Electronic producer Girl Talk is best known for his mashup albums that came out in the second half of the 2000s. On Night Ripper, Feed the Animals, and All Day, he mixed classic pop and rock songs with the top hip hop and pop tunes of the day. Though the selection is dated by now, the variety and fluidity of the mixes still makes them exciting listens.
His new single “Trouble in Paradise” with Erick the Architect of Flatbush Zombies just passes the two-minute mark. The track’s only sample is the pulsing bass and some vocal snippets from Julian Casablancas + The Voidz’s “Take Me in Your Army,” which gives “Trouble in Paradise” a dark, synthetic sound. Erick delivers a passionate verse about over-policing and police violence, but spends the second half of the track saying the hook ad nauseam.
Girl Talk’s last release was 2014’s Broken Ankles EP, a collaboration with Philly rapper Freeway. Flatbush Zombies dropped their sophomore album, Vacation in Hell, earlier this month.
-Owen Murray