Hold up, wait a minute let me whisper in your ear a bittersweet symphony about my goodies, I know you heard of that!
Go DJ, that's my DJ! Go DJ, that's my-
Wait. Despite the standard top-40 hooks one would typically find at a dance club, the sound is coming from Gregg Gillis, a self-proclaimed "laptop musician" who specializes in sound collage. For example, one song might have the samples of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" mingled with Biggie's notorious verses from "Juicy." Girl Talk, Gillis' band, extracts samples from recognizable pop music and transforms them into a hectic mix of sound.
Before you think you're hearing just another mash-up artist mimicking the typical hip-hop verses fused with classic rock, know Gillis does not simply put together Jay-Z vocals with the Beatles or Linkin Park. A typical song on his third album, Night Ripper, features a chaotic mixture of more than 20 samples in less than three minutes.
"Whenever people hear the word mash-up, it's always a capella from song A mixed with instrumental song B," Gillis said. "It kind of steers people in the wrong path."
From his days as the typical high school student with an experimental noise band growing up, Gillis has played with music, releasing his first album in 2002. Each of Girl Talk's three albums has been reflective of the type of music Gillis was into at the time-weird electronic music to IDM-influenced beats to straight-up pop music.
Eventually, Gillis developed a style with blatant, recognizable samples he once used to loosen up crowds until the samples became fully incorporated into songs.
Yet he has begun a new transition from artist to producer. People often have a hard time perceiving Gillis as a producer because they listen to Girl Talk and only hear recognizable elements from the music of other artists.
"There is a whole world of sample-based music, from RJD2 up to Kanye West," Gillis said. "Sampling can be used to make original music, and that's where I'm coming from."
Songs composed solely of samples have raised questions about the legality of his work. Although artists are allowed to sample other music without penalty under the Fair Use doctrine of U.S. copyright law, some in the industry believe Gillis is set for the same pitfalls that befell artists like Vanilla Ice and the Verve because he uses no original material.
With the success of Night Ripper, artists have approached him about collaborations as he has gained a reputation for being more than a sample-based artist.
"People have been really respectful of the ability to collage music together," he said. "Even people like Beck have reached out and asked me to do a remix. I actually gave him a sample-based mix and an original instrumentation one; he wanted to do the original instrumentation."
As for being a full-time musician, Gillis seems satisfied with his Clark Kent/Superman identity: a suburban-Pittsburgh biomedical engineer by workweek and a traveling, performing musician-jumping around and stripping half-naked onstage-by weekend.
"I kind of like the financial backing," Gillis said. "I can do shows for cheaper here and there, do whatever I want musically and not worry about getting anything done for money, which is the last thing I want to do with music."
Gillis' popularity has spread via influential blogs and sites to the point where people eagerly anticipate his shows.
"People know the deal right now," he said. "Every show that I've played in the last three months has been just an all out party."
Gillis added that his music has shattered genre barriers, with some individuals appreciating the break-neck pace of his unique style while others simply love to hear their favorite pop hooks reincorporated in songs.
"The response has been interesting because all types of people are coming up to me at shows, people from pop-music enthusiasts who just really love hearing pop songs manipulated and people who normally wouldn't listen to any of it and just like the re-contextualization," he said.
While he was performing locally, Gillis said his set featured "a real theatrical performance with dancers and pyrotechnics." Because of the inconvenience of touring, he is coming to the Local 506 in Chapel Hill Saturday ready to excite the crowd with a more stripped-down set.
Coming from a background featuring energetic and enthusiastic performances, Gillis has not let being a "laptop musician" restrict his stage presence. A Girl Talk set still features a good dose of Gillis taking his shirt off and running around while trying to liven up the crowd.
"I'd say if you're into party[ing] and debauchery in any way, then it might be your ticket," Gillis said.
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