Girl Talk (musician)

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Girl Talk
Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk) in 2006
Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk) in 2006
Background information
Birth nameGregg Michael Gillis
Born (1981-10-26) October 26, 1981 (age 42)
OriginPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
GenresMashup, electronic, dance, glitch, experimental, plunderphonics
Instrument(s)Laptop
Years active2001–present
LabelsIllegal Art
333 recordings
SSS Records
Spasticated Records
12 Apostles
Websitewww.myspace.com/girltalk
Girl Talk in Paris, 2007
Girl Talk during a show

Gregg Michael Gillis[1][2] (born October 26, 1981), better known by his stage name Girl Talk,[3] is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles.

Career

Gillis began experimenting with deejaying while a student at Chartiers Valley High School in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bridgeville. After a few collaborative efforts he started the solo "Girl Talk" project while studying biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In school, Gillis focused on tissue engineering. He later worked as an engineer, but quit in May 2007 to focus solely on music.[4]

He produces mashup-style remixes, in which he uses often a dozen or more unauthorized samples from different songs to create a mashup. The New York Times Magazine has called his releases "a lawsuit waiting to happen,"[5] a criticism that Gillis has attributed to mainstream media that wants "to create controversy where it doesn't really exist," citing fair use as a legal backbone for his sampling practices.[6]

He has given different explanations for the origin of his stage name, once saying that it alluded to a Jim Morrison poem[7] and once saying that it alluded to an early Merzbow side project.[8] Most recently, he attributed the name to Tad, the early 1990's SubPop band, based in Seattle.[9]

In a 2009 interview with FMLY, Gillis stated:

The name Girl Talk is a reference to many things, products, magazines, books. It’s a pop culture phrase. The whole point of choosing the name early on was basically to just stir things up a little within the small scene I was operating from. I came from a more experimental background and there were some very overly serious, borderline academic type electronic musicians. I wanted to pick a name that they would be embarrassed to play with. You know Girl Talk sounded exactly the opposite of a man playing a laptop, so that’s what I chose.[10]

Gillis is featured heavily in the 2008 open source documentary RiP!: A Remix Manifesto.

For possible future projects, Gillis is considering creating an original song rather than full-length albums featuring songs by other muscians tied together.[11] Girl Talk released his fifth LP All Day on November 15, 2010 - free through the Illegal Art website.[12] A U.S. tour in support of All Day began in Gillis's hometown of Pittsburgh with two sold-out shows at the new Stage AE concert hall.[13] Since Gillis releases his music under Creative Commons licenses, fans may legally use it in derivative works. Many create mashup video collages using the samples' original music videos.[14] Filmmaker Jacob Krupnick chose Gillis's full-length album All Day as the soundtrack for Girl Walk//All Day, an extended music video set in New York City.[15]

Album pricing

After the success of his album Feed the Animals, for which listeners were asked to pay a price of their choosing, Gillis made all of his other albums similarly available via the Illegal Art website.

Awards

In 2007, Gillis was the recipient of a Wired magazine Rave Award.[16]

Feed the Animals was number four on Time's Top 10 Albums of 2008.[17] Rolling Stone gave the album four stars and ranked the album #24 on their Top 50 albums of 2008. Blender magazine rated it the second-best recording/album of 2008,[citation needed] and NPR listeners rated it the 16th best album of the year.[18]

Gillis' hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania named December 7, 2010 "Gregg Gillis Day".[19]

Film appearances

In 2007, Girl Talk appeared in Good Copy Bad Copy, a documentary about the current state of copyright and culture.

In 2008, he appeared as a test case for fair use in Brett Gaylor's RiP!: A Remix Manifesto, a call to overhaul copyright laws. His parents, in one scene, complain to him about his frequent stripping during his performances. He also discusses his medical career and how laws affect his research.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Compilation appearances

Remixes

Production credits

Bootlegs

Software

In an interview with Triple J on January 29, 2009, Gillis noted that he uses Adobe Audition and AudioMulch.[29]

References

  1. ^ "Girl Talk Coachella 2009-4". YouTube. April 19, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
  2. ^ Girl Talk Get Naked. Often: Music: GQ
  3. ^ Lindsay, Cam."The Trouble with Girl Talk", Exclaim!, November 2008.
  4. ^ "Quit Your Day Job: Girl Talk". Stereogum. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
  5. ^ Walker, Rob (July 20, 2008). "Mash-up Model". The New York Times Magazine, July 20, 2008, p.15. Retrieved July 30, 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ McLendon, Ryan (November 14, 2008). "Interview: Girl Talk a/k/a Gregg Gillis". Village Voice.
  7. ^ Cardace, Sara. "Pants-Off Dance-Off". Nerve.com Screening Room. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
  8. ^ GOTTY (May 23, 2007). "The Art Of Persuasion..." The Smoking Section. Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2008.
  9. ^ Hamilton, Ted. "Girl Talk and Rock". The Cornell Daily Sun. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  10. ^ "a (girl) talk with gregg gillis « thefmly – those who were strangers had turned into friends". Thefmly.com. April 30, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
  11. ^ Up for Discussion Jump to Forums (September 14, 2009). "Girl Talk Experimenting With Actual Songs For Next Album". Billboard.com. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
  12. ^ Ryan Dombal (October 26, 2010). "Girl Talk Dishes on New LP". Pithcfork.com. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  13. ^ Lazar, Zachary (January 6, 2011). "The 373-Hit Wonder". "The New York TImes", January 6, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  14. ^ Jentzen, Aaron (June 22, 2011). "Girl Talk on YouTube: 10 must-see videos". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved June 23, 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Bloom, Julie (December 6, 2011). "Girl Walk//All Day: A Q&A With the Director". The New York Times, Art Beat Blog. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  16. ^ Watercutter, Angela (April 24, 2007). "The 2007 Rave Awards". Wired Magazine, April 24, 2007. Retrieved August 15, 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Tyrangiel, Josh (November 3, 2008). "4. Feed the Animals by Girl Talk – The Top 10 Everything of 2008". Time Magazine, December 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "NPR Listeners Pick The Year's Best Music". "NPR", December 2008. Retrieved August 30, 2009.
  19. ^ Stiernberg, Bonnie (December 7, 2010). "Pittsburgh Celebrates Gregg Gillis Day". "Paste Magazine", December 2010. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  20. ^ Maher, Dave (March 4, 2008). "High Places, Trey Told 'Em, Fuck Buttons on Huge Comp". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
  21. ^ "Beck Song Information – Cellphone's Dead". Whiskeyclone.net. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
  22. ^ "Non-Tradition (Girl Talk Remix)/It's So Fun (Andrew WK Remix)". The Brooklyn Vegan. June 4, 2009. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
  23. ^ Suarez, Jessica (April 17, 2007). ""Cheer It On" (Trey Told Em remix) [MP3]". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
  24. ^ iskeith3 (July 19, 2007). "Girl Talk at the Pitchfork Music Festival". YouTube. Retrieved July 11, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Raymer, Miles (October 13, 2007). "The Thrill Isn't Gone". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved August 18, 2008.
  26. ^ Jentzen, Aaron (June 23, 2011). "Girl Talk finds ways to grow". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  27. ^ Jentzen, Aaron (June 23, 2011). "Girl Talk interview (audio)". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved June 23, 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ posted by Eric Grandy on November 15 at 10:03 AM (2007-11-15). "Girl Talk Murders Seattle | Line Out | The Stranger's Music Blog | The Stranger | Seattle's Only Newspaper". Lineout.thestranger.com. Retrieved 2010-10-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "(at 4:44 mins)". Abc.net.au. 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
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