With just a laptop, his ingenuity and a wealth of chart-topping tracks at his fingers, Greg Gillis (the mash-up artist known as Girl Talk) created a memorable night at Sugar nightclub on July 23.
At 9:00 p.m., Sugar was dead. Men in skinny jeans strode through Sugar’s brooding, pro-vampire interior like wading birds; the first ones on the scene. One such bird loping across the vacant dance floor was the man himself. Gillis (the biomedical engineer and laptop jockey) was en route to examine the stage, his curtain of hair swaying as he went.
The dames in short skirt-dresses appeared soon after, as other ambassadors of varied social niches filtered in and populated the dance floor with loud talk and light swaying. The front bands opened the night (one with a song that involved ear-shattering screeches which incited pained hisses), and played to a largely inattentive audience that was eager only for Girl Talk.
The buildup stretched on forever as the nightclub slowly filled to capacity for the sold-out show.
The social lubricants passed out by Sugar’s bartenders ensured the usual controlled mayhem of a night out was not missed. The girls’ bathroom was constantly packed with women waiting to get into stalls which, like a bladder-punishing game of Russian roulette, surprised the inebriated occupant with a broken door lock, or an absence of toilet paper. There was talk of Imodium and laxatives in the air. There was talk of revenge against pushy bitches who allegedly caused friends to fall on the dance floor. But finally, the real Girl Talk began.
An unholy marriage of Bikram’s hot yoga and tai-bo only begins to describe the sweaty, pulsating situation near the stage. The air was thick with cries of joy and fake smoke, raised hands pumping in the flashing lights. Despite Sugar’s usual policy of keeping dancers away from the stage, Gillis invited people near and quickly had himself surrounded by the boldest dancers, completely hiding him from view. Somewhere in the seething mass of bodies he had provoked, a bright young guy was working musical magic.
Girl Talk’s music suggests an impressive combination of both musical and digital-editing prowess, which many critics have failed to appreciate (often scoffing at his music for being ‘just’ sample mash-ups). Each of Gillis’ most recent tracks contains at least a dozen samples, insightfully arranged, representing hours of stripping songs down to their bare elements and cobbling together these components into a whole new experience.
The music effectively layers connotations of memories from the songs we love and hate to create a new emotional experience. Gillis will force you to reconsider your own musical tastes. Who could have imagined Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” could be so improved by a bit of guitar from “Wish” by Nine Inch Nails, as it is in “Here’s The Thing”?
Gillis played mashups from his most recent album, Feed The Animals, which he released in a digital pay-as-you-please format reminiscent of Radiohead’s In Rainbows (seekers can find the album at myspace.com/girltalk).
Gillis also dove into some freeform tracks, swapping out base lines, beats and lyrics in ways that deviated from the album in delightful new ways. With three other albums released, plus two EPs and a score of shows under his belt, it’s no surprise that Girl Talk kept the dance floor ranting until 2 a.m.