Girl Talk Experimenting With Actual Songs For Next Album

Songs are what Gregg Gillis -- aka mash-up master Girl Talk -- is honing in on as he considers a new direction for the follow-up to 2008's lauded "Feed the Animals."

"I'm experimenting with different structures and different ideas," Gillis told Billboard.com during a conference call to advance his performance at this year's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. "I'm interested in working on individual songs -- kind of in the style I've been doing, but with actual repetition as opposed to linear structure and stuff like that, some elements with a verse-and-chorus sort of structure as opposed to going through 50 minutes of change-ups the entire time. I want to evolve and keep refining."

That said, Gillis added that he's not pushing any sort of timetable for a next album.

"I'm constantly working on material," he said. "Every day I cut up music. I try not to be concerned with what will be on an album. I just try to come up with small ideas I introduce into the (live) set, and I'll eventually get to the point where I say, 'OK, here's this slightly new sound. I feel like there's some evolution.' I'm interested in putting out music, and it's always nice to give people music."

Although he's been courted by other labels in the wake of his "Feed the Animals" success, Gillis said he's planning to stay with Illegal Art. "I feel like we're a team, like they're a member of the band," he explained. "It would feel insane for me to go anywhere else." But he's not sure yet if he'll repeat the pay-what-you-want program he used for "Feed the Animals," saying that while it's a good interim step "it doesn't work for a long-term solution."

Gillis said there's a possibility he'd also consider some live releases from his shows, and after appearing at last weekend's Coachella Music and Arts Festival he's starting to plot out what he wants to do a Bonnaroo, which may well include music from other artists on the bill.

"I won't go out of my way to sample an artist because I'm playing (at the same festival) with them," noted Gillis, who also performed at the 2007 Bonnaroo festival. "In the case of (Bruce) Springsteen or the Beastie Boys or Al Green, people I've sampled before in the past, in that case I would love to include (their music). There's lots of ideas floating around...I want to be as diverse as possible."

This year's Bonnaroo takes place June 11-14.