Filed under: Features | Tags: Girl Talk, The Cool Kids, Jack's Mannequin, Juice Jam, Skytop Field, south campus
A day's worth of fun and music in a few short minutes!
DOWNLOAD: 20 Watts JUICE JAM PODCAST MP3
Every September, Syracuse University students venture to South Campus’ remote Skytop Field for a day of good music, bad hot dogs, and really sick spray-painted hats. But this year, something was different — 20 Watts’ Irina Dvalidze was also on the scene to bring you the best of Juice Jam in podcast form.
With onsite crowd and fan interviews, extensive commentary and only the best selections from The Cool Kids, Jack’s Mannequin and Girl Talk’s sets, 20 Watts is proud to offer you a true sip of this year’s Juice.
– Irina Dvalidze
Filed under: Features | Tags: Girl Talk, interview, mash-up, hip-hop, Syracuse, Syracuse University, The Cool Kids, emo, concert photos, central new york, Jack's Mannequin, Juice Jam, podcast, Juice Jam 2009, Something Corporate, Freestyle, Slide Show
Filed under: Features | Tags: Tom Petty, Girl Talk, interview, mash-up, hip-hop, Syracuse, Syracuse University, The Cool Kids, Oasis, emo, concert photos, central new york, Jack's Mannequin, Juice Jam, podcast, Gregg Gillis, Juice Jam 2009, Something Corporate, Freestyle, Slide Show, Andrew McMahon
Not even the rain could stop the insanity on South Campus
Not even the threat of impending rain could keep Syracuse University music-lovers away from South Campus on Sunday. Muggy, overcast and miserable as it was, several thousand students converged on Skytop for Juice Jam 2009, and no amount of drizzle or line-up cynicism could stop them from psyching up and getting down.
Although the show got off to an admittedly slow start — a problem that has plagued the annual concert in the past — Juice Jam succeeded on the strength of its headliner, Girl Talk, who stirred up over an hour of neon, confetti-filled mayhem on Sunday afternoon.
Chicago based hip-hop group The Cool Kids were the first to take the stage, though a great number of concert attendees seemed not to have noticed. The crowd gathered in front of the stage was a relatively small group of loyal fans, which unfortunately can’t even be attributed to their early set time, as the line for a lame airbrushed hat was still a mile long.
Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish were still the ultimate flirts, emphasizing the number of pretty girls in the audience more than once before transitioning into “Bassment Party,” instructing, “if you ugly keep your hands by your side.” This attitude stayed true after the performance, when Mikey and Chuck embraced adoring female fans.
Cool as they might have been, however, the hip-hop duo failed to attract the enthusiasm that greeted piano pop mainstay Jack’s Mannequin. Seeing Jack’s perform was like a trip down memory lane — and judging by the crowd that gravitated towards the stage, others felt that way, too. Friends likely reminisced about high school as they danced in groups to Andrew McMahon’s piano melodies during “Holiday from Real.” The band played much of Everything in Transit, including “The Mixed Tape,” “Dark Blue” and “La La Lie.” Bassist Jonathan Sullivan helped to keep the high school theme alive with his arm warmers and emo-licious haircut.
After closing with Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” Andrew McMahon climbed atop his piano and stomped on the keys. Although this move was relatively badass at the time, in comparison to the imminent mayhem, McMahon’s momentary awesomeness was as P.G. as it gets.
The transformation to said mayhem started gradually enough. Sorority girls clad in neon, eager to be Gregg Gillis’ one true love/grinding partner, searched for a way to get on stage. The masses followed suit. Hints of marijuana filled the air. Antsy people anticipating the ultimate dance party muttered their frustration as Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger” blasting through the speakers to pass the time.
But the sunshine finally started to peek through the hazy sky and our host, Gregg “I’m Not a DJ” Gillis, stormed the stage to start the party. Cue toilet paper. Balloons. Balls. Confetti. Gillis plays pop music for people with short attention spans and long memories: in his sets, pop music from the last 30 years resurfaces as a hook, a line or a beat, mixed into something entirely new.
Filed under: Features, Interviews, Juice Jam Preview | Tags: dj, Girl Talk, Gregg Gillis, interview, mash-up, pop, Pop Culture
Girl Talk dishes on pop music, his first iPod and the craziest things that people have ever done at his infamous shows
You’ve seen the sweaty neon pictures. You’ve heard the hyperactive pop culture collages that some naively call songs. But chances are you’ve never sat down with Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, to talk pop music, first iPods and the craziest sets in DJ history after one of his infamous party shows.
20 Watts’ Allison Polster caught up with Girl Talk after his show at the University of Rochester last year.
20 Watts: How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?
Girl Talk: On a surface level, I usually tell parents and old people that I make new music out of old pop music. I’d say simply, I kind of just collage. It’s an audio collage. I collage together a bunch of sources, layer it, chop it up and just take a bunch of familiar songs and try to create new songs out of those.
20W: Is there a certain criteria you use for songs that you put in? Do you only use songs that you actually like or just songs that fit in best? How do you decide which songs to use?
GT: Everything I use I like. I try not to use anything ironically. I’m pretty sincere about all that. I try to keep it diverse. These days I mainly listen to pop music, but going back to high school and those days, I do listen to a lot more obscure music as well. And I specifically don’t include samples from that as much just cause I like the idea of taking a very familiar thing and then manipulating and kind of playing with people’s connection to that song.
Filed under: Features, XCLUS!VES | Tags: Girl Talk, Video, mash-up, Syracuse University, playlist, Jack's Mannequin, Juice Jam, podcast, Cool Kids
Filed under: Features, Juice Jam Preview, XCLUS!VES | Tags: Girl Talk, Video, Syracuse, Syracuse University, Jack's Mannequin, Juice Jam, Cool Kids, SU
20 Watts’ Eric Vilas-Boas and Aaron Freeder spent four hours on a cross-campus road trip, asking every student in sight to share their thoughts on this year’s Juice Jam line-up. Over 60 students stopped to jam out and psych up for tomorrow’s start-of-term show, featuring Girl Talk, Jack’s Mannequin and the Cool Kids. In elevators, dining halls and South Campus busses, they showed us their dance moves, their enthusiasm, and — occasionally — their total obliviousness to on-campus life.
ARE YOU IN THIS VIDEO? Stop by 20 Watts’ Juice Jam table tomorrow — we want to shake your hand.
Check back after the show for interviews, photos and all sorts of one-of-a-kind coverage, only on 20 Watts.
Filed under: Features, Juice Jam Preview | Tags: Feed the Animals, Girl Talk, Juice Jam, live, Night Ripper
Dispel any doubts you may have held of seeing Girl Talk live
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Girl Talk’s Live Performance at Yale
Yeah, Girl Talk mashes pre-recorded music live at every show. A lot of people might be turned off by that. Fair enough; with no live instrumentation and no live singing, it’s perfectly valid to be wary. But there’s a reason for Girl Talk’s reputation, and there’s a reason that the vast majority of his concerts have been wildly successful.
True, Gregg Gillis kicks off most of his shows the same way — slowly warping electronic beats into the words “Girl Talk” may be a mainstay at almost every show that he’s done. But apart from that intro and the toilet paper blowers, the similarities end there. Gillis mixes a different set of tracks for every show, and while those may include skeletal versions of Feed the Animals, Night Ripper, or other albums he’s released in the past, the timing is consistently varied and the selections are never exactly the same.
Plus, at any given point in a Girl Talk show you’re guaranteed to be moving. You will be involved in a great communal hoedown. You will be vying for the recognition of hitting an inflatable beach ball (or whatever else might be going through the air) in your half-square-foot of maneuverability. Say what you will about the quality of the songs — nothing beats the live concert experience.
Don’t believe me? Just listen to the recording that 20 Watts obtained from Girl Talk’s May 30 show at Yale University. Fun is pretty much mandatory.
– Eric Vilas-Boas
Filed under: Features, Juice Jam Preview, Stories from Past Girl Talk Shows | Tags: Girl Talk, Gregg Gillis, Juice Jam, YouTube
You never know what to expect at a Girl Talk show -- and the infamous DJ plays Syracuse University's Juice Jam on Sunday.
MORE EXCLUSIVE JUICE JAM COVERAGE ON 20 WATTS
WATCH: Girl Talk LIVE Under the Jump
As countless YouTube cell phone videos can attest, Girl Talk shows hold the infamous distinction of being entirely unpredictable. It’s the perfect music to get drunk and dance to, so the gigs themselves can turn into madness on both sides of the stage.
For SU grad student Alex Palmer, such extreme debauchery led to a personal gig in his fraternity’s basement.
When Palmer was an undergrad at St. Louis’ Washington University two years ago, he attended a Girl Talk gig where a student got so drunk that he took his clothes off and had to be restrained by security. The student was tasered, and event staff pulled the plug on the show with half an hour left to go.
Gregg Gillis, the infamous mash-up artist otherwise known by the stage name Girl Talk, then announced that the gig was cancelled, but asked the audience if there was anywhere he could take the show.
Immediately, Palmer and his fraternity brothers in Sigma Alpha Mu yelled, “SAMMY!” (more…)
Filed under: Features, Juice Jam Preview | Tags: Audio Editing, Girl Talk, How-to, mash-up, the Hood Internet
Wanna mash like Girl Talk? 20 Watts' Michael Tran tells you how.
Who would have thought to combine Ace of Base with Cassidy and Swizz Beatz? Or Metallica with Lil Mama? Or even Lil Kim with MGMT? Just ask Pittsburgh-based mash-up artist Girl Talk or Chicago-based duo The Hood Internet.
Most songs are made of two tracks: instrumental and vocal or a cappella. A mash-up, however, takes a bunch of different tracks from different songs and artists, reengineering or “mashing” them into completely new music.
If you are dying to make some serious ear candy or a Frankenstein-like creation that may ruin music for yourself or others, follow these three easy steps. Just watch out for copyright laws; sampling sans permission has landed Girl Talk in court more than once.
1. Invest in a digital audio editor program. Wanna make magic like Girl Talk and The Hood Internet? Invest in the ever-so-easy-on-the-wallet program Adobe Audition, formerly known as Cool Edit Pro. It’s pricey ($350.00), but if you really want to cut and paste music effectively and efficiently, this is the way to go. Sorry folks, but Mac OSX’s Garage Band won’t help you on this one – you can’t adjust the tempo of samples imported into Garage Band.
2. Find your instrumental and a cappella tracks. Use Audition to rip the instrumental track from one of your favorite songs, and then just cut, paste and loop the track as desired. A cappellas are a little trickier, as they can’t be isolated in Audition like instrumentals can; the vocal tracks for most of your favorite songs can, however, be found through a Google search.
3. Put it together. Use Audition to speed up, slow down and coordinate your tracks, adjusting the tempo and timing as desired. Add effects like reverb, delay and fade, and voila! You’re ready to rock both the club and court circuits.
– Michael Tran
This story originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of 20 Watts.
Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, Ra Ra Riot, Girl Talk, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear, The National, All Points West, indie rock, Dirty Projectors, hip-hop, Jay-Z, Williamsburg Waterfront, Seasick Steve
Jay-Z is apparently a huge fan of Grizzly Bear
PREVIEW: Download Jay-Z’s “Run This Town” (Ft. Rihanna and Kanye West) MP3
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 20 Watts Reviews Jay-Z’s “Run This Town”
With Jay-Z prepping the release of his ridiculously hyped new album, The Blueprint 3, it’s surprising that he would have time to go to any concerts — much less Grizzly Bear’s free appearance on the Williamsburg Waterfront (previously graced by Girl Talk and Dirty Projectors this summer) this past Sunday, Aug. 30. However, the rapper did the 12,000 hipsters at the waterfront one better, by giving the indie rock scene one of the most notable stamps of approval it’s ever received:
“The thing I want to say to everyone — I hope this happens because it will push rap, it will push hip-hop to go even further — what the indie rock movement is doing right now is very inspiring. It felt like us in the beginning. These concerts, they’re not on the radio, no one hears about them, and there’s 12,000 people in attendance. And the music that they’re making and the connection they’re making to people is really inspiring. So, I hope that they have a run where they push hip-hop back a little bit, so it will force hip-hop to fight to make better music, because it can happen, because that’s what rap did to rock.” (MTV) (more…)
