I love Girl Talk and have multiple albums.

Obā-san

This one is messed up. I'm pretty sure it's an issue with the recording/download, but if it isn't an error, I HATE that I spent any money on this. It is impossible to listen to! I listen to Girl Talk (almost exclusively) when I workout and can't listen to anything from this album! Amazon, can you see if there is a recording error on this and allow us to redownload so that it's something that can actually be listened to?

Simply put - don't buy this CD.

In a time long ago, before mash-up was anywhere close to what it was today - this may of been an intriguing album.

But as all the other reviewers pointed out, different then Greg's latest efforts - this CD is basically un-listenable.

I don't fault Girl Talk. Relevant to the music at the time and the glitch scene in general, this may of been an interesting listen.

But today, with the hindsight we now have, this CD appears to be something that never should of been recorded and released.

Save your money and support this amazing artist in a different way.

Oh my God, I can't believe how right all the other reviews are. I'm listening to "What If..." right now and cringing as I write this. In fact, I'm going to have to finish this review ASAP so I can cut this track short. This album sounds like a half-finished bunch of mixes--like Girl Talk was working on it, lost interest, and just published a bunch of random nonsense that grates on your ears exactly (as a previous reviewer compared this to) like a skipping cd. Awful, awful, awful (but Night Ripper still rules). Now, where is my delete key for these terrible MP3s?

You too can make a CD just like this. Take any good musical CD and then whack it with a hammer a few times, drag a screwdriver over the surface, take a knife and cut deep grooves into the vinyl, and then play it. Your new creation will sound JUST LIKE this CD.

Like all others before me I will say that the other ablums are good, and "Feed the Animals" is classic and brilliant, but this CD is absolute trash. I think a 5 year old with a computer could make a better album. It literally hurt my ears. I just hope others will take the review seriously and not get this album, it is straight up wrong.

I skimmed over the other reviews before buying this, saying how good Girl Talk's other CD's were, and how bad this was. I figured, it could not possibly be as bad as what some are saying. After listening to it, I can't imagine any record label putting this out. It is un-listenable. Do not buy this unless you really can't believe the reviews without hearing it for yourself. This CD is a joke.

I will be the first to say that Girl Talk's "Night Ripper" is simply incredible, and it never seizes to amaze me everytime I listen to it, which is approaching the thousands.

This obsession led to a understandable Girl Talk high, prompting me to order this album.

To be honest, I spent the first hour of owning it testing the CD in every disc playing device I owned, making sure that my ears weren't deceiving me. I was convinced the disc was severely scratched or damaged. However, I was completely wrong. The tracks are supposed to be like that.

One of the most annoying things I can think of is a cd skipping, killing a mood. This entire album is intentionally like that, and it's repulsing.

Purchase Night Ripper, which is nearly perfect, but under no circumstances purchase this album.

This is damn near unlistenable. It won't ever be played again. It's like they took what might have been a good mix/mash and destroyed it on purpose by sending through some assinine chain of effects boxes. There's so much distortion and bit-rate manipulation that you can't tell what's going on underneath. And that's the problem, you can't hear the music. Art is art, whatever, but this just isn't fun to listen to. It's not thoughtful, playful, deep, or anything else, it's noise for the sake of noise.

I gave Night Ripper 5 stars but I can't in good conscience recommend this whatsoever.

I will agree wholeheartedly with the reviewer. I have Night Ripper and Unstoppable in addition to this and I consider Secret Diary to be the worst of the three. There are several sections where I thought, "Why would he do that?" 

When I tried to play the tracks while importing them, I couldn't stand to listen to it because I thought it was garbled and skipping because of the importing process. I then realized that the CD was SUPPOSED to sound like that. Ouch. 

While I am glad to have this CD as part of the Girl Talk collection, I doubt I will listen to this whole CD straight-through more than three times in the rest of life.

Obā-san

As both a fan and reviewer of various styles of music, I tend to look for the positives of albums before dwelling on the negatives. For that reason, I will usually find something to like on even those LPs which are heavily criticized by most, thus lifting that album above the minimum rating possible. It may be a catchy chrs hr or a mscl hk tr --- bzzz ---- bppp... pshhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Oooh, I'm sorry, but it appears as if this review suffered a glitch at the end of the introductory paragraph. How annoying. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if readers simply clicked on the "back" button or entered another website page into their browser. I mean, a "glitch" can never be a good thing, can it? By definition, a glitch is something which "interferes with the efficient working of a system". I'm certain everyone has encountered one, whether it be on their computer or television. So why would anyone in their right mind think a glitch could be a positive when it comes to music?

Yet, "glitch" is indeed a musical sub-genre. For those who are unitiated to this lack of common sense, wikipedia defines it as "a genre of experimental electronic music that is characterized by a preoccupation with the sonic artifacts that can result from malfunctioning digital technology, such as those produced by bugs, crashes, system errors, hardware noise, CD skipping and digital distortion". And we wonder why our parents believe music was better in their day!

Girl Talk - who is actually one man; Greg Gillis - is an American mash-up DJ who later received critical acclaim for his 3rd and 4th albums. Thankfully, by that time, there was very little glitch involved (at least at the forefront) in his compositions. However, for those unlucky enough to lay their ears on his debut album titled 'Secret Diary', that is very much not the case as the LP is (both literally & figuratively) one big glitch in itself.

Things actually begin with 30 seconds of relative normality as 2 Unlimited's 'Get Ready For This' kicks things off fittingly. But then the glitches begin and it's all downhill from there as the album bleeps, skips and scratches its way through ten tracks of absolute garbage. At least the opening 'Lets Start This Party Right' has the decency to only last for a little over 2 minutes, unlike others which cross the 4 and 5 minute barriers, resulting in this abhoration totaling 40 minutes all up!

Looking for positives is a tough task. Familiarity through the sampling of The Jackson 5, Jay Z, Destiny's Child & Papa Roach adds something, while I guess the use of the Price Is Right theme in conjunction with Jay-Z on 'Unicorn vs Gravity' was a nifty idea. But let's get things straight; these minor positives in no way make up for tracks such as a 6 minute Master P and New Kids On The Block collaboration that may cause seizures. And if you think that is bad, try getting through 'Fun Have To' and 'Time To Get Glamorous', which are quite possibly the most unlistenable headache inducing pieces of (for want of a better word) music ever to be recorded. And they're each 5 minutes long! 

Sometimes confusing and disorienting pieces can be a long-term positive once a listener gets their mind around the music on offer. But when it gets as dizzying and unlistenable as 'Secret Diary' does, then only those who actually want a headache will be left. That's not even mentioning that the constant switches in volume throughout gets f**king annoying to say the least. In fact, the most effective aspect about this debut is its title. Both a secret and a diary should remain personal. It's a shame this album did not.

MetaFour

Congratulations, random Amazon reviewers, you've just convinced me to give this album a listen.

Sredni Vashtar

MetaFour said:

Congratulations, random Amazon reviewers, you've just convinced me to give this album a listen.

Salix Babylonika

at least I'm not the only living person who likes GirlTalk's more recent albums better than his old ones.

people never give Party Supplies this kind of grief.

Hexartes

I have no idea what I've just read.

Sredni Vashtar

^^ I like what I have heard of Girl Talk's more recent material. But I also like what I have heard of his older material. The appeal is different between them.

Imipolex G

MetaFour said:

Congratulations, random Amazon reviewers, you've just convinced me to give this album a listen.

MetaFour

I am downloading Secret Diary right now.

Imipolex G

I am listening to some of the tracks on the YouTube

This is a thing

Honestly, though, it just reminds me of Frank Zappa

MetaFour

First two tracks are really cool, but "Ffun Haave To" actually is as hard on the ears as the reviews made it out to be.

Haha, the pitch-shifting on "What If..." is great.

Sredni Vashtar

Dirty Pillows said:

Honestly, though, it just reminds me of Frank Zappa

Zappa was very ahead of his time, and both of them were very into the whole absurd juxtaposition thing.

Imipolex G

It also reminds me of (inevitable comparison) "Revolution 9"

Obā-san

the last track is really Oval-y in places and is def my favorite off the album

which is really great because it is made p much entirely of shitty nu-metal samples IIRC

MetaFour

I finished it and immediately went to listen to Duke Ellington after. I don't know if I'll end up hanging onto Secret Diary, but I think it's a hell of a lot more interesting than the only other GT album I've heard, Feed the Animals.

Obā-san

really i like Unstoppable the best because it is overtly glitchy/splattery/microedity while still being party-able, as opposed to his later stuff that everyone likes which is all "woo look at me throw this rap acapella over this instrumental look at me"

that said i listened to that album for like a week straight when i first got it and it literally killed my attention span for a while