Relatively New Music Review - Girl Talk - Night Ripper

For the small portion of the world that doesn't know, i'm a giant nerd. Like, a GIANT nerd. When i was in high school, my two best friends and i used to have what we called "Nerdfest" - Nerdfest was when the three of us would stay up half the night watching movies and playing N64, while eating lots of junk food. One of the featured viewings at Nerdfest was Mystery Science Theater 3000.

I am a huge MSTie and am always trying to convince people (like my wife) how hilarious/brilliant the show was. However, what i have realized about trying to introduce people to the show is that they need to get at least 60% of the references to even remotely enjoy the show. When Mike and the bots in my favorite episode, The Final Sacrifice, reference Larry Csonka, Geddy Lee, the Wizard of Id, Hawkwind, "youth-dew," Mrs. Costanza, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Tom Waits' Bone Machine album, Yosemite Sam, Ray Davies, the WWF, etc, if you aren't a pop-culture savant, you're going to be more than a little lost.

And that is precisely the problem with Night Ripper, the newest record from Girl Talk, a project of Greg Gillis, where he creates new music entirely out of samples. And not rare, obscure samples - Notorious B.I.G. songs, Elton John piano licks, Weezer guitar solos, "Bittersweet Symphony," etc.

To me, the fun of this record is almost entirely encapsulated on the first listen. "Holy shit! That's the bass-line from Better than Ezra's 'Good!' Wow, are those the vocals from 'Friends of P' by the Rentals?" The fun is much like that of an I Spy book that 4 year olds worldwide love - finding the familiar hidden in the dense collage.

Now let me just say, i am thoroughly impressed with Gillis's skills as a compiler/mixer - he has an ear for finding parallel rhythms and interesting mashes, and i think this is a great party record. However, unlike one of my favorite all time records, Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, the samples never really coalesce into something greater than the sum of their parts.

Part of my non-love for this record may come from the reality that many of the vocals come from the type of hip-hop/dance music i have little to no interest in. The only reason i know that he uses the Ying Yang Twins is that i know Richard Cheese's cover of "Badd." I can recognize D12's only hit, but these aren't artists that i typically choose to listen to. I may be able to peg down where i know the "dirty south" line comes from (its from an Aaliyah song), but do i need to pluck it from my mental "pop music 1995-2005" filing cabinet to enjoy its use on this record?

Would i really love a Girl Talk song if i didn't know the ingredients that went into it? I don't think so. The fun is in the taste-test and the marvel of all the countless hours of hard work that went into making this music. I hope this review is clear in my admiration for the craft of Night Ripper, but just like i can respect the bravado of a NASCAR driver but never want to see one fucking minute of a race, i think i'll pass on the next Girl Talk record. But i hope some guy plays it at a party that i'm inexplicably at one day (because nerds don't get invited to parties).

Rating - .41 out of 1.21 Jigowatts.

(a brief explanation of the rating scale, from lowest to highest:
.01
.11
.21
.31
.41
.51
.61
.71
.81
.91
1.01
1.11
1.21)