Gang Gang Dance LP

i like several hot chip songs, i'm not a hater! his voice is decently buried here

Yes! I had such fears about how high his voice would be in the mix.

Still stuck on the earlier comment that describes this album as "ponderous." Gang Gang Dance are pretty much the NY equivalent of Basement Jaxx for fuck's sake. How many more one-off ideas do you need?

can't believe you guys needed to go as far as listening to the music to cosign my insight

insightful

After some driving last weekend I can confirm that this is a fantastic windows-down sunshine day album.

also good for running!

Listened to this; it is indeed awesome! My favorite track is actually "Adult Goth"--kinda reminds me of an Ace of Base that I would still be listening to...

http://drownedinsound.com/news/4142572-stream--gang-gang-dances-new-album-eye-contact

"Adult Goth" reminds me of 90s Marianne Faithfull

the lp smells so lovely & sounds so good.

~positive~energy~

probably the greatest interlude band in the world. last side is even lusher than the rest. romance layers has become my favourite. sacer is a toddler singing about cultural capital. there are so many reference points w/ this record starting to list them is ridiculous. much better than the previous album.

what i don't understand is this: how come it's so easy for me to love this band, and with animal collective i have to resist some urge to hate? they seem to be working in fairly related fields.

I also love GGD and can't stomach AC so there ya go. Perhaps it's the cloying tweeness?

xp I also wouldn't say this one is MUCH better than the last - the last one is pretty great.

I listened to this a couple of times on the stereogum stream over the weekend. Definitely a step toward a wider audience, but so rich and lush it just carries you away. I ended up loving the track that sounded like contemporary r&b and appreciated how the last track was a proper high-intensity finale. All in all a record I look forward to hearing in the flesh on a proper stereo.

The new live show is astonishingly good. Saw them last night and they really use the album as a jumping-off point for these ridiculous epic melting-pot jams. Chinese High was progged out to about three times the length with a twisty, chewy acid line and what sounded like a widdly keytar solo over the top and it somehow managed to sound amazing.

Also they know what they're doing with the funky influence - Mindkilla replaced the rave synths with XYLOPHONES and kept threatening to turn into Crazy Cousinz's Inflation. They also played one ridiculous piano-driven house tune that I've never heard before.

Yeh last night was immense. One of the new tracks is on the 4AD video sessions thing

xp- re: piano house tune If that's the one I'm thinking of they were closing shows with it on the St Dymphna tour. Don't think it's been recorded afaik. Kinda bummed that I missed them here a week or so ago.

They were so great at ATP on sunday. Otm about the funky influence.

This album better live up to expectations the way you're all talking about it. (Still can't quite get over that stupid name they have.)

Pretty sure you'll like it Ned.

could be my end of year fave based on first listen

altho at the same time idk if it's actually superior to the last album (maybe just by virtue of being dancier generally)

It's better than the last album.

mdc otm about ggd live - terrific terrific show

last two albums are v similar in quality for me - depends how much you prize songs qua songs cuz they haven't bettered "first communion" and "princes" in that regard. but then songs qua songs are not really the point w/ggd.

I think the second one is maybe a bit more... stoner-y than this one? Princes and First Communion and maybe House Jam excepted.

Sorry, St Dyphmna, I mean. No idea if that's the second album or not.

faintly dissapointed with this as a follow up... just me?

ok, but feels mostly a retread with less gutsiness, tunes and energy. feels overcooked.

lovin this tho the vocals really, really perplex me. my favorite bits are the instrumentals and when those wandering, improv-like vocals kick in i just end up spending all my time trying to block them out and listen exclusively to the background.

the synths & production on eye contact are just much richer, I think it feels much more epic. I can't get over how good the vinyl album smells. combined w/ the great art & production they're really taking this "everything" shit seriously.

I can't get over how good the vinyl album smells

THIS.

i was going to post a comment about how the record even SMELLS like 4ad (or what i imagine 4ad smelling like...)

Sorry, St Dyphmna, I mean. No idea if that's the second album or not.

Matt, this new one is their fifth iirc.

fun interview
http://www.dummymag.com/features/2011/05/12/gang-gang-dance-interview/

realised i didn't even know what the band looked like til today

Ned, what did you end up thinking of this?

I do really feel like we have plunged into this cohesive vortex and it actually has been a paradigm of oneness.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com/rock/images/derek.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com/rock/tufnel.htm&usg=__h3li9Nv3sQUjxlir3jNWCfXazfo=&h=180&w=175&sz=6&hl=en&start=0&sig2=M88YQ1DxG06OhlclV07rDg&zoom=1&tbnid=VFMuGDcnQeENjM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=140&ei=DP3aTc2gEqnv0gHB3f3PDw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dderek%2Bsmalls%2Bspinal%2Btap%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D606%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=369&vpy=286&dur=806&hovh=144&hovw=140&tx=60&ty=54&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0

When you take that bus....you get there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yjd1hLJSKg

now I am feeling these groups of young kids who are playing all the things that influence me, like Aaliyah and early Ashanti. You know, like all the singers I actually give a shit about. I mean I don’t listen to any new bands … I’m an R&B girl!

R&B girl, in the Burzum t-shirt, second from the left:
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/5/0/5/25050_photo.jpg

BTW I love this band and their new album is one of my favorites of 2011, just poking a little fun at the amount of taking-themselves-entirely-too-seriously NYC hipster horseshit being peddled in that interview.

i haven't really wrapped my head around the new one yet but these guys are just on another level

i haven't really wrapped my head around the new one

me either, the rest of that statement i'm not sure about. i like the sound & vibe, but little of it is sticking for me. taking more tips from kate bush than ever before? probably, but i wish she had some stronger melodies to go w the style. not dismissing this by any means, as it seems like an album that will reward investment, but it's a little underwhelming out of the gate. do like "mindkiller".

and boggle @ people calling these tracks "windows down summer jams" (or w/e). most of this sounds like late night candlelight to me.

probably, but i wish she had some stronger melodies to go w the style

I can see why you think this, given that we're used to singers being upfront and centre and the absolute focal point of the music but that's not really why she's there. I know that comparing female singers to one another is the most terrible misogyny, but it really is difficult to hear the way her voice swoops up and down without thinking of early Kate Bush. But really her function is closer to when Alison Goldfrapp would warble over Orbital tracks, it's about an emotive silver lining running through the sound rather than a melodic focal point in its own right.

What I like most about her vocals is how she mostly, from what I can tell, sings a string of syllables and only lapses into recognisable English with phrases that give the most evocative impact - "I care for you like a mother", "hush little baby don't say a word, mother's gonna buy you a mocking bird", "here I go, watch me roll", "lay your hat down" etc etc.

I'd say the most immediate thing about the record as a whole is its sense of peaks and troughs, kind of coasting through the slow jams and then suddenly being swept up in the white-knuckle ride moments. And also how natural it sounds - with these elements of punk and psychedlica and Asian pop and funky and grime and dubstep and 80s rnb all and Kate Bush and Liz Fraser all melting together - I can't think of another band who sounds like this, and I can't think of another band who could pull it off.

Never really got round to exploring the first two albums properly, but since seeing them live it's really helped me get a feel for the sound of this one. I love the moogy playskool synthwork on tracks like Chinese High for example. It's real sunshine pop, and I agree with Matt DC about the "white knuckle ride" thing, i.e. just when you think they're coasting, they suddenly and unexpectedly blossom into loveliness. As for her voice, it's as much an instrument and an essential element of the sound as opposed to a strong focal point, lending an Arabesque/Far Eastern quality to their tribal dance.

Don't be disingenous, Matt. It's not "most terrible misogyny" to compare the sound or quality of one female vocalist to another - it's misogyny to imply that female musicians (vocalists included) can *only* be compared to, and more importantly influenced by other female musicians (and a hugely limited set of them at that.)

I agree, though, that her voice works best as a texture, an instrument in the mix, a set of emotional layering rather than providing *the* focal point. The music surges about, no one piece more important than the other - or rather, the focus shifts from one to the other, which provides that sense of movement, of change, of being on a fairground ride from one bit to the next.

Yeah I was being tongue in cheek, given that Kate Bush is #1 in the list of lazy comparisons to make I kind of needed to cover my back on that one.

it's really weird actually reading the lyrics printed in the packaging

Printed lyrics? Just... why? I like not knowing, I think it would spoil it to hear them distinctly.

Kinda like MBV that way. That what you project you think they're saying is probably more important than what they sang.

given that Kate Bush is #1 in the list of lazy comparisons to make I kind of needed to cover my back on that one.

ah, it's okay, i went there first. you're allowed.

yeah the lyrics make you realise that providing that sort of focus/meaning is unwanted here really - as matt says it's all about piecing your own meaning together from the fragments you hear

This isn't really a new thing these days though, is it? Cocteaus, MBV, Animal Collective, Ariel Pink and dozens of other bands kind of thrive on keeping their lyrics ambiguous. Suits me fine as I'm not really a lyrics fan 90% of the time. Mind you, I really wouldn't want any of the above printing their lyrics on the inner sleeve.

when I did a mini-interview thing with Lizzi a few years back she said, iirc, that Kate Bush was her #1 vocalist, so YOU'RE OFF THE HOOK LADS.

Well I just saw a video of these guys burning some money at Primavera Sound Festival
They are one of my favourite live bands
But New Yorkers burning money makes me puke in my mouth