When I did Night Ripper, it was more like these are all the good ideas I have - if it lasts 40 minutes that’s it. Where with the new one, it could have been 90 minutes, if I’d wanted it to, but it was more picking and choosing.

I also think I’d established a sound with Night Ripper, and I think with that album it was more of a technical achievement, where I wanted to put music together specifically enough in a way that people may have not heard before. But I think going into the new one, it was like I’ve established that, and it’s cool. So I can kinda focus on like the musical end of things and just make the most enjoyable record I can possibly think about making.

SFBG: How many new songs do you play at each show? And are you going to test out new material tonight?

GT: Yeah, even the day after I finished Feed the Animals, the show I played the next weekend I had new material ready. I mean, it’s often just small little things - often times just like 30 seconds or something like that. I think even once I’ve established something on the record people know it, and I like to play with that and remix that remix. So someone will know something from the album really well, and I like to take that and recontextualize it and even mix up different elements from the album. The last release was an always-evolving piece of music. It’s just a big chunk of samples, and it is kinda always changing around. Even night to night, if I try and play the same thing, it’s always kinda different.

SFBG: Do you have any stylistic changes you’re planning for the next album?

GT: I never really look down the road like that. I think with every album I work bit by bit by bit and sometimes I’ll work on something for weeks and think it sounds cool and not be able to introduce it into the show at all. So a lot of the ideas just kinda naturally evolve in a way where I don’t make a decision. I make a decision over the course of two years - it just slowly starts fading into that direction.

I’d like to get back into writing individual songs out of samples, as opposed to albums. The past few albums have been very linear. There hasn’t been much repetition - it just keeps going on one tangent. I’d like to get back to having repetition a little bit more, kinda like a chorus that you go back and forth through.

SFBG: Do you feel like your work as an engineer affected how you create your music?

GT: Not on a very surface level - just kinda the way you approach problems in general. With engineering it gets your mind thinking in a certain way. You get really used to working in a very meticulous nature - just having a thing you want to solve and just working piece by piece by piece and just focusing on a very small element of that for days or months. And that’s kinda the way I work with my music - just work on the smallest little bit and eventually it will blossom.

SFBG: People have suggested that your work blurs the line between modern producer and musician. What do you think about that? Have you ever thought of producing an album? Or considered learning to play a traditional instrument?

GT: I am really interested in blurring that line. It is one of the most exciting things that’s happening. It is like a live electronic concert that is based on samples. But to a lot of the younger audience, or even people who are less familiar with electronic music, I don’t know if they necessarily think about the fact that they are watching a guy do a sound collage on a computer as a live act. I don’t think people really take a step back and say, "This is actually kinda weird, what I’m witnessing, and being a part of, and being a fan of." So, I love that.

Even in my band prior to Girl Talk I was heavily involved in sampling, and to me this is [pause for effect] my instrument - you know the sampling. I like the idea of producing. I’ve done beats and stuff for my friends, but that would be a side-project. I feel like this will always be the focus. And I feel like this is my making of original music.

SFBG: I know that you’ve also remixed songs. Do you consider that a different kind of work?

GT: Yeah, and I’ve been kinda shying away from that. I started working with a friend of mine, named Frank Mussara, on a project called Trey Told 'Em and we did a few remixes together. Mainly, because when people ask me to do them as Girl Talk it kinda forces you to work within parameters you wouldn’t normally work within.

A lot of times they’ll ask you not to use samples, or they want it to sound like this or that, or you’ll give them something, and they’ll say, "I thought there was going to be more rap vocals on this," or "I thought it was going to be more uptempo" or whatever, which is cool, which is more like a collaboration, which is more like they’re paying you to do a job as opposed to making an art.

You know, with all of my albums, I’ve never had to change them in any way for anyone. I just produce them the way I want them to sound, and then the label puts it out. So kinda like dealing with that level of bullshit is not totally appealing to me. I understand other people doing it. I think it’s cool - it’s just that if I’m gonna do a remix I want to make it sound like what I want it to sound like. I hate for it to be like, "We’re going to pay you X amount of money and then you have to do this job for us." It just seems kinda foul.

SFBG: All of your work is done with technology that is pretty recent - 10 years ago this might not have been possible. What do you think about that?

GT: Yeah, it’s exciting to be trail-blazing in any way. I do think you could’ve done this prior to 10 years ago, but in just a very different fashion. It might have taken 10 times the amount of time, or something like that.

Some of my earlier work was heavily based on the processing of sounds and using computer programs to do that. But I think with the new stuff it’s really a cut-and-paste exercise. I like the simplicity of it. Where it’s like, if you could get your hands on these actual instrumental sources, and things like that, then technically in the '60s you could’ve done this - I’m kinda interested in that, too.

There’s a lot of new software and technology that comes out, and I’m usually not interested in that, actually. I’ve kinda found what I like to work with, and I’d like to stick with that. And probably because of that, there is going to be some young guy who is going to make way more amazing shit, exactly the way I’m doing, like next year, which I’m positive of, but I’ll just be happy in my ways, and I’ll be like 50 years old using the same piece of software from 1998.

SFBG: Do you have any predications for what’s next?

GT: I’m interested in someone making an album who has traditional musical training and can also do sample-based stuff. An album like Feed the Animals that is interspersed with original guitar work and singing and then just kinda blurs the line completely enough so that you wouldn’t really know when something is sampled and when something is not, even though it be like an Elton John piano part next to a guitar that sounds familiar but is actually just a riff referencing AC/DC or something like that.

I would love for someone to completely blur the lines, and score a number one hit where it’s based on a lot samples but there’s like a lot of original input, and really put it into perspective: how the similarities between using an instrument in your influences vs. using a sampler in your influences. They are relatively similar, but I don’t think people necessary see that though.

SFBG: I suggested before that I thought maybe your music couldn’t have been made 10 years ago, and I’ve thought a lot about how perhaps your music reflects how we experience the Internet, how we read these days, where we do jump from multiple thoughts. In a way that is different from the way my parents read. Do you think people are really drawn to your music because of that? That there is an overall statement that your music might be making about our times?

GT: Yeah, yeah, to a degree. I mean, it’s kinda like the lack of attention, but it kinda works in two ways 'cause you can view the music as something that’s like jumping, having multiple thoughts crammed in at once and jumping from thing to thing to thing to thing to thing, and it reflects having eight Internet browsers and your cable TV on and your cell phone and all of that.

But also with the albums - they are 50-minute pieces of music, and they’re intended to be listened to as one whole thing. So I am also aiming to create albums that these kids will actually sit down and listen to as a whole album, which is kinda rare. So I think it kinda works in both dimensions.

You'd think this stuff is such an overload of material that is edited so quickly. There’s more of an influence from my background in electronic music. I really like electronic music that is just blazing through a crazy solo on a guitar. On a computer, it’s like chopping up a beat so specifically, but it still flows. It’s kinda like that’s how you wail on the computer. So that’s kinda my influence going through.

I feel like I do have a good attention span and I don’t know if the music really reflects my listening habits in any way. But the way other people perceive it, I don’t really know. I could see that. I don’t know. I’m positive that people out there evaluate this music on completely different terms than those that I used to create it, so I could see that absolutely being a factor, and people used to being like go- go-go, and my music is kinda on that level.

SFBG: Who are your influences? I’ve noticed that your Allmusic page doesn’t list any influences, and maybe that is part of why it is harder to pin-point your music, because it hasn’t been done before.

GT: I feel like there have been so many predecessors, so many people doing amazing work way before me. First of all, everyone I sample I’m a big fan of, and those are all people that influenced my work. And then I grew up listening to a lot of hip-hop like Public Enemy, De La Soul, NWA, and all that music back then. When you heard Paul’s Boutique it was like a giant collage that cuts away, so I’m really into that stuff as well.

I kinda came from a more experimental realm like John Oswald and all of these people making far-out music based on samples, kinda pushing the boundaries of originality and copyright and all those things. Kid606, who is from San Francisco, is probably one of my biggest influences. I think when I got going kinda doing my own music, I was kinda doing it like in this style of the more underground, avant-garde guys, and I liked what they were doing. But I always wanted to push it in a more pop direction, which is where I think it has gone now.

SFBG: Well, I’ve heard about some of the first shows you would do, and how you’ve changed your style to be more concert-oriented, I guess, to be a large party. Can you tell me how you developed your concert style?

GT: Yeah, I think it’s kinda fallen back on theatrics a little bit - I say this as these guys are loading up these T-shirts with these things [glow sticks].

But I think back in the day it was never really a party. It was always a matter of presenting something that was very visually entertaining. I like the idea of me playing on a laptop but it being a very over-the-top concert. Putting on like a Michael Jackson-size spectacular. It was never anything near that, but I always had that in my mind. But we used to have like skits, outfit changes, and all sorts of different things like that. And I think as the music started to become more accessible and people started rolling out to the shows, I always liked framing it as a concert. That is where I’ve always felt comfortable.

That’s why I’ve always had bands who come and play with me. It’s not just like a DJ – it’s like here’s this act that does music and, here’s this act that does music, and then here’s Girl Talk who does music. So I kinda just stuck with that over the years, having a distinct beginning and ending and actually performing, getting into the crowd and getting people onstage. And I think as the music became more accepted I could rely less on like putting together a visual show and more on creating a party atmosphere.

I think some of my favorite shows were always like house parties where I just show up and play on the floor, and it’s like, why can’t this be like at the clubs, and that’s what I try and do now. But since the size of the shows has gone up a ton I’ve brought along some of my friends to do interesting things, and you know, if you have the resources you might as well take advantage of them.

SFBG: Who comes up with the different theatrics you do?

GT: These days it’s these two guys, Thu Tran and Kristov B, and then this all started at Lollapalooza this year. I went to a college right next to their college, the Cleveland Institute of Art. I went to Case Western, and so I’ve known them for a long time, and it was kinda like I knew we were going to play festivals. So I say, "What can we do to create a visually interesting show?" I wanted it to be like a party, but I don’t want it to be like a thing that is like you’re so blown away by the visuals that you’re standing. I still want you to be able to dance and they’ve kinda developed a lot of the ideas… like toilet paper guns.

I feel like the way we’re heading on this tour is just the best direction. It’s more or less creating the atmosphere for what is going to go down. I feel like the show would be similar whether or not this existed or not, but this is like the icing on the cake for me.

SFBG: If someone wanted to throw a party what advice would you give to them?

GT: I would say get a lot of alcohol. I would say get tons of drugs. I would say get lots of different age groups. I would say have as diverse a crew as possible. I’d say babies. If you have a party and there is a room with 10 babies, that’ll set it off. Everyone will love that forever.

And possibly a waterslide, maybe a Jacuzzi, maybe one basement with some fireworks or something like that. You know it depends on what you’re friends are into. I like to listen to older music, so I’d suggest throwing on some Kingsmen. Just fire it up Animal House style and do your thing.

SFBG: When you are performing live, what does then entail? What do you do?

GT: It’s a whole bunch of different loops. When a drum beat is going there could be like four distinct loops - there could be a hand clap, a kick drum. Like right now, we’re hearing this song. This could be a melody, vocals, different levels of beats, anytime you hear a change, that’s me moving from one piece to another, and then I usually prepare more material than I want to play.

So I kinda mix and match around. The general idea of this matching is that I like to have that set but the actual flow of it I like to improvise based on what’s going on. Yeah, certain nights sound really different. For some reason, last night, I played a very similar set to the rest of the tour, but it lasted 45 minutes longer. It’s just that certain nights it flows way different.

SFBG: Do you have a preference for smaller shows or bigger shows?

GT: I used to always want to play strictly as small as possible, to keep it as intimate as possible. But I think that I’ve kinda gotten over that, a little bit. As I’ve played so many festivals I’ve seen the value of a big show being kinda amazing. For me it used to always be about like everyone partying together, and that’s how I’d still like it to go now, but if more people come out, the more festive it can really be. I see value in both. Obviously I like playing for a small crowd, but if I play for 5,000 people it can be on a completely different level.

SFBG: When you’ve performed abroad have you found a different reception to your music?

GT: I know my push over in Europe just isn’t as big. People just aren’t as familiar there. So I don’t think it’s really a reflection of the music, or the performance, as much as it is a familiarity with what I’m doing. And also, this is just a theory of mine, but electronic music is more established over there, enough so that to be a DJ or to be a live electronic performer and to just be standing there, behind your equipment, is cool. Whereas, in the US, it’s not as widespread, so kinda what I’m doing, and what some of my contemporaries are doing, it’s almost like providing a solution for like the cliché of a stale electronic show.

I always try and get very physical, and get in the crowd, and I think over there it’s not as necessary 'cause they already have a formula that works. So when I get over there, and I get physical with the crowd, or start screaming on the microphone, people are just like, "What the hell is this guy doing? Why is he doing this? Why isn’t he just playing music and acting like a robot right now? Since that’s what we love in Europe."

So, yeah, there, that’s just kinda a theory, where it’s kinda like my style of performance is just a little bit more shocking there, even just for the dance world, ‘cause I know there is plenty of progressive crazy-ass sorts of things. But as far as the dance world, I think some of the festivals I’ve played over there, I don’t think people were really ever familiar with someone playing a computer and simultaneously trying to put on a show with it.

SFBG: You don’t think there might be a difference between people’s familiarity with the tracks you’re sourcing and sampling?

GT: Absolutely, but I mean most of the stuff I do is Top 40 music - a single over there may have gone to no. 30 on the chart whereas it may have gone to no. 5 over here. So different songs will get big over there. But a lot of the songs I reference are, like, worldwide, especially in Europe. But yeah, there are some different levels of familiarity - people understanding the songs in different ways.

I still feel like even tonight a lot of the younger audience - I will play a lot of the older music that I will be sampling - they probably haven’t heard a lot of the stuff. And it doesn’t really matter. I like to imagine that they’re thinking beyond that and thinking what am I gonna make out of it. So regardless of where the song comes from, whether I recognize it or not, it can be framed in a new way and it becomes a new form of music.

That is what I’m hoping for. I know the music is heavily dependent on people understanding it and referencing something from the past, but also ideally it’ll becomes transformative, so even if you’re not familiar with it you can still get down with it.

SFBG: Have any of the musicians you’ve sampled contacted you about your using their songs and given you either positive or negative responses?

GT: I haven’t heard anything negative. I had one of the ladies from Yo Majesty just hit me up on MySpace, just last week, and say that she liked how I used her track on the last album, and I’ve heard from a songwriter from Donnie Iris, Big Boi from OutKast, Sophie Hopkins' manager, everyone just kinda reached out and saying, "What’s up?" They are into it.

And I met Thurston Moore one time, and he didn’t know my stuff, but I told him what I do and he was like cool with it as a concept. So I think from a musician’s perspective, if you’re paying attention to music at all in 2008, you are probably very familiar with the idea that once you put something out there, it is going to be remixed. People are gonna make remixes for YouTube and make T-shirts with you on it and make collages of your face with the presidents. So I think for musicians and artists it is going to become very commonplace to have your work reinterpreted and sent back to you.

SFBG: How did you decide to make Feed the Animals a pay-what-you-like album?

GT: It was based on the Radiohead model, and the label that puts out my music threw that out there as an idea, and I thought it was cool. I thought it was kinda like, I know people can get it for free - why not acknowledge that. I try to be upfront. To be honest, right now I make a living off of touring - it’s not really from the album. So I wasn’t really concerned about the money.

I wanted to get it out there as quickly as possible and I knew the money could potentially be good, so it just seemed like a cool thing to do, and it seemed very appropriate for the times. This is my first album where people are actually like anticipating it and waiting on it, which I’ve never had. So, yeah, I knew people would be psyched to throw down a couple of dollars.

SFBG: Do you think it has any implications for future musicians?

GT: Nah, I think this is like a little temporary solution for 2008 for some bands. But I think if it became the norm everyone would get used to getting their music for free. So I think it couldn’t become the norm. I think the novelty of it right now is part of what makes it really successful. People are like, "Damn, Girl Talk is doing this new thing. I want to participate in it."

People get excited and say, "I paid you 12 dollars." They’ll send me a message. They’re excited to participate in this ‘cause it’s like a new thing, whereas if it was the standard no one would be like sending someone a message telling them how much they paid.

SFBG: One last question, you’ve said you like all pop music. Anything you don’t like? Anything you hate?

GT: I don’t like the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles. That’s the only one.