The Avalanches - Since I left You
I have great memories of waking up early on beautiful, breezy Sunday mornings this past summer after going all-out partying the night before, being slightly hungover, and treating myself to a sunny bike ride and breakfast at La Madeline's on M St. And this album, stowed permanently on the iRiver, was always, always playing on such occasions.
This is excellent background music for whatever social occasion (barring maybe funerals) because, for lack of better wording, it's just fun. A few Australia-based turntable artists and live musicians intersperse their music among over 3,500 audio samples. And no, that number is not made up, take a listen and hear for yourself. This album flows from start to finish with the exception of the well-known single "Frontier Psychiatrist", which stands out a bit and is only slightly less masterfully blended in than the rest of the mixes.
Girl Talk - Night Ripper
Talk about putting the "party" in party mixes. I seriously cannot listen to this album without feeling the compulsion to dance - and that's saying a lot (but then again, I am obsessive compulsive). Pittsburgh, PA denizen Gregg Gillis is the solo artist behind Girl Talk, an act aimed at splicing up pop and well-known songs in bizarre ways that actually function well in the dance genre. Dance-compulsion aside, there's a lot of fun to be had in picking out the riffs, drum beats, one-liners, sound effects, and other instantly-recognizable bits from music culture over the past 3 decades. Where else are you going to hear the Buckwheat Boys mixed with Weezer, Biggie Smalls with Elton John, Three 6 Mafia with the Smashing Pumpkins, or Fleetwood Mac and the motherfucking Tootsie Roll work so well together? Night Ripper has the honor of being the first LP to make me laugh out loud, and several times at that. This is dance done by a music nerd, for music nerds. Enjoy.
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