Illegal Art
2006
Night Ripper
About This Album
Gregg Gillis has been cutting up and gluing bits and pieces of songs together as a DJ in Pittsburgh since his 2002 debut, Secret Diary, an album that, though a lot of easily identifiable samples (the Price Is Right theme, for example) were used, was so delayed and skipped and glitched that it was too obfuscated to do much in the mainstream. Such is not the case with Night Ripper, however, which, thanks to Gillis's ability to draw from a myriad of musical sources (the names of the artists used, though not their songs, are listed in alphabetical order inside the liner notes, and in fact make up the entirety of the liner notes), can appeal to anyone who's heard the radio (particularly rap radio) in the past few years. Because of the recognizability of the pieces used, Night Ripper is a good tool for showing listeners unfamiliar with the art of sampling what a talented DJ can actually do; Gillis' favorite trick on the album is to play a long vocal track, preferably something from the Ying Yang Twins or Ludacris, over rock (be it classic, indie, or grunge) beats, which he speeds up or slows down as necessary. It's pretty impressive, and at first listen, it's pretty fun. On the opener, "Once Again," Luda's "Pimpin' All Over the World" moves into the Twins' "Wait (The Whisper Song)" over the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony," which then turns into Slim Thug's "I Ain't Heard of That" plus the acoustic guitar of Oasis's "Wonderwall," all of which ends with the Five Stairsteps' oft-sampled "O-o-h Child.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,12 and 13)

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