Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

I don't know. A lot of this argument seems to operate under arbitrary presumptions: Girl Talk's speed isn't utterly indecipherable to me, only irritating; it's precisely because I am able to follow his manifold juxtapositions and am consistently confronted by yet another switch-up that I find his strategy deflating rather than profound. You may call it transcendent, on account of its being different; I just find it cowardly and unsuccessful in a relatively new way. ;)

I'm also not sure what you mean by a "relevant" recontextualization. It can't be assumed that everyone knows this source material, just as it can't be assumed that in "proper" sampling (I'm not sure there is actually a distinction to be made between this and Girl Talk's sampling) that the audience isn't expected to catch the references (Kanye West immediately springs to mind). Again, you may call the music's discordance profound, but I just call it ... weakly ironic and ironically weak, whether or not it claims to be un-ironic. :)

But honestly, if it feels enthusiastic to you, then by all means be enthused. I'll just note that your reading of his approach's significance is as subject to debate as the effectiveness of his music.

And Animal Boything (I like your name by the way), I'm not sure the "making his own music" card works, for all the reasons I outlined in my previous post. The Avalanches and DJ Shadow are enormously informed by a DJ sensibility, and their music does formally and conceptually hold much in common with the standard DJ set. Girl Talk's music especially can't be taken on its own terms, because its cleverness is based on dot-connecting. Sampling, no matter how creative (again, not creative enough in this case IMHO), will never suddenly become creating--and that's not the point. I would argue that the Avalanches' and Shadow's music utilizes the capabilities of computer-based sequencing and sampling much more extensively than Girl Talk. One analogy that comes to mind: the former two would twist the words in a given sentence into new catchphrases, while Girl Talk simply rearranges them and renders them gibberish. This may seem to contradict my above claim that Girl Talk is not indecipherable, but it's more the effect of being able to read the collection of words, which never congeal into a full sentence. Not to take the hackneyed concept too seriously, but there's quite literally no "statement" being made here.

Still--it's perfectly fine to appreciate the consistency of his execution, but I tend to think of that as a perfection of an exercise, or a craft, rather than a creation of something new (sampling or not), i.e. a full art. I guess I'm just picturing a certain line that he definitely does not cross, precisely because he takes this one approach so far (to little consequence, IMO).

As a good friend of mine put it, "T.I. is the party album of the year". :D

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

either i dont follow or this is a matter of opinion

7/10 whatever is sampled in a song is either completly obscure to the point that people get excited about what they do recognize. this throws everything you do know at you, and, to me, at a speed where you're constanly going "i know that" but then it's gone. i find it pretty engaging, but apparently there's different ways of hearing it. and again, i completly do not understand how something can be ironic without it intending to be.

oh absolutely ;). i'm not trying to bring any hammer down, it's just something i feel has something worth arguing for.

um, that's exactly what i'm trying to say it is, and others try to pass off worse efforts as such, and this is one of the few i feel has acheived that

i think it's a pretty major part

what about that makes them more valuable than what we have here? more computer time=more work=more worth? they're crtainly doing something different, something more catchy with their craft, and the avalanches no doubt trounce this into the next month's lunch, but i fail to see how that aspect you point out renders girl talk not worth the time of day.

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

I haven't had a chance to listen to this yet (though I'm intrigued) so all I have to add is, man, Superdrag 'Sucked Out'. I have not even thought about that song in years.

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

I donwloaded the clip when you first posted it, I didn't hate it, but it seemed a little samey - soulwax, playgroup, earworm etc.

But if you insist that the whole album is hot I will check it out :)

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

i was just edited my tom.
i feel all flush.


perhaps the best i've ever had?

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

Hey, Thats Vanilla Ice, isnt it???

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

I just heard this the other day, I thought it was pretty interesting...most of the music sampled really ain't my style though, and when he sampled "My Humps" I nearly had to turn it off, what a godawful song that is! Interesting mashups though...reminds me a bit of that thing they did with the two Nickelback songs, putting one in each speaker to show how similar they were...this really seems to say something about how all pop music is more or less the same, although I doubt that's the point he was trying to make. Anyone hear any of his other stuff?

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

i think its best not to get overly analytical with music like this, because that seems to defeat the entire point of "party" The claim was this is the party album of the century, not the album of the century, and if music isn't subjective than what constitutes a good party certainly is.

I don't know my parents beat me and locked me in a closet, but I assume parties are like people hanging out dangling drinks in their hands and every once in a while a rhythm track from KCHEEZ 99 FM, classic oldies comes in, and you get a few friendly nods and maybe someone singing loudly and its done what it needs to do, not like save the planet or something.

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

Well ... I guess I'm just saying that it still sounds like ironic music to me, and that has more of an effect on my interpretation of the record than Girl Talk's own statements do. As Tom mentions, it's a lot like the Playgroup mega-DJ Eighties mix, just with less interesting mixes, worse flow, and more hype. :D

I do understand you're saying that Girl Talk is creating something very new, but I felt you, or maybe just Animal Boything, were still conflating what amounts to a simple extension of DJ ideas with a raw exploration of new territory. The source of my distaste for this music is my feeling that he is basically caricaturing all that is good and valuable about DJ/mashup culture simply by exaggerating its core qualities between 2 - 3.5 times over, yet is interpreted as profoundly breaking away from all of that by drawing on some personal genius sensibility. I think that's totally misguided!

Never said anything of the sort. More ideas, more like. :)

Re: Party album of the CENTURY
 

While I would normally disagree with you on principle, I do feel that I've over-stretched myself here--others certainly deserve this amount of controversy and more, like M.I.A. or somesuch. :D