Line #4 Music/GirlTalk


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ar_311139537.jpg]]
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3	[floatboxright:Influences:
4	+Music/AphexTwin, Cock E.S.P., Masonna, Music/{{Merzbow}}, Music/{{Negativland}}, Music/{{Radiohead}}, Music/{{Squarepusher}}, Music/TheBeatles
5	]
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7	Gregg Michael Gillis (born October 26, 1981), better known under the {{stage name\|s}} Girl Talk, is a Pittsburgh-based musician responsible for some of the most popular work with mashups and digital {{sampling}} of the late [=2000s=] and early [=2010s=].
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9	The style Girl Talk is now synonymous with consists of taking an enormous amount of samples and sequencing them into a continuous dance mix, usually through the program [=AudioMulch=]. Gillis has described this as an extensive process with ample trial and error, but the end result produces mashups that are known for being equal parts [[RefugeInAudacity hilariously audacious]] and [[SugarWiki/BetterThanItSounds surprisingly fitting]], and consisting of multiple vastly different genres at the same time (ex: the vocals of [[Music/TheNotoriousBIG "Juicy"]] over [[Music/EltonJohn "Tiny Dancer"]], or the vocals of [[Music/{{Ludacris}} "Move Bitch"]] over [[Music/BlackSabbath "War Pigs"]]).
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11	The name has also grown fairly attached to the unique brand of live shows Gillis is known for, with staples including a large group of fans being pulled from the crowd to dance behind him onstage, showers of confetti, toilet paper and/or balloons, and his [[GenkiGuy incredibly animated stage presence]] tying everything together with levels of energy that make a guy behind a laptop seriously rival an arena concert.
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13	Girl Talk began as a side gig in the early 2000s while Gillis studied biomedical engineering in college, and the project's sound initially [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness highlighted glitch and noise]] with more erratically-paced mashups. As playing for live audiences made a demand for party-oriented music apparent, [[GrowingTheBeard Gillis' sound evolved to both reflect that and garner much more success]], with his first post-glitch work ''Night Ripper'' (released in 2006) being his first album to receive widespread attention from both the public and big-name artists.
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15	Quitting his engineering job the next year to do music full-time, Gillis found continued success with his next works, but following both the release of 2010's ''All Day'' and his long-time record label Illegal Art going on an indefinite hiatus, he started using the Girl Talk name to do original hip-hop production work for various rappers. However, Gillis still tours to this day under the name with his signature mashup dance mixes, incorporating samples from newer music.
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17	For over a decade, plans for another Girl Talk album never grew beyond murmurs and tidbits of info from interviews, but Gillis addressed the matter for the first time at length when several fans asked about it in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads/comments/u2yy8a/im_the_music_producer_known_as_girl_talk_im/ a 2022 Reddit AMA]]. He said that while he is always working on new mashup material for his shows, he is simply unsure about issuing another official release.
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19	[[http://illegal-art.net/girltalk/ This is his official website.]]
20	----
21	!!Discography:
22	!!!Mashup work
23	* ''Secret Diary'' (album; 2002)
24	* ''Unstoppable'' (album; 2003)
25	* ''Stop Cleveland Hate'' (EP; 2004)
26	* ''Night Ripper'' (album; 2006)
27	* ''Bone Hard Zaggin''' (EP; 2006)
28	* ''Feed the Animals'' (album; 2008)
29	* ''All Day'' (album; 2010)
30	!!!Selected hip-hop work
31	* ''Broken Ankles'' (EP with Freeway; 2014)
32	* "Trouble in Paradise" (single with Erick the Architect; 2018)
33	* "No Problem" (single with Young Nudy; 2019)
34	* "Fallin'" (single with Bas; 2020)
35	* ''Full Court Press'' (album with Music/WizKhalifa and Big K.R.I.T.; 2022)
36	----
37	!!Girl Tropes:
38	* {{Bookends}}: The first track on ''Feed the Animals'' is "Play Your Part (Pt. 1)", and the last track is "Play Your Part (Pt. 2)". The former begins with, and the latter ends with, a sample of [[Music/OutKast André 3000]] saying the titular phrase.
39	* DigitalPiracyIsOkay: All of his albums are available in a pay-as-you-like system.
40	** When the first two albums were leaked onto Napster and Limewire, Gillis said it was exciting.
41	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His first two albums were firmly rooted in an extremely technical, glitch-based sound. ''Secret Diary'' in particular pushed it to avant-garde extents, usually eschewing beats entirely for stretches of distorted samples so off-the-wall and bizarre that the whole experience has been likened to what a [=YouTube=] Poop would sound like in album form.
42	* FaceOnTheCover: ''Unstoppable''[='=]s cover is a close-up of Gillis' face with the Girl Talk logo superimposed in hot pink.
43	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Invoked. His albums from ''Night Ripper'' onward are designed as one continuous mix, and he and his label Illegal Art have both confirmed that listening to them as such is the optimal experience, but they are split into multiple tracks for ease of navigation.
44	* GenkiGuy: He's extremely animated during live shows; jumping around, shouting, and taking his shirt off are regular occasions. He's gone on record stating that he does this to distinguish himself from the gaggle of laptop musicians who look like they're "checking emails" at their shows.
45	* InsistentTerminology: Gillis hasn't taken much liking to being categorized as a DJ, as he tries to do more than the standard DJ fare with his work. He even sells a shirt through his store that has "I'm not a DJ" across it.
46	** Subverted with how he chooses to classify his music; he opts for nothing more specific or academic than "sample-based music".
47	* MinisculeRocking: ''Unstoppable'' is the only album to exhibit tracks that work as interludes, with "Pump It Up", "The Feeling" and "Step to It" all barely exceeding a minute in length.
48	* NewSoundAlbum:
49	** ''Unstoppable'', while still very influenced by the complex editing of glitch, was far less steeped in the genre than ''Secret Diary'', leaning into the consistent beats and more accessible sound design that he'd become known for.
50	** ''Night Ripper'' moved even further away from the glitch influences, highlighting a prominent party-oriented energy.
51	* NonindicativeName: Among the many sources Gillis has shared regarding the origin of the name Girl Talk, the only true answer is that the name was meant to stand in stark opposition to the overly serious musicians in the electronic scene Gillis was a part of.
52	* RefugeInAudacity: The main reasons why most enjoy his music is hunting for samples, appreciating his sequencing, or anticipating what comically asinine pairing of samples he comes up with next. For example, "Once Again" contains the Ying Yang Twins whispering "Wait'll you see my dick" over the lush strings of Music/TheVerve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony".
53	* '''{{Sampling}}''': Unabashedly and indiscriminately at that, with '''hundreds''' of songs from a large variety of genres regularly going into a single album.
54	* SensoryAbuse:
55	** All throughout the glitchy sound of ''Secret Diary'', which has on more than one occasion been compared to a frying computer.
56	** The beat of "Cleveland, Shake" gets noticeably intentionally distorted in its ending.
57	* SerialEscalation: Gillis steadily upped the ante with each album after ''Night Ripper'' in regards to amount of samples and scale of mashups, culminating in ''All Day'', with which he tried to make "the most insane and complex pop collage album ever heard". It is not only densely layered, but it's his only album to comfortably exceed ''an hour'' in length.
58	* ShoutOut:
59	** The cover to his first album, ''[[http://fanart.tv/fanart/music/24e36781-1f4a-40af-bd18-c5de61f10c66/albumcover/secret-diary-5062891e6d204.jpg Secret Diary]]'', is a re-creation of a board game called... [[http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/users16/pattygopez/default/16-board-games-make-feel--large-msg-131612805143.jpg?post_id=100207211 Girl Talk]].
60	** His "Bone Hard Zaggin'" single is presumably a nod to the Big Mello album of the same name.
61	* SingerNamedrop: His shows start with samples of the phrase "girl talk", whether from rappers or (in his earlier shows) news reporters, starting slowly but increasing in tempo.
62	* SpokenWordInMusic: Several times in ''Unstoppable''.
63	** "All Eyes On Me" opens the album with a sound collage of various news reporters speaking about the Girl Talk project with varying levels of snark. [[VoiceClipSong The reporters' voices are then chopped up and worked into the beat]] towards the end.
64	** "Cleveland, Shake" opens with a skit where Gillis gets a call from Frank Musarra (a long-time collaborator of his better known as Hearts of Darknesses, which is what he introduces himself as), who tells him that the prominent sample of Splack Pack's "Shake That Ass Bitch" that the track uses was already used by [=Kid606=] on his last record. Gillis admits he didn't buy his last record, and Musarra concurs that he didn't, either.
65	* SubduedSection: As noted by ''Pitchfork'', ''All Day'' relies on these a bit more compared to the consistent energy of his previous albums; a notable example is the relaxed Music/JohnLennon[=/=]Music/{{UGK}} mashup that ends the album.
66	* SurrealHumor: Beyond the ear-searing noise, ''Secret Diary'' is definitely an album that has no bones about not taking itself too seriously, with its pairings of samples being all the more unexpected without an underlying beat.
67	-->"What if God was--" "A PROJECT BITCH"
68	* TemptingFate: Gillis sees his work as a subversion of this in regards to those who consider his extensive unauthorized sampling as such in the face of legal action. He likens this argument to mainstream media trying to instigate, and has cited fair use as a rationale for what he does. To his favor, he has yet to receive a lawsuit.
69	* TextlessAlbumCover: ''Feed the Animals''.
70	* TitleDrop: Invoked; the albums' track names are usually derived from lyrics heard being sampled in the song, and in the case of ''All Day'', [[AlbumTitleDrop the album name itself as well]].

Context Music / GirlTalk