Creative new pop from old pop
This review is made up of words I've taken from other reviews that I've written. I take the words and piece them together to make a new review. Similarly, Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis, takes pieces of music from the radio and other albums (mostly pop) and mixes them together to make new music. He calls it "new pop from old pop", and it's sort of interesting, but not emotionally captivating. It's too scientific.
Listening to this album is mostly fun because you can hear weird things like Elton John singing along to mainstream hip-hop songs whose themes are often insanely homophobic. Girl Talk is ridiculously good at re-mixing music, and deserves our respect and praise for his abilities. But, it does not mean his music is awesome. There are plenty of metal guitarists whose technical skills can make my jaw drop, but whose music will never affect my heart. Girl Talk is the same.
So, if you like mainsteam hip-hop/pop and want to hear a really cool take on that genre, listen to this album. Youtube him. You can maybe even buy his stuff, but he will never be the music you listen to when your heart is broken or your life is in a shambles. I actually wouldn't even listen to this music if I wanted to party, but people who love real hip-hop will probably worship Gregg Gillis as a god. He deserves it. His work is so elaborate that he produces about 40 minutes of music every two years. It is experimental and worthwhile and interesting, but it doesn't float my boat.
What I actually find most interesting about Gillis is that he worked for years as a biomedical engineer. This perhaps explains the scientific perfection of his music ... but I'd still rather listen to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah if I'm drinking and having fun with people...