Friday, October 24, 2008

Girl Talk

Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk from Pittsburgh PA turns 28 tomorrow.  So this post is a tribute to him and his work.  For those of you that don't know about Girl Talk or haven't heard his work, he is a DJ that takes popular songs and creatively and masterfully pieces them together to create something new.  He is very talented at what he does, but his work raises an important question.  Does taking someone else's art and manipulating it turn it into your own?  I'm still not sold one way or another, but i'm open to your comments on the matter.  

Anyway, Girl Talk has four albums out on Illegal Art, with his latest work feed the animals available for free here.  You just have to name your price and it will take you to the links to download the album, but you don't even have to go through with the payment.  

Feed the Animals follows his mashup style of his previous three albums, and is very catchy, upbeat, and fun to listen to.  The only downside to it, is that to me there is no real difference in his music from one album to the next in my opinion.  But hey if you have something that works, why change it.

What is most impressive to me though is that Gregg Gillis studied engineering in school, and actually worked as an engineer before quitting to work full time on music.  Knowing a bunch of engineers, it is rare to find one with such a large creative side.  But all in all, whether or not you agree with Girl Talk's work as art or just stealing other people's art, his work is definitely worth a listen.  Plus you can't beat free.