96. Top 10 of 2008

#5. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
I played this album at a party a couple weeks ago and someone asked if this was the radio. Meaning on certain stations, mashups are played on the weekend. I concluded Girl Talk was not any different in the way mash ups are done compared to local DJs. However, there was something else in Girl Talk, something I liked alot. Despite Girl Talk being a thousand better at his craft than any other Mashup artist Ive heard, there exists something else; a thesis. Local Djs on your hot 101 radio station crunch popular songs for the express purpose of dance. Songs are compared by BPM and thrown together. Girl Talk does the same thing but there is more of a theme present in Feed The Animals. The majority of samples used has been a popular songs at one point in some scene of music experience. While the scope of music ranges back to the Beach Boys, the majority of front samples is Hip Hop with a background of classic pop songs (with some obscurities hiding in corners). So anything you have heard a thousand times on the radio is used again. The record sounds like a colossal failure. But it's not. Feed The Animal's focus is so structured and makes such a distinctive comment on commercial satiation, it surpasses the majority of original music made this year. (not to say this is not original...well...ah fuck it.) Everything which is popular is apart of the same character, hence why so many songs could fit together. The use of Nirvana's "Lithium" feels okay rather than a more obscure song like "Negative Creep." These songs seem to have found new life in a Girl Talk record and make listening to mainstream music acceptable...in a hip ironic way. This record pushes the agenda of short term nostalgia, and obliterates the gap of time between cool and uncool and drops the banner reading "everything you loved is cool again."

Below is the videos for "In Step," "Shut The Club Down" and it's follow up track "Still Here." done unofficially by Youtube user "bunnygreenhouse." The user creates a visualization for Feed the Animals by splicing together the video singles. If you enjoy this song, then you will enjoy the nearly hour long pop pandemonium which is this record. It is hard not to smile to not only the recognition of the majority of songs but how fucking awesome it is when they all fit together. Finally, post-modernity is now fun and danceable.