Five Songs On Shuffle, Volume 19

This is the nineteenth installments of my weekly blog entry series "5 Songs On Shuffle." I’ll put my iTunes on shuffle and blog about the first five songs that play.

"Just Friends" - Amy Winehouse Back To Black
This ska flavored throwback track from Amy's otherwise brilliant Back to Black album is one of the weaker songs on the disc. But it's still got a good sound and the usual confessional lyrics.

"Break Anotha" - Blake Lewis Audio Day Dream
My future boyfriend and American Idol runner up Blake Lewis didn't actually want to record this song, the first single from his debut album. It doesn't fit well in with rest of the album, this track is a funky, brassy Maroon 5 rip off and the other songs are mostly airy electro-pop. Still a great white funk track.

"La Tortura" - Shakira feat Alejandro Sanz Fijacion Oral Vol 1
Just because it's not in English doesn't mean Americans ignored this hot Latin dance track. Perfect hipshaking music, even if I have no idea what the lyrics mean.

"Night Owl" - Carly Simon The Best Of Carly Simon
My theme song! OK, not really, but whenever I hear it I think back to the days when I used to stay up 'til the wee hours of the morning. Beyond that, it's kind of a silly song.

"No Pause" - Girl Talk Feed The Animals
This is actually one of my favorite tracks from the mash-up master's latest, starting with Missy Elliot's "Work It" layered over Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait" and ending with Eminiem's rap from "Shake That" over Yael Naim's gentle piano from the Mac Air ad.

Review: Girl Talk - "Feed The Animals"

When it comes down to it, a mashup artist is like a readymade or collage artist. He or she takes pre-produced commercial products and twists it to his or her own artistic ends. On Feed The Animals, Pittsburg based artist Greg Gillis, under the nom de tune Girl Talk, layers one song on top of another, almost like an orgy involving every song on your iPod and mine, too.

Example: on "No Pause" Jimi Hendrix asks us to "excuse me while I kiss the sky" before Yael Naim tickles the ivories under Eminiem's rap from "Shake That Ass" turning a misogynistic rap about vomiting in a strip club into an almost religious experience. Later MIMS asks us if we "want it like this" while Karen Carpenter reminds us "you told me you loved me baby" before Metallica's guitars grind under Lil' Mama's ode to beauty products.

It sounds frenetic, but that's because it is. It's beautifully rapid-fire, stopping from time to time to slow it down, like when Radiohead backs Jay-Z on "Set It Off" or when the album ends with Journey's "Faithfully" propping up Andre 3000's pro-commitment rhymes from "International Player's Anthem" or Trina telling us "I Gotta Thang For You" over Fleetwood Mac guitars. I could go on, but why don't you just download it already? It's insanity of the highest degree, but what's wrong with that?

Name Your Price For The New Girl Talk Album - "Feed The Animals"

Head over to Illegal Art's website to download the new Girl Talk album, "Feed The Animals" Don't know who Girl Talk is? For shame! Pittsburgh DJ Greg Gillis mashes up everything from Thin Lizzy to Radiohead to Souljah Boy in one long party mix. It's insanity at level you may not be used to, small children and those with weak hearts may wish to avoid it. But the best part? You can download it in the new In Rainbows style, pay what you want! It's like eBay, only backwards. I just downloaded it, so I will give a full report later whether it's good or not.