New Gang Gang Dance - "House Jam"
I like just about everything Gang Gang Dance has done, though before a couple weeks ago, 2005's God's Money made me rave the most ... kind of a long time to find more pay dirt. I got excited about some (though, not all) of the EP teasers that came in its wake, but they did ultimately feel like teasers, and not a jump to something else equally transcendent. Enter their excellent new album Saint Dymphna. It's not as sprawling as some of their earlier work (which often reminded me of some giant rhythmic centipede or a kind of real-time collage), Lizzie Bougatsos's vocal parts are often more obviously catchy or contained and less free-range, and there's more variation between tracks (as well as guest rapper Tinchy Stryder, which makes sense, considering I've often though of keyboardist/remixer/etc. Brian DeGraw as some kinda avant Timbaland), but it works separately (there are true pop nuggets) and as a twisting-turning/percussive/spaced-out whole. The record builds from what they were doing in the past and then clarifies and tightens. Meaning: Dymphna should satisfy fans of the old and draw in people who'd been looking for more easily recognizable song structures in the past. See, for instance, one of the dreamier tracks, the appropriately titled "House Jam."
Gang Gang Dance - "House Jam" (MP3)
GGD have always been masterful in concocting weirdo dance music (techno colliding with dub and drone, MBV smearing into Gamelan, Eno, and Punjabi music). This time around the party's a bit less out there, but all those ingredients remain and the trio maintain their unique approach to compositional deconstruction. One of my favorite albums of the year by one of the most exciting bands/entities working.
Saint Dymphna is out 10/21 via The Social Registry.
[Photo by Josh Wildman]
Posted at 10:17 AM by brandon in MP3
Tags: Gang Gang Dance
I've never listened to this band before (seen a lot written about them) and I like this blog, so I gave it a go.
This track is really bad.
Are they playing a drum machine with their fingers? I guess the vocals are pretty nice... but man...
Score = -3
that sort of icky RCRD LBL site has an EXCELLENT remix of this http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Gang_Gang_Dance/track/House_Jam_XXXchange_remix
Was my "jam of the summer"....
Score = 2
I bought a Gang Gang record a few years ago, on a whim, after a record store employee recommended it. If I'm not mistaken, it was their eponymous second album that came out in 2004.
See, the reason I can't say for sure which album it was is because I threw it in the garbage after listening to it. Literally, it was the third worst album I had ever heard.
The only other records or CDs I have ever thrown out, in addition to that godforsaken piece of Gang Gang shit, are Jimmy Page and Ronert Plant's 1998 travesty, Walking Into Clarksdale and Pras of the Fugees, again a 1998 release, Ghetto Superstar.
It says a lot about an album when it is so bad and infectiously shitty that you're afraid of what will happen if you keep it in your possession.
Score = -4
Love Gang Gang Dance and can't wait for this album!
Score = 1
Fucking excellent song. This band is incredible.
Score = 0
There's no drum machne?
Song rules.
Score = 0