Girl Talk - Unstoppable (2024)

 

Plunderphonics / Mashup / Glitch / IDM

RIYL: The Hood Internet, Super Mash Bros., Aphex Twin

★★★★

Girl Talk can claim most of the responsibility for the mash-up bubble of the late 2000s, rolling out mixes and drug-fueled dance parties that capitalized on nostalgia for the radio-friendly pop hits he carefully weaved into his sample-collage dorm room wall tapestries. But just before he perfected the art of cut-and-paste plunderphonics on the infamous Night Ripper that so many would attempt and often fail to imitate, his upward trajectory was still lifted by unique beats and arrangements that he constructed from his own mind. I didn't realize until now that his earlier work, best exemplified by Ripper's immediate predecessor, owed as much to the '90s drum and bass scene stylized by Aphex Twin and Venetian Snares as it did to Top 40. Unstoppable is perhaps even more exciting for it, too, as it careens from filthy club bangers to Coldplay piano interludes before building up to its epic, glitched-out conclusion in "Can't Stop". Now my personal favorite from Gregg Gillis, the record's restless creativity comes off just as euphoric two decades removed from the now-deceased mash-up scene as it did back in its heyday.