Girl Talk

Since the dawn of time, man has struggled to concoct the perfect party playlist. Now ten years into the scene and five since his transformation from mild-mannered biomedical engineer to wild-eyed party monster, Gregg Gillis (a.k.a. Girl Talk) has found the perfect solution. He takes every song you’ve ever loved (this includes that one time you rocked out to Janet Jackson at age five) and throws them into his magical musical blender (a.k.a. laptop) before spitting out mixes so tactile and original they often give entirely new insight to their source material. At a Girl Talk live show, where Roy Orbison may be singing alongside Ludacris, it makes strange sense that a couple hundred sweaty people would be dancing on stage and manned inflatable blow-up boats would be crowd surfing. Imitators have since come in droves, but Girl Talk remains the original and undefeated master of the mash-up. (Saturday, 8:30-10, Coast Stage) –text: David Willming–photo: Andrew Strasser

Friday, 8:15-10

Coldplay, Muse, Girl Talk, and Ratatat will be performing at Lollapalooza 2011 between the hours of 8:15 and 10:00 p.m. on Friday, August 5.

COLDPLAY
It’s been over a decade since Coldplay became one of the best selling artists of all time following the success of breakout song “Yellow” and debut album Parachutes. Since then the U.K. rockers have sold out arenas around the globe, won a plethora of awards, married Gwyneth Paltrow and released four studio albums. Coldplay has certainly been living the life, or Viva la Vida (the name of their fourth studio album which, according to the BBC, was one of the fastest-selling albums in U.K. history). This should be no exception for their widely anticipated fifth studio album, slated to be released this fall. Expect to hear new material including their most recent single “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” which showcases a different sound for the band — a more peppy, piano-influenced style than Chris Martin’s sorrowful crooning on X&Y or the heavy bass of drums and violins from their last album. Either way, it seems Coldplay can do no wrong. (Friday, 8:30-10, Bud Light Stage) –text: Ciera McKissick

MUSE
Muse gets called a lot of things, from glam rock to R&B to progressive. But if there’s one thing the English rockers aren’t, it’s plain. The 3-piece outfit sports a wide variety of instrumentation, ranging from the presumed and frequented (guitars, basses and drums) to the rare and peculiar (llama toenails). Synthesizers and sampling make up an integral part of their sound, while frontman Matthew Bellamy’s vocals take on formidable topics that include the Apocalypse, the destructive powers of war and revolution. With a tendency toward blisteringly energetic live performances, Muse has earned a reputation for its stage presence. And record sales reflect their success. Muse’s fifth and latest studio album dropped nearly two years ago and went on to win a Grammy for “Best Rock Album”. Titled The Resistance, it journeys through R&B tracks and epic rock arrangements, culminating in a short classical symphony replete with delicate piano lines and swelling strings. (Friday, 8:15-10, Music Unlimited Stage) –text: Kevin Coss

GIRL TALK
With a career running five albums deep, the biochemical engineer turned mashup mastermind Gregg Gillis doesn’t seem to be relenting from his frenetic pace — the pace to which each of his non-stop party LPs frantically bounce. His latest, All Day, confidently struts with a multitude of unlikely musical matches such as the Ludacris/Black Sabbath opener “Oh No” or the M.O.P./Miley Cyrus clash “That’s Right”. With frequent use of mainstream samplings, there’s a good chance first-time listeners will recognize some of the material. Yet Girl Talk’s craft has a way of making old classics sound new and refreshing, such as the anthemic fusion of Daft Punk’s “Digital Love” and Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On”. It’s not Girl Talk without a party, so expect to see a swarm of festivalgoers make their way onto the stage Friday night. (Friday, 8:45-10, Perry’s) –text: Gen Julian Thompson

RATATAT
Brooklyn-based band Ratatat needs no words. They let their instrumental synth-laden electronic music do all the talking. The duo came onto the scene in 2004 with their self-titled debut album, which was recorded in the basement of band member Mike Stroud’s apartment and mixed on his Mac. After a successful start, the indie band released two more albums, Lp3 and Lp4 under XL Recordings, before teaming up with Kid Cudi. Their music is psychedelic trip-rock consisting of guitar and synthesizer with the occasional audio clip inserted into songs as in their popular debut single, “Seventeen Years.” Their live sets reflect their eccentric music style — filled with light shows, projections, and odd video clips like the eerie smiling faces seen in their music video for “Drugs.” Their light-hearted music and fun vibe will leave you smiling, kind of like you just partied with children. (Friday, 8:45-9:45, Google+ Stage) –text: Ciera McKissick

Girl Talk

I’ve been doing this for many years, sampling music every day; yet I still stumble upon something I can’t believe I haven’t used yet pretty much every week. When I turn on the radio, I’m sure there’s a great song with a great part that I’ve yet to work with.

story by Lisa Oshlo
photo by Andrew Strasser

The kids can’t get seem to get enough of their Girl Talk these days. Although copy-and-paste mixmaster Gregg Gillis (a.k.a. Girl Talk) didn’t create the musical mash-up, he may be the first to perfect the underground art form. Like a bat out of hell, 2006′s Night Ripper made Gillis an international star and the golden boy of college radio. By juxtaposing hundreds of songs in an erratic collage of top 100 hits, underground treasures and unexpected guilty pleasures, Gillis spins a hedonist’s wet dream spiked with amphetamines.

2008′s Feed the Animals is Gillis’ continuation of fearless copyright violation and has vaulted Girl Talk further into the pantheon of independent music. Gillis has become renown for putting on some of the most wildly energetic and entertaining live performances this side of the Atlantic — including a legendary performance at this year’s Lollapalooza in which he surfed the crowd in an inflatable raft. Don’t be surprised to witness sweaty throngs of people in chicken costumes and revealingly tight shorts, dancing in a euphoric hysteria driven by Girl Talk’s contagious sampling of songs you thought you’d forgotten about.

But, as Gillis explains in a recent interview, things weren’t always this way for the once shy biomedical engineer. “In the early days, the intention was a little different. Back then I was trying to make more experimental sounds out of pop songs, whereas nowadays I’m trying to make pop songs out of pop songs,” Gillis said. “So I think back then I was focused on tearing songs apart and manipulating them, almost like beating them up. Over the years, it changed into just wanting to make the albums more of a cut and paste exercise. I want to sample the songs without changing their tone drastically. Even after it’s manipulated I want it to retain the form of the original song. I think I’ve become a little bit more respectful of how I use the music.”

Finally leaving his day job at a biomedical research facility near Pittsburgh last year, Gillis is now free to channel all of his energies into his music and newfound brash on-stage persona. He has refined his craft through years of sampling beats and testing them out on live audiences. “I just go about it piece by piece. Everything I do is sampling bits; I never queue up a whole song. The beat’s just there if I want to loop it, and then there’s a melody. I have a lot of memory dedicated just to loops in pop songs. I try to integrate them into the live sets and if I like the way it works up there, I’ll try to do it on an album,” he said.

Gillis has put out albums prolifically since 2002 while still a college student in Ohio, starting with the release of Secret Diary and continuing steadily through this year’s release of Feed the Animals, his fourth full-length. Its predecessor Night Ripper became something of a party anthem and contained a mind-blowing 250 samples. “It’s endless,” said Gillis. “You could play any song right now and there would be something in it I could use. There’s always a good drum part or melody and even if I don’t like the song on a surface level, I might like the way the snare sounds or I might like the tone of the bass. Honestly, I’ve been doing this for many years, sampling music every day; yet I still stumble upon something I can’t believe I haven’t used yet pretty much every week. When I turn on the radio, I’m sure there’s a great song with a great part that I’ve yet to work with.”

Girl Talk :: with The Death Set :: Congress Theater :: November 8.

Girl Talk, Gnarls Barkley, Love & Rockets

GIRL TALK
Although copy-and-paste mixmaster Gregg Gillis (a.k.a. Girl Talk) didn’t create the musical mash-up, he may be the first to perfect the underground art form. Like a bat out of hell, 2006′s Night Ripper made Gillis an international star and the golden boy of college radio. By juxtaposing hundreds of songs in an erratic collage of top 100 hits, underground treasures, and unexpected guilty pleasures, Gillis spins a hedonist’s wet dream spiked with amphetamines. 2008′s Feed the Animals is Gillis’ continuation of fearless copyright violation and has vaulted Girl Talk further into the pantheon of independent music. Gillis has become renown for putting on some of the most wildly energetic and entertaining live performances this side of the Atlantic. Don’t be surprised to witness sweaty throngs of people in chicken costumes and revealingly tight shorts, dancing in a euphoric hysteria driven by Girl Talk’s contagious sampling of songs you thought you’d forgotten about. (Sunday, 6:30-7:30, Citi Stage) –text: Matthew Partington

GNARLS BARKLEY
If a track could have won the title of “Most Ubiquitous Song of 2006″, Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” would have won hands-down. The song, with its infectiously futuristic neo-soul hook, was so well regarded that many other acts couldn’t resist putting their own stamp on it — including The Raconteurs, who covered the song at Lollapalooza 2006. As far as whole albums are concerned, the duo of rapper/singer Cee Lo and production maverick Danger Mouse are no slouches either. While St. Elsewhere and its follow-up, this spring’s The Odd Couple, don’t have songs that match the heights set by “Crazy”, they both feature a compellingly strange hybrid of electronic music, rap, and soul, with the latter taking an unquestionably darker approach to the sound. Furthermore, the band’s penchant for dressing up as famous duos throughout history should add a visual punch to an already taut musical experience. Crazy? Of course. But still awesome. (Sunday, 6:15-7:15, AT&T Stage) –text: Jon Graef–photo: Matthew Donaldson

LOVE & ROCKETS
Like fellow ’80s post-punkers New Order, Love & Rockets were 3/4ths of a previously existing band who emerged out of the ashes of their former main gig (in L & R’s case, that band was Bauhaus; New Order’s being Joy Division). The circumstances surrounding the latter’s formation are much, much more tragic than the former, but there’s certainly a corollary to be drawn in how both bands went on to greater success while maintaining a modicum of underground cred and artistic integrity. While Bauhaus sat squarely in Goth territory, Love & Rockets dabbled in the fuzzy, proto-shoegaze pop that contemporaries The Jesus and Mary Chain were also experimenting with. One key difference is that, unlike JAMC, L & R leaned more toward Beatles-style harmonization on albums such as Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven and Express before disbanding in 1999. Because Bauhaus’ reformation fell through, Love & Rockets have come together for just three U.S. gigs. This is one of them. Don’t miss it. (Sunday, 6:15-7:15, Bud Light Stage) –text: Jon Graef