Girl Talk Takes Pride in 'Dumb Party Music,' Dismisses Critics Who Question 'Originality'
- Posted on Jul 8th 2011 3:00PM by Anne T Donahue
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Mike Coppola, Getty Images
"I like it," says the mash-up artist extraordinaire. "A lot of my favourite music and musicians and artists are people who can be enjoyed on a very surface level but you can also really piece apart conceptually. So I'm kind of proud of the fact that kids can come out and get wasted to the shows and it can just be dumb party music, and that's it."
"And to other people," he adds. "They can look into this and talk about originality and copyright issue, and where this fits into the history and the future of music. I think when people dismiss it -- obviously, I'm not into that -- but when it's like, 'The crazy party man's coming to town,' it's funny because I like that it's perceived that way. I don't want to force anything down people's throats."
But while Gillis embraces his fun-loving reputation, he's still quick to defend the integrity of his live performances. Especially since he admittedly spends weeks perfecting shows that eventually make up the track-listings of his albums.
"The shows and albums are distinctively different -- and there are different intentions," he says. "For me, I am most proud of the albums; everything I prepare going into the shows, all that of that goes on to influence what's on the album.
"And when I do that album, it's not about creating the ultimate party mix. I want people to celebrate it, but it's not like I have to make this awesome dance record that people can throw on and react to. I want to make an album that people can put on at a party, but also can listen to on their headphones or listen to in 10 years and enjoy. With the live show, I do understand the context is a party, and I am thinking about people physically reacting more."
So imagine what the reaction will be when Gillis skips out on the party to pursue more projects like his recent collaboration with rapper Jim Jones -- an endeavor the Girl Talk mastermind admits left him hungry for more.
"I just made a beat for him and I made that in, like, a day. And the albums I do typically take me more than two years to put together. In making [the beat], it was very exciting, and I kind of cranked it out. I loved the way the song, [Believe Me'], came out and it was distinctively different from what I do as Girl Talk."
"I feel like at some point I could get more into something like that. For shows, I want people to have recognizable samples and to reference the albums, but if it wasn't like that then maybe I could use slightly more obscure samples. Or even something like the Jim Jones beat method over the course of an album -- doing an entire production for a mixtape for somebody."
"There's so many places to go," he muses. "If I don't have any shows lined up over the course of the next five or six months, it would be fun to just sit down and make music with just making music in mind as opposed to the next performance."
And who can blame him? Nobody wants to be the last to leave a party, anyway.
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