By Mike Stuart
25/02/2008
Since DangerMouse released the infamous Grey Album there has been a hoarde of professional and amateur DJs trying to do their own mash-ups. The problem is that 99% of them amount to nothing more than a one-play novelty song. But in the remaining 1% there are DJs like Girl Talk, a genius in mixing different genres in original and surprising ways.
Night Ripper is a party album - one to play when you want everybody dancing. The songs are a continuous mix of sampled hooks, rather than the general mash-up technique of combining a few tracks. The average track on this album contains samples from over fifteen songs from a huge variety of genres. On Night Ripper you'll hear everyone from Oasis to 50 Cent, The Verve to Gwen Stefani, Phil Collins to Nirvana.
The variety makes for an incredibly fun and surprising listen. Girl Talk avoids the overriding novelty of most mash-ups by essentially constructing new songs from the samples that he uses. This constantly changing mix could be tiring for some but it doesn't take long to become accustomed to the formula. An essential CD for your next house party, but only if you won't tire of everyone asking you for a copy.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Night Ripper is released in the UK on 25th February, 2008
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
