants - yet it all sounds so goddamn'd perfect.

Who wouldn't want to hear Biggie Smalls droppin' his J.U.I.C.Y. flow atop not just the piano from Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" [see: "Smash Your Head"] - but the chorus at reved speed as well? When was the last time you saw Neutral Milk Hotel's name listed along with Abba, JJ Fad and Paul Wall in an album's liner notes?? Take as long as you need.. .

This album comes complete with the artist's opening statement for when the law comes knocking with carbon-yellow papers: "The Fair Use factors of Copyright Law allow for appropriation under certain circumstances. Most Illegal Art ["IA"] releases fall into a Fair Use gray area, but regardless of legal interpretation IA maintains that artists should be allowed to liberally sample in creation of new works."

Night Ripper is that rare case where absolute power corrupts nothing, but actually makes even the whitest white man want to shake an ass cheek. Dude, is that M.A.R.R.S.?!? "Blow up like the World Trade... Center" - this is the smash-up of all smashes. You could be deaf, dumb, blind and dead and still shake to these sixteen concoctions.

k_ale_b :: [June'06]