My recommendations 2006:Night Ripper by Girl Talk

Girl Talk: Night Ripper
Illegal Art: 5/9/2006

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Night Ripper is going to be at the top of many critics' lists this year. Greg Gillis, AKA Girl Talk, constructed Night Ripper entirely out of samples of popular songs. Some would argue that this is completely unoriginal, but that would be completely untrue. Unlike a lot of other mash-up artists, who combine two or three similar songs to highlight their similarities, Gillis takes pieces of dozens of very different songs to create something completely original. It's clear that Gillis loves music. He uses the most energetic and climactic chunks of songs - a great bassline, an infectious chorus, an effortlessly flowing rap verse - to show his audience exactly what there is about music to love. Night Ripper is something you can listen to over and over again in succession and never get tired of it, tapping your foot and bobbing your head the whole time.