Girl Talk
“All Day”
Illegal Art
Released: Nov. 15
8.5/10

It would take 2,200 words to simply list all the artists and tracks sampled in “All Day.” For a point of reference, this review has fewer than 300.

That’s undeniably impressive in itself. To make a listenable product is even more so, and to turn that into something enjoyable is almost unimaginable. Lots of mashup DJs try, but Girl Talk is the only one who manages to do it so seamlessly.

The sample pirate has done so for six albums now, and his last three (“Night Ripper,” “Feed The Animals” and now “All Day”) haven’t left anyone unimpressed.

It’s almost impossible not to enjoy, because it’s likely, at some point, one of your favorite bands will make an appearance.

Take for instance the leadoff track “Oh No.” Over the course of five minutes, Gillis manages to marry Jay-Z, Jane’s Addiction, M.I.A., The Ramones, N.W.A., The Doors and Black Sabbath. On the next, “Let It Out,” he races from Beck to Jim Jones to Snoop Dogg in about ten seconds. Girl Talk only continues the parade with names as varied as Aphex Twin, Miley Cyrus, Talking Heads, Third Eye Blind and Phoenix.

It’s an hour and 11 minutes of pure party anthems that never relent. Admittedly, “All Day” is basically another biannual update of the same record … not that I really mind.

And as most fans will tend to admit, nothing is ever as amazing as hearing Girl Talk for the very first time. For the uninitiated, it’s totally surreal hearing Radiohead and Jay-Z played over the top of each other. At this point, the rest of us aren’t expecting anything less.

— Joshua Boydston, psychology junior

Keith Urban
“Get Closer”
Capitol Nashville
Released: Nov. 16
7.6/10

Formula is at its aurally tastiest whenever Keith Urban puts out a new record, which he did just a year ago with “Defying Gravity” and last week with his eight-song album “Get Closer” — or as I’d like to call it, “Defying Gravity, Pt. 2: More Rocking Radio and More Heartaching Balladry.”

It’s pretty remarkable how much musical ground Urban always manages to cover in 60 minutes or less with his instrumental prowess and editing skills, but this abridged Urban record does the same in half the time.

Urban has always been about country-pop since he hit it big in Nashville, but he happens to be speeding down that musical road at 80 mph with the energy and charisma of a new Dodge Charger — that is, an Australian-born Dodge Charger.

All of his songs open with a banjo pick. The looped drum machine hits hard in the choruses. There are the hook-centric songs you can blast out the car windows that slowly build up to the chorus, such as the attractive “Put You in a Song” and the electric guitar solos of “Long Hot Summer.” There’s the heartfelt plea for love in sugary ballads like “All for You.”

Urban lets his soft-spoken and soulful twang loose in the power ballad “Right On Back To You” and his understated “Without You,” both apparently dedicated to wife Nicole Kidman, in which he puts his love for her and their daughter above everything else. His gratitude is accompanied by the romantics of a strumming banjo and gliding fiddle.

The Urban speed picks up again in puppy lovin’ of “Georgia Woods” and culminates in a soaring electric guitar solo, but the Urban wonder soars throughout the entire record.

Urban attributes this appreciation for his life to his newfound family.

“Nicole Mary, I continue to be brought to my knees by this love of ours,” he writes in a personal dedication to Kidman in the album’s liner notes. “I am in awe of how this blessed family we are creating stretches and fearlessly opens my vulnerable heart.”

It’s an enjoyable echo of Urban’s albums “Be Here” and “Golden Road,” but now the songs sound more authentic — not because his musicianship has improved or he knows even better how to write radio-friendly songs, but because his newfound happiness sounds more heartfelt than ever before. And that’s a nice change to hear.

— Alex Ewald, journalism sophomore