Feed The Animals

With all of the entertaining I've been doing at the new place, one album has received a good amount of play time on the ol' iPod, Girl Talk's Feed The Animals. I am constantly asked who the artist is or where one can pick up the CD. Well, it's time for me to give the artist and the album the credit they both deserve.

Girl Talk is Pittsburgh mash-up DJ, Gregg Gillis. Feed The Animals is his latest creation, over 300 music samples condensed into 54 minutes of danceable music. Highlights for me include Eminem's "Shake That" over the piano melody of Yael Naim's "New Soul", Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" over the opening guitar riff of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge", and in the closing minutes of the album, Huey's "Pop, Lock, and Drop It" over one of the 80's ultimate power ballads, Journey's "Faithfully". The music serves as a hip hop history course, using rap from the past three decades and mixing it with various rock and pop songs. Gillis does an exceptional job blending the samples together and, as mentioned, it always gets a response from its listeners.


Gillis received much attention from the distribution of the album as well. Like Radiohead's In Rainbows, Feed The Animals is available through a "pay what you want" system. You head to the website, type in a price you are willing to pay, click, and the album begins downloading. Those opting not to pay anything need to select a reason, which include "I can't afford to pay", "I don't really like Girl Talk" and "I don't value music made from sampling". As a member of Northwest Noise, I selected the "I am part of the press, radio, or music industry" option.

Being someone that is fascinated with new marketing strategies related to music distribution, I'm willing to give music marketing pioneers a chance on their music. Lucky for me, most of these new strategies come from my some of my favorite bands: the already mentioned Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails (who released their latest album The Slip online for no charge), and The Smashing Pumpkins, who announced today that they are releasing their new single "G.L.O.W." on the new Guitar Hero game. But I'm also willing to take a chance on artists I am unfamiliar with that chart new terrain in promoting their albums. Girl Talk is one of those artists and the risk, although free for me, has paid off. And I've introduced Girl Talk to at least a dozen of my friends, getting the music out there, which hopefully in the end will pay off for Gillis as well.

Quick plug: anyone interested in new marketing strategies in music should check out my friend Ryan's blog at http://www.petmarmoset.net/blog/. He does an excellent job discussing new ideas and being as he is someone heavily involved in both marketing and music, I highly respect his opinions and ideas. It's definitely worth taking a look. Bonus, he tells you where to find the best nachos in town!

You can download the Girl Talk album yourself at http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/.