I'd be the first guy in line to say: mashups are so over. I mean seriously. Then I heard the latest record by American indie artist Gregg Michael Gillis aka Girl Talk and had to eat my words.

Gillis began making music while studying biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He produces mashup-style remixes, in which he uses often a dozen or more unauthorized samples from different songs to create a new song; The New York Times Magazine has called his music "a lawsuit waiting to happen," a criticism that Gillis has attributed to a mainstream media that wants "to create controversy where it doesn’t really exist," citing fair use as a legal backbone for his sampling practices.

It's a combination of the seamless way in which Gillis "mashes" the songs together, coupled with the songs he uses (Rod Stewart, Avril Lavigne, Metallica, Elvis Costello, Kelly Clarkson, and Wu Tang?!?) and in what order. It's just plain hot.

Check out his Wiki here and test drive some of his songs on his MySpace. His latest record -- Feed the Animals -- is available for whatever price you wish to pay here.

Make sure to check out tour dates on MySpace and if you're lucky, you'll get invited to the private show he's playing for SPIN magazine this Thursday, 05.28.09 at Hiro.

See you there??