The scene, Friday night, at The Boulevard Pool

The mash-up is not the newest thing to hit DJ booths, but the meta-mashing and splicing done by the cyber-sampler known as Girl Talk takes it to staggering heights.  If his balls-to-the-wall, standing-room-only show Friday night, at The Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, was any indication, the legal issues presented by his “art” don’t seem to bother anyone – least of all, him.

I’ll admit I was only vaguely familiar with the work of music-masher Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) before this month.  Then Jacob hollered at me, one afternoon, that Girl Talk was gonna be at The Cosmopolitan and we HAD to get tickets.  And while I’m always down for a frenetic trip down virtually any musical alley at least once, I wasn’t prepared for the live Girl Talk experience.

The Cosmopolitan for Girl Talk

Actually, I was kind of resigned to dismiss Girl Talk as just another dilettante with a computer who said “Gee, it’s Thursday.  I think I’ll be a DJ.”  (What can I say?  I’m a schmuck, and a jaded one, at that.)  Allow me to be the first to admit that I was wrong.  That boy puts on a show!

Of course, Gillis has been at it for more than a decade, and last November released his fifth album, All Day (just over 70 minutes in length, the album features 372 samples – an average of one every 11.45 seconds).

But while computer technology (and since Gillis’ tool is his laptop – a PC, no less – and not a turntable, he’s as much a programmer as he is a DJ) is a mighty fine tool when matching beats; it’s nothing without someone bearing a near encyclopedic knowledge of all veins of music, from the ‘50s to funk, pop to punk, dancehall to disco, and reggae to rap.  And that is what sets Girl Talk apart from your run of the mill mash-up DJ.

Girl Talk at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

In the same amount of time that your average Las Vegas nightclub DJ will play Phantom Planet’s “California” and mix it into “California Love” by 2Pac – Girl Talk might play “Hands in the Air” (see video, above) from his 2008 album, Feed the Animals, which involves a very precise overlaying of bits and pieces of the following tracks: “Big Country” by Big Country, “Whoomp! (There It Is)” by Tag Team, “Numbers” by Kraftwerk, “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force, “Lovefool” by The Cardigans, “Ready for the Floor” by Hot Chip, “Low” by Flo Rida, “My Love” by Justin Timberlake, “Sunday Morning” by The Velvet Underground,  “The Way I Are” by Timbaland, “Club Action” by Yo Majesty, “Music Sounds Better with You” by Stardust, “Invisible Touch” by Genesis, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” by Michael Jackson, “Dance to the Music” by Sly and the Family Stone, “Free Ride” by the Edgar Winter Band, and wrap-up with “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” by The Gap Band – all before fading into whatever he’s got lined-up, next.

Now, as a proud flag-waving member of the Ritalin generation, I’m definitely not adverse to be-bopping my way through five decades of music in four minutes and twenty seconds.  Actually, it’s pretty great (if the programmer knows his stuff), because if a song snippet comes along that you don’t care for, it doesn’t kill your buzz.  Before you even have time to shout at your buddies how much you think the song blows, another track is being laid over it, and a third song is being sampled-in.

Angela Watercutter charts the samples in "What It's All About" by Girl Talk, from the album Feed the Animals (as seen in the YouTube video, above)

The marquee seen by passers-by on the Strip

The Cosmopolitan's Alyssa Anderson, Alex Acuna and Amy Rossetti getting pressed-up into Girl Talk

As for the throngs of people who braved a somewhat gusty evening, up there at The Boulevard Pool, overlooking the Strip, at The Cosmo, they were living for it – dancing, screaming, throwing their hands up in the air, waving them like they just didn’t care, and basically getting’ down with their collective bad selves.  And that goes too for the crowds on Las Vegas Boulevard, who were watching the whole thing on the property's massive marquee - the only one in town with four LED screens on as many sides.

And what about Girl Talk?  As fun as his music is to listen to, it’s magnified to the nth degree in a live setting.  Let’s just hope for Mr. Gillis’ sake that “fair use” is a strong enough legal shield to keep the copyright sharks at bay.

Girl Talk

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas 

Get into it!