Gang Gang Dance LP

yes its vinyl only for now - beautiful gatefold cover!

NOT APPEALING, DUDE. FIND BETTER BANDS TO TRICK ME WITH.

jefferson airplane, screwed and chopped?

it's real cool
probably was my favorit until god's money came out

Gotta say their press release has my interest piqued:

GANG GANG DANCE SET TO RELEASE SAINT DYMPHNA ON OCT 21
Named after the patron saint of outsiders, taboo subject matter and general disorder, Gang Gang Dance have completed Saint Dymphna - a stunning follow-up to the critically acclaimed God’s Money. The album is set for release Oct 21, 2008 on The Social Registry in North America (and in the UK, Europe and Australia on Warp). Finally! After three years of complex and sporadic recording, complete with jetsetting, breakdowns, an acclaimed Whitney Biennial appearance, plus the Retina Riddim DVD+CD and RAWWAR EP, the band have yielded a true masterpiece to add to its canon. We couldn’t be happier to throw this one out and let the world become enamored again.

If you'’ve seen a Gang Gang Dance show since 2005, you know that Lizzi Bougatsos, Brian Degraw, Tim Dewit and Josh Diamond have taken an even dancier, inclusive direction that continues to emphasize the ritualistic elements of their music while upping the transcendent aspects. This is apparent (times ten) on Saint Dymphna. The record opens with “Bebey” – a preview of coming attractions that is like an organic, eastern Aphex Twin with spinning percussion, face-fuzz ambient textures and oral rebirth. The track melts into “First Communion,” which is a great representation of the new, more-accessible-than-ever version of the band. After a dreamy introduction, the unit pummels in with a truly global punch – we’re talking Brazilian guitars, punk snarl on the vocals and a beat that resembles the omnipresent sound of reggaeton flooding the NYC streets during summer months.

Blue Nile” touches on 80s techno, trip-hop, interstellar travel and Hot 97 R&B without really sounding like any of those things. “Princes” is the real shocker of the bunch. The first appearance of London-based MC Tinchy Stryder and his “Oh shit! Gang Gang!” toast will cause more than a few moments of “Did I accidentally switch records?” before the conclusion that this stuff is smashing apart genre conventions in a way that few bands have been willing to experiment with. The song plays like the weirdest Grime track (or the weirdest Gang Gang Dance track for that matter) you’ve ever heard. Either way, it re-emphasizes the group’s club potential, experimental success and beyond all, true understanding of good music no matter what label critics decide to obsess over on a given day.

The arc and trajectory on which Gang Gang Dance has propelled themselves since their inception at the turn of the century can only be described in terms of evolution. Four individuals with strong ties to the art community and almost boundless creative energy orienting themselves into a musical collaboration, the direction of which has been almost as unpredictable as it is focused. Their ambition and individuality did not go unnoticed through 2007 as they were approached by The Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art to be included in their 2008 biennial, an offer rarely extended to musicians. For the exhibition, the four again chose to incorporate visual manipulation into their performance; utilizing film projections, a number of participants dressed in ceremonial masks – all elements combining to create a spectacle that was by all accounts breathtaking.

Like God’s Money, Saint Dymphna is envisioned as a LP experience, although each track is more than strong enough to stand alone. The production is pristine cinematic headphone candy with 70s Eno intricacy and 00s Timbaland immediacy that will firmly hold your attention while Gang Gang Dance continue to push things forward. The album will be preceded by the Single “House Jam” that is backed with a remix of the track by Hot Chip, and accompanied by a free digital download of a remix by XXXChange. Highly recommended and well worth the wait!

Live Dates:
July 24th at M Room in Philadelphia, PA
July 26th at Bowery Ballroom in NYC
July 27th at Middle East in Cambridge, MA
Aug 16 at Central Park Summerstage in NYC

Track Listing
HOLY COMMUNION (3.05)
BLUE NILE (3.10)
VACUUM (4.13)
PRINCES (4.26)
INNERS PACE (4.16)
AFOOT (3.25)
HOUSE JAM (4.45)
INTERLUDE (NO KNOWN HOME) (1.16)
DESERT STORM (5.10)
DUST (5.30)

St. Dymphna's is the bar i interviewed them at!

Can't wait for this. Love this band

the xxchange remix is actually quite nice
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/142084-premiere-gang-gang-dance-house-jam-xxxchange-remix-mp3-stream

It's going to be great of course

apparently the drummer has been shot?
http://earlboykins.blogspot.com/2008/07/tim-dewit-from-gang-gang-dance-shot.html

That's insane

tim's already bragging that he is off painkillers btw
and he maintains thats a great bar too

Hahahahaaa

I should have included this in my anticipation thread, dagnabbit. From Uncut:

"Saint Dymphna is a kind of super-produced, precision-tooled, pop and dancefloor-primed rebooting of tribal psych. I’ve been playing it all week, and the constant ebb and flow makes it quite tricky to identify separate tracks. But on the other hand, it is a record that lends itself to a great landslide of references.

So amidst all the contrasting beats, from the fervid drum circles to programmed sputters that recall a goth-tinged Timbaland, various bits of “Saint Dymphna” make me think of contemporary New York bands like Outhud, or a friendlier Black Dice. There are elements of Bjork, quite late Can, Yoko Ono, and a fantastic grasp of how variegated global rhythms can mix with ultra-modern western electronica that makes me think of the Sun City Girls on DFA (or, God help me, the sort of fusion that Transglobal Underground always strived for).

The outstanding track, though, is called “Vacuum”, and features a prominent melody that seems to closely echo the siren riff from My Bloody Valentine’s “I Only Said”, hazily reconfigured over a backing that’s somewhere between ambient dub and kosmische synthprog. The hyper-creative drift of “Saint Dymphna” as a whole is pretty gripping, but this one’s the keeper."

Excited. When is this coming out?

this album is going to be a big one

this album is really fucking good.

have ppl downloaded that song w/ tynchy stryder?

Excellent record - very close to the live GGD experience sonically. My only complaint is the seemingly reduced presence of Lizzie B's vocals throughout. Otherwise fucking rad.

live ggd experience minus all the things that make it really awesome = me sitting at laptop with headphones listening to saint dymphna thinking about the girls that go to ggd shows and being pissed off but also kinda happy that im listening to pretty rad new music from original ish band from nyc

is surfboard = nu-nu-nu ilx steve shasta?

have ppl downloaded that song w/ tynchy stryder?

― t_g, Friday, September 12, 2008 9:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it's on gorilla vs bear.

This album is pretty amazing. My first exposure to them and I'm absolutely loving it. It's all over the place, but in the best possible way. Outstanding production as well.

Yes, this is totally brilliant.

Yeah I don't get the people complaining about this record at all. It's fantastic. As good as God's Money if not better.

keep meaning to pick up the album, the tinchy track is sick

Parts of this are suspiciously Excepter-ish... people are talking...

About what?

I'm intrigued by it. House Jam is cool. Liked God's Money and one or two other things. Like some Excepter as well. Have they finally hit their stride on the new album?

I'm so amazed at how beautiful this album is. It's like driving through a rainforest hard up against a coastline, and every time you turn a corner you come across an amazing new vista. Except that happens every twenty seconds or so.

Right now this is duking it out with The-Dream and Luomo to be my album of the year. I think it might win.

What is The-Dream?

i have a dream that all artists will get threads titled solely "LP"
wherein the actual LP in question just changes over time

hmmm is it really that good? should i try to slsk?

i have spent some time with GGD and they are great people, but i can sense some of what others say about them-- ie, that Lizzie and the guitarist are fashionista scene-climbers who care more about being cool than anything else. (of course, this criticism is suspect, as it comes from the mouth of former collaborators with the two of them. ahem).

anyway, does anyone love Angelblood as much as i do?

this album is so well sequenced and very listenable. the ebb and flow mentioned upthread is very otm. you have spent time with josh and think he cares about nothing but being cool? dude is so nice.

What is The-Dream?

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, October 28, 2008 1

The very late December 2007 r'n'b release by Terius "The-Dream" Nash, songwriter and producer known for "Falsetto" on his own cd, and for co-writing "Umbrella" among other songs.

Interesting recent Melena Ryzik feature on Gang Gang Dance in the NY Times-- It says they still have trouble paying their rent and they want to get their music heard by a wide audience-- "Ms. Bougatsos is ready for the attention. “There’s no such thing as selling out in my mind,” she said, adding that she would love to have her music featured on a TV show soundtrack: “A Jeep commercial, a tampon commercial, anything,” she said. “We’re a band, we make music, and that’s what we want to be known for.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/arts/music/21gang.html

i dunno, i listened today again and liked a few songs, but i'm not ready to crown them yet. perhaps repeated listens will help.

Wait there is a coronation coming up?!?!

not from me!

New album is totally magical.

Haven't sat down with it to give it a proper listen yet but after sampling it by having it on in the background while doing stuff, I'm already liking it quite a bit (though I fear the two advance singles may be the clear highlights)

this isn't as mind-blowing as Eye Contact but it's a nice progression on their sound, love the balearic vibes. J-Tree, the title track, and Salve on the Sorrow are probably the highlights for me so far

Title track rules - the moment when the 90s breakbeat comes in is just so shameless.

The entire thing feels like it's singlehandedly trying to rehabilitate billowing gap year hippy Buddha Bar music via depth and phenomenal textual detail.

Yep, i’m also reminded of the swooshy first discs of Northern Exposure 1 and 2.

JE’s involvement means I’ll give this a second and third listen

Tim F otm

I think it’s their smoothest record yet

can't tell if that is a compliment or not

Totally is

It sounds really lush to me

Digging this a lot. Not as arresting as Eye Contact or St. Dymphna, but gorgeous and groovy and totally welcome.

ama today at 4pm est

Wicked

some thoughts:

kazuashita sounds like enya/loreena mckennitt mashed with drum and bass

love the use of guitar on this, from spindly to serene

sounds like a logical extension from beeDEEGEE and eye contact

this sounds like Grimes

I think you have that backward

Grimes like sounds this

no, there's definitely a Grimesian note in Lizzi's vocals that wasn't there before

lotus definitely has a grimes esque chorus

ama was really cool. also their user name was a riff on beedeegee. don't sleep on that record

"other people definitely like to say that but i have no idea where those artists get their inspiration from. i'd like to think that we have contributed to the general landscape in some way over the years though yeah. I do remember Grimes once saying Lizzi was an important vocalist."

these Beatles, they sound just like Oasis

boy i really like this record

Yep, i’m also reminded of the swooshy first discs of Northern Exposure 1 and 2.

― Tim F, Saturday, June 23, 2018 4:12 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh my god otm

One of the best records this year easily.
Lush and gentle but with the trademark weird interludes this band is good for. When the record started I was like “oh shit, gang gang!”

lol also this album reminds me a bit of Bel Canto circa Magic Box.

never heard of that band or album but now I want to

this is the hazy sound of my summer

spoiled by riches with music this year but this may be the best record i've heard this year. perfect length, delivers in every way sonically...so good

Would anyone happen to have a spare DL code for this :)

I've been loving the tracks on YouTube, need to hear the whole thing properly.

I know a way you can do that without ripping anyone off

ysi?

Lol Noel. Could probably help you despite paying for the record - share the love iirc

I'm dithering over buying the FLAC on Bleep because it doesn't cost much less than the CD, and I'm put off buying the CD because it doesn't come with a download, unlike most CDs they stock, which feels a bit mean in this day and age.

So I'd just like to hear it and get enthused enough to go for one or the other.

Ross, thanks. Hit me up with an email if you feel so inclined.

hey Noel, just saw your post (sorry)

i could likely help you if this is still needed, let me know (no computer at home but can do this at a friends this weekend)

i still think these are valid points

kazuashita title track sounds like enya/loreena mckennitt mashed with drum and bass, or something like delerium would do but more gnarly

sounds like a logical extension from beeDEEGEE and eye contact

especially the beat programming which is a lot like beeDEEGEE

-- im interested in how their sound evolved when their equipment was stolen years back, and possibly a thread about that at some point. Saint Dymphna seems like an outlier in their career now, but there are definitely sounds on that which seem to pop up on the new one

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

Ross, did you see this? https://www.stereogum.com/1994986/gang-gang-dance-2018-interview/franchises/interview/

no, thanks :)

this is a really great record

I wrote off Kazuashita when it was first released; it seemed so slight compared with the absolute mindfuck of Eye Contact. That was a big mistake. I've relistened several times in the last couple of days, and Kazuashita really is quite a beautiful album. Lotus has such an enveloping atmosphere.

Anyone know what GGD have been up to in the ensuing four years? I hope they have some new music coming. I need this in my life right now.

They're on a track with Meditations On Crime and Harper Sound called 'Crime Seed' released a few months ago. It's OK - A+ yalping from Lizzi tho

(Harper Simon)

they played in nyc during the omicron wave and i chose cowering at home to going out and checking it

seems pretty obvious in retrospect that they were light years ahead of their former contemporaries. All their stuff holds up really well, in general for 10+ year old records, and specifically compared against some other records from that timeframe …

kazuashita was a very good follow-up to eye contact, it's a similar vibe just chiller overall

Thanks for the intel nashwan and vapor. Glad they're still making music!

Just listened to Crime Seed, it was pretty inconsequential imo.

A recent-ish (December last year) performance here: https://issueprojectroom.org/video/gang-gang-dance