gus gus - where are they?

I just got in from seeing Gus Gus live in Oslo. So at what point did they become the greatest band in the world? Amazing scenes. And one of them was dressed like the Big Lebowski.

I just got in from seeing Gus Gus live in Oslo. So at what point did they become the greatest band in the world? Amazing scenes. And one of them was dressed like the Big Lebowski.

They were always amazing from the get-go.

Saw Gus Gus live in 99 and they were amazing then. One of the best electronic live shows I've ever seen.

Jealous, much... I listen to Arabian Horse and imagine it live.

I had a few single by them in the mid 90s and they just seemed like some downtempo 4AD, trip hop thing.

More than happy to be proved wrong. Need to go and see them live again as soon as.

Polydistortion and This Is Normal are now on Spotify!

Polydistortion was sounding just right this morning.

Biggi from Gus Gus produced the new John Grant album, or at least the electronic tracks, and it sure sounds like it. Great unexpected alliance.

Does the recent 4ad book have anything interesting to say about them?

Okay I had no idea about the connection to the John Grant album, no wonder how much I loved it

Trying to compile a home-made "best of". Heavily weighted to the first two albums, so far.

I hope you're considering "David" and "Call of the Wild" from Attention

also "Hateful" from 24/7

Was thinking "David", "Desire" and "Attention" from that album, I think. At least one of those is likely to end up edited off a CDR-80 though.

obv not "David" tho

"over" from arabian horse for sure

There's a bit about Gus Gus in the 4AD book but the writer obviously thinks the label had lost its way by that point and I can't remember any interesting revelations.

btw adam is completely OTM re: "Over"

I was ambivalent about it when it came out (or not in the Gus Gus zone) but Arabian Horse really is very good.

Fairly certain nothing from "Forever" will make it onto this best of. A surprising amount of Arabian Horse might, though.

Not delving into remixes and alternate versions too much (as am on a time schedule - a holiday) but the GiGi Galaxy version of "Barry" and the Roy's Lady Soul mix of "Ladyshave" will be on there.

CDR80 - Draft
Polyesterday
Gun
Believe
Barry (GiGi Galaxy)
Remembrance
Ladyshave (Roy's Lady Soul Mix))
David
Over
Very Important People
Selfoss
Within You
Changes Come
Desire
Blue Mug (Demo)

Good selection. I'd add this remix from Forever

http://youtu.be/tATWv_jU400

Loving Arabian Horse so much that I'm bemused that I owned but didn't get into it when it came out.

Mexico is out today and it's sounding great. Haven't noticed Earth much so far though.

Read somewhere that Arabian Horse is Gus Gus's and Kompakt's best-selling album. Does that seem plausible?

Any thoughts on Mexico?

I want to listen to Mexico. I will pick up a physical copy soon. Can't imagine Arabian Horse selling more than The Field, Gui Boratto or the first Immer. They all seemed to have a lot more exposure than AH. Unless there is a market I'm not familiar with.

arabian horse is a masterpiece imo but mexico didn't grab on first listen, must try harder

yeah mexico owns too. seeing them week after next, i hope it is exactly like that youtube of "believe" that is the best video on the internet

Mexico is missing something, for me.

Enjoyed this though:

http://boilerroom.tv/recording/gusgus/

I've been playing Mexico quite a bit. A few songs aren't all that me but Obnoxiously Sexual, Another Life, Crossfade and God Application are all pretty good. Looking forward to seeing them on Friday.

Anyone keeping up with them? There was a new album this week, apparently.

Feel it's been downhill from Arabian Horse. I've listened to the subsequent albums, but never a second time. I wonder whether they changed or I did.

Ha, yes. I've had that thought.

New one is OK but the vocals are all Daniel I think and they're better with a bit
more variety of voices as on AH.

i listened to Mexico a lot when it came out but find i rarely want to come back to it. Arabian Horse remains a masterpiece though, not a single weak track (even Magnified Love has some redeeming qualities).

i'm liking the latest (Lies Are More Flexible) a lot. it seems more subdued? like it's a winter album while Mexico was a summer album. and while some tracks are closer to Mexico (continuing the tradition of using perhaps the most boring track as the title track) Featherlight / Lifetime / Fuel would all fit on AH. Featherlight is beautiful, in the same manner Seamoss is but with vocal.

agreed on variety of voices! - while John Grant can replace Högni there are times on Fireworks and Lifetime where you can almost hear Earth bits here and there.

ha, Selfoss, not Seamoss!

bumping this because "Gun" is a really, really great song

Oh, I do love Gus Gus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3mwdn0rYjA

Siri, show me a video indebted to "Windowlicker" that is more restrained but more unsettling

Yes, that.

the album must be getting close! iirc correctly, Biggi said in an interview they were going to release 5 or so tracks before the album, and we now have:

Higher
Stay The Ride
Our World
Love Is Alone

loving all the new stuff. my comment above about Lies being a winter companion to summer Mexico - Biggi said something very close in the same interview, they had a bunch of more introvert / darker tracks, and Mexico (he didn’t name it but that’s what he likely was referring to) was the extrovert stuff they decided to release at the time.

and this collab with Bjarki is beautiful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjMyzCIe3PY

Strange. I love Gus Gus but feel like I've completely lost touch. Turns out that I've only missed "Lies ... ". "Love Is Alone" has sucked me back into their world.

i still regard the Attention - Forever - 24/7 run as aimless experimentation that resulted mostly in misses (with a few really great tracks), but feels like once they crystallized their sound on Arabian Horse, they’ve been following it to great results.

that's funny--arabian horse felt like a peak to me with diminishing returns after, but maybe i just never found a way into those later records. "love is alone" is great tho.

AH is still their greatest album, but Mexico and Lies are both very coherent and listenable albums, which can't be said about Forever / 24/7 which feel like half baked demos at times

Just playing Selfoss/Arabian Horse/Over and, yeah, that was an incredible version of Gus Gus.

Drunkenly re-reading this thread and ...

"I really thought they were going to be the new Underworld."

Yeah, this. I thought they were going to be fucking massive.

I also enjoyed reading this:

"I doubt I'll hear another album as obsessively designed as Arabian Horse from this year. Every surface is sandblasted aluminium, with but a few cues to the listener that mnml/tech house is another shape of folk music. Highly recommended for fans of Luomo."

And pleased to have found my old best of track list. Had forgotten about that.

was there a poll on AH? if not we should do one!

That playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/56sbweOgHClknuVP4utGw8

Hadn't quite realised that I was so pro-Polydistortion and then Arabian Horse.

Likely to have been compiled while messy and open to the idea that other tracks are better.