[kid cue]

I'm not certain the Girl Talk interview does away with one's ability to read irony into his music. Regardless of whether or not the intent of his music, or his own appreciation of his source material, is ironic--his execution arguably exemplifies ironic kitsch, haphazardly (or intuitively, if you prefer, and as he claims) setting up juxtapositions and combinations with an effect that might be characterized as "detached amusement". Comparisons with mash-up culture at large are potentially misleading, since Girl Talk's roving, more-or-less linear pastiche of references more closely resembles a hyperactive DJ mix which avoids commitment or focus, rather than the single, potent welding of two or three songs in a 'proper' mash-up (which suggests an exploration of the potential in combining entire, complete pieces of music together)--the techniques may be identical, but have honestly been around since hip-hop. Painting his music as the newest manifestation of a nascent subculture is a bit of a red herring.

The overall effect, to me, is one of distancing--Girl Talk's musical choices may sound good and be real to him--but if your music simply amounts to a rapid succession of references (mash-ups included--combining this riff with that chorus simply references both at once), and you're not personally involved in any of the musical contexts or dialogues attached to your referents, then you're simply an observer, a consumer, playing connect-the-dots from outside the pop-cultural arena. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but the article and Girl Talk's quotes seemed to me to be making much more of something that's rather simple in reality.