Of all available musics, pop belongs least to itself. It's everywhere -- commercials, teen movies, clubs, and parties of all kinds. Pop, mainstream hip-hop, and R&B are the music of fun in its most shameless form: it's about daydream love, sex, and, most importantly, dancing. Cleveland's Gregg Gillis, alias Girl Talk, understands that what people want on the dance floor isn't necessarily smarter dance music (if it was, club nights would be saturated by joyless, tempo-shifting IDM). The kids don't want to think, they want to move.
Like Gillis' contemporaries, Cex and Kid606, Girl Talk revolves around having a sense of humor about dance music; it's about embracing all the absurdities of a music culture that endorses getting fucked up, being slutty, and, above all, shaking one's ass. The art students and recovering indie rockers who comprise the collage in Unstoppable's liner notes might be the same ones, a generation removed, who nodded their heads at Dismemberment Plan, who in turn tried in vain to call them out on it. What Travis Morrison and co. failed to realize is that there's no real need for indie rock to attempt to out-party party music. No matter what we say, Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" and "Senorita" are what's required to lose oneself in the club, not anything on Emergency & I. But I digress.
On Unstoppable, Girl Talk takes a sharp turn from the glitchy DSP antics and electro-noise of his Illegal Art debut, Secret Diary. This time out, he strikes right at the heart of the party, combining "Cry Me a River," "Pull Over (That Ass is Too Fat)," Khia's "My Neck, My Back," and Bone Thug's "Shake That Ass" -- even Creation's "Making Time" and Superdrag's "Who Sucked Out the Feeling?" put in appearances. If this sounds like a tough task, you'll be surprised at how well it works. Although some moments seem like filler, one-minute forays into "here's some other stuff I coulda done" and the record's packaging and content verge on egomaniacal, it's all part and parcel of Girl Talk's extraordinary persona. With a charismatic live act (included here in a video extra) to boot, Gillis, pending any lawsuits from his sources, seems destined not just for bigger venues, but, holy of holies, to be banged in the Club itself. Put on your hotpants, grab a case of cheap beer, and let 'er rip.
This record might escape traditional record stores, but you can pick it up direct from the label: www.illegalart.net
1. All Eyes On Me
2. Non-Stop Party Now
3. Touch 2 Feel
4. Pump It Up
5. Bang This In The Club
6. Bodies Hit the Floor
7. The Feeling
8. Happen (feat. "Chris Glover")
9. Cleveland Shake
10. Keeping The Beat
11. Step To It
12. Can't Stop
More about: Girl Talk
