GirlTalk interview

Girltalk
Ο τύπος δεν παίζεται, απλά. Όποιος τον έχει δει live, καταλαβαίνει. Διαβάστε τι λέει για το πόσες φορές έχει παίξει σε άδειους χώρους και επιτέλους καταλάβετε ότι indie σημαίνει indie. Εκτός αν θέλετε να διαβάζετε από τον καθένα συγκρίσεις για το πόσο κόσμο μαζεύει ο ένας και ο άλλος.

First of all, are the Cavaliers going all the way this year?
Do they need a point-guard (Mark Price, god bless your free throw percentage)
or a center that can actually intimidate somebody?
If Mark Price puts on a jersey, they will definitely be going all the
way.

The new album is called "Feed The Animals" and it is coming out in 2008.
What is it going to be like,
how many samples do you have in there approximately and who are the animals?
I'm still less than halfway done with the final version, so I'm really
not sure on the number of samples it'll contain or the exact sound it
will have.  From what I've done thus far, it rips similar terrain as
what I've been doing live over the past 2 years.  It's going to be
thick with samples and content, but I think the material is less
rushed than my previous releases.  I'm trying to focus less on
technical chops and more on song-building.  I'm feeding myself and
anyone who will join me.
Is it getting released by Illegal Art as well or has any major snaped you?
Illegal Art is putting it out if they like it.

2manyDJs told me that they stopped really working on mash-ups,
once they saw the hype coming. You've been at this for 6-7 years now.
How do you feel about the state of the mash-up "scene"?
I've never been apart of any "scene" really.  I've never considered
myself a specific "mash up" artist.  There are definitely elements of
mash-ups in my most current music, but I feel that all of my previous
albums have distinct sounds.  The sounds you can make working with
samples is endless.  I've worked with samples even prior to Girl Talk,
in my high school band, since I was 16 years old.  It's basically
become my instrument of choice, and I plan to continue to explore it
for a long time.

Why do you think that you have become famous now?
Does it have to do with people wanting to just dance to sth that isn't indie or techno or anything with a name really?
Why is any band popular? It's a really complicated question.  I think
people want familiar ideas re-contextualized in new, interesting ways;
that goes for any band.  In the United States, I think the shows have
become popular because they have built up a reputation for being
insane.  Young people need a place where they can loose their minds.

How was it for you before "fame"? Any crazy stories?
I've played countless shows to crowds of 10 people or less. Shows have
the potential to get really raw then.  I've been completely nude. I've
had to run away from venues. I slept on the hard floor of a club in
Osaka, Japan after a show, and there were rats running around. I've
eaten hot dogs every day for a month on the road because of lack of
funds.  I've been physically stopped from peforming.

Last year in Benicassim, Spain, you were the one to watch.
The crowd was crazy about you and you were the bomb.
You have real fun on stage (dance like crazy, like if you were in a room alone),
and it seems like you have been preparing for "fame" for a while now. How is it being famous?
I definitely have not be preparing for this. I've always done music
for fun.  I never saw anyone doing laptop pop cut-ups draw big crowds,
so I had very limited aspirations.  I thought I really "made it" about
2 years ago when I could go to most major cities in the United States
and 30 people would pay to come see a show.  Where things are now are
insane to me.  I love it but never really thought it would come to
this. Also, I'm not really famous.

Who is the biggest celebrity that has been at a show of yours (Paris
Hilton doesn't count)?
Big Boi of Outkast was at my last show Atlanta. My mind was blown.
Describe (in detail) your ideal party.
My 30 best friends hanging out in a room that can fit 25 people
listening to Nirvana's "In Utero" and Bone Thugz N Harmony "E 1999
Eternal" back to back.
Where do you go looking for new sounds?
I like to keep my source material as mainly Top 40 music.  So when I'm
looking for new source material, I usually listen to the radio.

Have you used sounds from your former day-job as a bio -mechanical engineer (i think)?
Nope.

You have remixed the creme de la creme: Beck, Simian,
Of Montreal, Tokyo Police Club, etc. Any new remixes ready?
I'm taking a slight break for doing remixes in order to finish up my
new album.  My other remix project, Trey Told 'Em, is doing finishing
up a remix of Of Montreal that we started a long time ago.

You are the laptop producer that became famous by saying "I'M NOT A DJ" motto.
What is a DJ and what does he have you don't?
If people refer to me as a DJ, I'm not offended.  But I've doing the
Girl Talk project since 2000, and no one used that terminology to
describe me until the past year.  In the traditional sense, a DJ uses
vinyl and can beat-match records.  I've never played vinyl live.  I
don't know how to beat match records, I've never tried.  When a DJ
plays live, his job is typically to play other peoples' songs and
blend them into each other.  When I perform, I never play any
un-altered songs.  I perform with loop-based software and cue up each
individual sound and samples on the fly.  I perform my own songs live,
which are constructed out of pieces of other peoples' music.  I want
my albums to include Girl Talk songs, not artist A mixed with artist B
mixed with artist C.  I want to make music and albums that other DJ's
can play.  I want my songs and albums to exist as their own entities.
There are plenty of other producers and composers who work with
samples that are not considered DJ's, such as Negativland and John
Oswald.  Those were my influences when I started this project, so I
feel more in line with them.

How do you decide what to play each and every night? Do you have any standards?
I built on previous templates.  I'll usually change up 30 to 120
seconds of my set each weekend that I play.  Over time, this builds up
to large changes.  I average releasing one 40 minute album every two
years, so that gives you an idea of my work pace.

Ok, being in a studio, you can cut and paste, but playing live, how do you handle
the mouse, with everybody dancing on stage with you? 
I do everything live, but the arrangements are practiced beforehand.
I go over them many times and have large chuncks of the sets
memorized.
I have read many theories regarding your Girltalk moniker: like that 
it comes from a poem of Jim Morrison or that it comes from Merzbow's side-project.
What is it then?
It was the name of the street I was born on.

What did you think of the Panda Bear album?
I've only heard it a couple of times, but I've enjoyed it.  I
interested in his application of samples.

Best records of 2007 and what should we look out for in 2008?
Best record of 2007 was Bone Thugz' "Strength and Loyalty."  I really
don't know what's coming out this year.  Is there a new Ma$e record
yet?