Gang Gang Dance LP

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

Not to mention it was like $3 jesus h

Ya rlly. If you're gonna burn money, it better be, like, a million quid or you're just taking the piss.

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

― Forget the rest / this breast test is best (Ówen P.), Saturday, June 11, 2011 1:36 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that's what kills me about these guys--there's essentially nothing likeable about them afaict but they're so damn good at what they do.

like in that video they're taping over all the logos, and then the other day i was searching for interviews and i found one where lizzi takes the writer to her favorite downtown boutique stores.

should go on tour w/ crystal castles

I seem to remember an interview from a few years back where they were complaining about not being able to make rent and stuff. Now they're burning money?

$3

their set from pitchfork is streaming right now. in case anyone else is inside right now. lizzie's bra seems to be half over her shirt and half under.

I was really impressed until the 15 minute dance spree around the stage

this shit is hot

crazy ethiopian jazz jam during mindkilla

that last jam was sweet

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

so, no more Gang Gang?

from his FACT interview

Gang Gang has been blown apart for the past year due to several 2013 factors but we are just beginning to get back to it and to figure out how to approach the next record. All we know is that the writing approach is going to be extremely future or extremely past. We are either going to try to write in way that is completely unlike what we have done for our most recent record, or we are going to do a massive rewind and take it way back to the start and approach it with a completely improvised recklessness. Both are very appealing to us. Our next record could sound like Albert Ayler or it could sound like Madonna.

Thought the point of GGD was that it should sound like Albert Ayler and Madonna.

i both vote and predict Madonna

music! is the healing force of the universe!

hey mr dj put some ayler on

hot track.

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cdn.beggars.com/fourad/site/images/releases/packshots/5acbbd596eea8.jpg

new album kazuashita out in june

( infirma terrae )
J-TREE
Lotus
( birth canal )
Kazuashita
Young Boy (Marika in Amerika)
Snake Dub
Too Much, Too Soon
( novae terrae )
Salve On The Sorrow

what have they been doing in the interim?