Mashup artist Girl Talk to perform at Hollywood Palladium on Saturday
By Courtney Whitlock
March 21, 2011 11:18 p.m.
It is hard to imagine ’70s heavy-metal band Black Sabbath and contemporary rapper Ludacris coming together for a musical collaboration. However, Gregg Gillis, the musician known as “Girl Talk” who specializes in mashups and digital sampling, makes this surprising musical fusion a reality. On Saturday at 8 p.m., Girl Talk will be performing his mixes at the Hollywood Palladium.
Girl Talk’s latest album, “All Day,” includes both current songs such as “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha and throwback tracks such as “Whip It” by Devo. The album contains 373 samples in a 71-minute long musical trip that is meant to be listened to as a whole.
Girl Talk has been producing music mashups for more than 10 years and has produced five albums, including “Feed the Animals,” released in 2008, and “Night Ripper,” released in 2006. His live shows don’t include an 11-piece band or background singers, just Gillis and his laptop.
While the idea of watching someone work on his laptop for an hour sounds as exciting as, well, watching someone work on his laptop for an hour, a Girl Talk concert has more excitement to offer. The former biomedical engineer student brings together a number of genres, along with leaf blowers blowing toilet paper into the crowd, flashing lights and people dancing by his side.
