“Feed the Animals,” the new album by Pittsburgh-based musician Girl Talk (real name Gregg Gillis) is composed almost entirely of more than 200 samples of other artists’ music, ranging from Lil Wayne to Kenny Loggins — none of which Gillis has obtained permission to use. The pleasure of his music is in the juxtapositions of both styles and
eras and the faster-than-your-remote-control-finger pace. Maintaining
that copyright law stifles creativity, he ignored it.
This is what makes Girl Talk’s experimentation with the value of music so compelling. It’s one thing for various name-brand artists to dabble
with giveaways. It’s something else for a creator who has operated
artistically, financially and even legally outside the structures of
the traditional recording business for his entire career to do so. Will
“Feed the Animals” make Girl Talk a rock star? And what would that even
mean?
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