Public Chalk

“Hey, hey now. I know we’re having a good time, but you can’t jump around the stage so much. I’m not Girl Talk, I actually have vinyl up here.” That was what Z trip told the crowd when his music was skipping at Austin’s fun fun fun fest last year. Oh, poor Girl Talk…

Well, this year at Rothbury I went to see Girl Talk and yes, his concert is a spectacle. Who wouldn’t have a good time with toilet paper guns and 75+ on the stage (usually) while listening to songs you blared in the high school parking lot? At this show there was the inevitable MJ cover, but then came my exit song: Lil Jon’s “Wiggle wit it.” While breaking into the dance move I perfected in college, I realized I was not at a frat party and that this DJ is merely behind a Mac pressing buttons in a precise manner, making it look like he’s performing brain surgery. The thing about mash ups is that anyone who loves music can find two songs they love that would bring out the best in each other – but it’s the kind of songs and the genre of songs that matter. I could throw in a high school “Friday night going out” mix in a boom box then play “KA + ZTA mixer” mix on my laptop and I would be Girl talk. Seriously , though.

Don’t get me wrong I think DJs are amazing and the work it takes to perfect their skill is triumphant but something about Girl Talk bothers me because I think there are a lot better ones all over the place… like Z Trip. Girl Talk always picks his songs out of a mainstream, popular top hat, while Z Trip travels back in time and confiscates two songs that he likes - not songs that a 15 year old, KISS FM listener would ever know. That is why my friends, to me, Z trip wins!