Weekly Review
A piece in the NYTimes today discusses Radiohead’s new “singles only” release policy and their guru-like status in the music marketing biz. Okay, true that Radiohead has mastered the ability to throw the blogosphere into a crazed, conjecturing frenzy, but they’re not the only trendsetters in this town. Just take a look at the number of new fabulous fads sure to come out of the activity of this past week: talent-show tour openers, finger-puppet impersonators, cemetery sets at sunrise, signing oneself to one’s own label, turning art rock success into art film stardom, holding Willy Wonka-style CD-release sweepstakes…who knows what these crazy kids will come up with next.
And later today, one of the biggest trailblazers of them all, Mr. Original Laptop DJ himself, plays the second-to-last Jelly NYC Pool Party of the summer – which I’m sure will result in a half-naked, sweat drenched Greg Gillis crowd-surfing for the better part of his set. But that’s nothing new.
by Elana Jacobs
Nas Writing New Album; Claims Hip-Hop Has Responsibility To “Keep Shit Crunchy” [Billboard]
Jay Reatard Thinks Pains of Being Pure at Heart is Boring and Therefore Hates Entirety of Brooklyn [Brooklyn Vegan]
Bring a Can of Squirt and See Girl Talk For Free (Wait, They Still Make Squirt?) [Pitchfork]
Nine Inch Nails’ Final Tour Announced – Four Confirmed New York Dates in August [Brooklyn Vegan]
Most Banal News Story of the Day: Panic at the Disco Re-Rename Themselves Panic! At the Disco [Idolator]
Scottland’s The Swell Season Record Announce New Album The Strict Joy [Spin]
Shellac(!), Crystal Castles(!), and Sufjan Stevens (!!!!) Added to All Tomorrow’s Parties New York [Brooklyn Vegan]
Leonard Cohen Feels “Hallelujah” Has Been Covered Too Many Times; Meanwhile, Some Highschooler Covers “Hallelujah” For Girlfriend [NME]Leon
Dinosaur Jr.’s Farm Recalled For Rocking Too Hard; Causing Deafness [Pitchfork]
Jay-Z Possibly To Release Book of Lyrical Explanations [Prefix]
Madonna Performs With Sunn O)); Picture is Unbelievably Awesome [Tripwire]
compiled by Max Sebela
July 17, 2008
Girl Talk Goes Free with “Feed the Animals”
Using Radiohead’s model from In Rainbows, Girl Talk has released another digital pay-what-you-want album called Feed the Animals. On June 19, Gregg Gillis, the remix artist behind Girl Talk, distributed the sample-based album from his label’s Web site, Illegal Art.
Anyone can visit Illegal Art online and download Animals for free in 320 kbps MP3 format. However, fans who do not pay for Animals are confronted with a list of reasons to explain their stinginess. Some of the reasons offered include “I can’t afford to pay,” “I don’t value music made from sampling,” and “I don’t believe in paying for music.”
On the other hand, people who choose to pay for the album are compensated with more than MP3s. For $5, the purchaser can download Animals in lossless-audio FLAC files, in addition to a MP3 file of Animals devoid of track breaks. People who are willing to pay $10 or more will receive those benefits plus a physical copy upon its release in September.
In the Girl Talk tradition, Feed the Animals sounds like a radio flipping among FM stations over the last 30 years. The album consists primarily of the latest pop music and hip-hop anthems, along with plenty of old throwback samples. Gillis samples from musicians such as Snoop Dogg, M.I.A., Avril Lavigne, Weezer and Jimi Hendrix. Fans even started a Wikipedia page to catalog the astounding number of samples used in Animals.
by Ben Benson
