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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v5n41 (10/12/2006) » Section: Left of the Dial


Greg Gillis

The things I’d give to be a fly on the wall at one of Greg Gillis’ legendary, semi-nude live shows. The man known as Girl Talk is the reigning master of the mash-up, and if you aren’t the type to dance around solo in your living room (or wherever your speakers are the loudest), then his latest, Night Ripper, may be wasted on you. This is party record that beats all for fun and games and is arguably the best dance recording ever. Derivative though it may be, anyone who’d deny this guy is talented at what he does needs to ease the hell up. Night Ripper is what Negativland’s Mark Hosler once called “plunderphonica” at its all-time best. You get so much music you know by heart —along with some things you may not want to know and quite a few things you’re probably trying to forget, but who cares. Imagine all this on a recording that you’ll actually want to listen to over and over again: Micheal McDonald (yikes!) meets Mariah Carey, with Genesis, Oasis, the Pixies, 50 Cent, Wheezer, the Verve, Manfred Mann, Eminem, Alicia Keyes, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Slim Thug, Pharcyde, Nirvana, Nelly, Public Enemy, Nas, James Taylor, Paula Abdul, Arrested Development, Elton John, Biggie Smalls, Beyonce, Neutral Milk Hotel, Jefferson Airplane, Steely Dan, Missy Elliot, Gwen Stefani, Nin Inch Nails, Digable Planets, Kanye West, En Vogue, Better Than Ezra, Salt-N-Pepa, George Michael and so much more. It’s hard to pick a favorite track out of all this (and even harder sometimes to pick who’s on that favorite track), but I’ll leave you with this: From “Track 3,” lyrics from 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” and Nas’ “Hate Me Now” over the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” and Wheezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” as backbeat. Or “Track 9” which mashes Jay-Z “I Know What Girls Like” with the Waitresses classic “I Know What Boys Like.” It’s just great.



Sloan

It’s 2006. Canada’s, and possibly the world’s, greatest power pop band has been left with a sort of challenge in front it. Though they’d shown an undeniable knack for pop perfection that made them stars at home and a revered cult delicacy abroad, the four-headed songwriting colossus of Halifax, Nova Scotia had hit a wall after a decade smeared with pretty togetherness. For their seventh album, 2003’s Action Pact, the band turned to notable producer Tom Rothrock, who chartered career highwater outings for Beck and Elliott Smith. Highwater was not so much his case with Sloan however, as Rothrock steered them into base arena rock and undid their great quirks for an obvious star-making stab. (That same year, Australia’s Jet made the same sort of record as their debut, only a lot better.) There was no denying it: Action Pact was a failure on all accounts. It was an uneven, unsatisfying record that didn’t crack them to a bigger audience. So, Sloan cleansed the palate with last year’s singles collection reminding us all how goodthey can be, and the challenge was to wow us again with an album of new songs. The exclamatory word here is “”wow.” Not only has Sloan reared its sharp and shiny teeth again but they’ve done it with a record of no less than 30 songs that manages to clock in at a relatively lean 76 minutes. This self-produced (with Nick Detoro) affair brings the band back to a space where their ability to come together for pure, straight-ahead rock and roll and also indulge in individual meanderings toward the offbeat are true strengths. The result is a seamless record where songs effortlessly flow in and out of one another. “Who Taught You How To Live Like That?” is a perfect Sloan single, laden in laidback hook-heaviness. The Big Star by way of Wings song suite “Fading Into Obscurity” meditates on crumbling relationships, which is a theme spread across Never Hear. Sloan’s patented band of exuberant, fist-pumping riffery is found throughout, especially on numbers like “Living With the Masses” and ”Ill Placed Trust”. Texturally, this is the band’s finest album as they broadly brush together elements of classic rock, Beatleisms, AM radio pop and art rock, for a cohesive and thoroughly enjoyable whole. Hell, there’s even the Minor Threat-like muscle of the aptly titled “HFXNSHC” (Halifax, Nova Scotia hardcore) bruising in.





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