Album: Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact

Album: Eye Contact
4AD
Release date: May 10, 2011
Rating: ******** (8/10)

After 2008's exceptional Saint Dymphna, Gang Gang Dance are back to business as usual for their 4AD debut, Eye Contact, out tomorrow. The band are the uncontested masters of rhythm 'n' synth experimental dub, weaving waves of electronic sound and Lizzi Bougatsos's enchanting/crackpot vocals through ritualistic percussion and club-worthy bass. Eye Contact is a distinctive album, but it falls well within the boundaries established by the band's previous releases - there's not a lot of new ground covered here.

GGD is not an easy band. They've never handed their music to their listeners in a simple pop-song package. (The closest they got was a handful of tracks on Saint Dymphna.) As a result, GGD can be a challenging and frustrating listen, and Eye Contact is no exception. The eleven-plus minute first track is more than half intro, just wafts of synth sound, light cymbals and snippets of a man's voice. I have to admire the band's self-control and somehow, it comes off more ballsy than indulgent when they dare to ask the same patience of their listeners. In the fourth minute of the track, the small cymbals give way to rumbling toms while the synths gradually begin to carve out melodic motifs. But it's only after the six minute mark that the song truly begins and we first hear Bougatsos's familiar ululation.

The album pushes the band's mysticism to the fore with three interludes (titled respectively "∞" "∞∞" and "∞∞∞"), the first of which features a stunning sample of what sounds like an eastern orthodox hymn (according to The Guardian, it's Bougatsos's late uncle) laid gently in an analog-sounding bed of synth. The third interlude, sung by Bougatsos, sounds equally religious, drawing on eastern European and Middle Eastern scales that carry through the next and final track, "Thru and Thru." The band's shamanistic instincts were apparent on their last two LPs but never so literal as here.

Eye Contact is certainly a remarkable album and displays the band's control as well as their unending passion for riddim. The band is fascinated with every beat they can find, and they've searched the world for groove, drawing on sources that range from UK underground dance music to reggaeton to South Asian percussion ensembles. Surprisingly, given the breadth and spirit of the album, it doesn't overreach, nor does it sound bloated or narcissistic. First of all, Eye Contact can't overreach because the band is just that good. And it is saved from narcissism by the band's very real curiosity about the musical territory they inhabit. It's immediately evident that no one but Gang Gang Dance could have made this album.

But on the other hand, it hasn't got the richness or the punch of Saint Dymphna. A few tracks are exceptions: the club-inflected soundworld of "Adult Goth," the reggaeton-house anthem "Mindkilla" and the deep post-funk groove of "Romance Layers" come close, but nothing here is quite as good as "First Communion" and "House Jam."

The difference, and the reason that this album isn't quite equal to its predecessor, is in songwriting. Gang Gang Dance is one for sprawling epics that twist and morph and never give a hint of verse, chorus, bridge or any other recognizable building block. Sometimes the result is tight and bold, like Saint Dymphna's epic "House Jam" but other times, it can sound aimless and begs for an editor.

There are some duds on Eye Contact as well. "Chinese High" is uncharacteristically bright, even hinting momentarily at calypso. While that in itself is not bad, the band pushes it past sunny and into corny with the synthesizer's melodic motif at the end of the song. "Sacer" also gets a little lost with a melody that's simply too formless to carry a six minute song.

The final track, "Thru and Thru," may be the album's strongest. Eastern melodies intertwine with warm layers of sound and a beat that seamlessly merges the "tribal" with a eurodisco nightclub pulse. It's a perfect closer for the album, showing both sides of the record's split personality - its 3 AM clubhopper and its mystical seer - and finally satisfying both.

An album as bold and accomplished as Eye Contact shouldn't be a disappointment, but the band has simply set the bar so high that I've come to expect a revolution from them on every LP. Eye Contact isn't that, it's more about honing the band's existing sound, articulating its longing and its euphoria, going deeper into the trance. It's an album of exploration, like all of GGD's albums, but its exploration doesn't cover new latitudes, it just plunges deeper and reaches higher. It doesn't always succeed in these endeavors and can come off as detached and disconnected from the real world in a frustrating and at times even arrogant way. But the album's failures are part of its charm - its power comes from its fearlessness, its willingness to fail and to document its failures. That's what makes this album worthwhile.

Album: Dinowalrus - %

Album: %
Kanine, 2009
Rating: ******** (8/10)

When I first heard Dinowalrus recorded, I wasn't taken with the music. I didn't understand it and I couldn't digest it. However, after seeing them live, I began to grasp what they're all about. And I decided with their album release this week, it was time for me to give their recordings another go.

From a relatively young band with a name like Dinowalrus, you'd certainly be justified not expecting a particularly mature album. But for a very indie Brooklyn band, Dinowalrus proves with % that they are as grown up as anyone. The record is sophisticated and polished and is certainly a serious and substantial undertaking. This isn't scene, it isn't attitude, it's music. And maybe that sounds obvious in a music review, but it's really not - most bands are at least partially about something other than the music - and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But if Dinowalrus has another motive, it doesn't show here.

Peter Feigenbaum, Dinowalrus's frontman, told me he doesn't listen a whole lot of to contemporary music, partly "in order to maintain aesthetic sovereignty." And that clearly works for Dinowalrus, because % sounds like no one else. It's dense, spacey psychedelia with deep grooves, raging guitar riffs and a million noises you can't quite identify. The songs are epic and multidimensional but rock hard. Sounds here are clearly a medium, the album a collection of art pieces, but that makes this sound pretentious and burdensome. Instead, it's fun and beautiful and badass, all at the same time.

My main criticism of Dinowalrus in the past has come from a certain amorphousness and I still see that here to some extent. It's not defining of the entire album, but there are certain places where I wonder if a particular chorus or verse might work just as well in a different song. The large components of each song aren't always glued together as well as I'd like.

But on a smaller scale, it would be impossible to fault the band for their arrangements. Each song is a complex mesh of sounds, painstakingly engineered and carefully, dynamically mixed. The songs are at once wild and disciplined, improvisational and meticulously planned.

Though the band's sonic palate is uniquely their own, it sometimes seems to want for breadth - every song is slathered in a similar dark, reverbed haze. However, there is always a trade-off between cohesion and variety and % manages a better balance than most. From the tightly-wound half-kraut, half-punk "Electric Car, Gas Guitar" to the bluesy riff of "Cage Those Pythons" to the warm, dreamy "Haze on the Mobius Strip," the songs create their own rich space for the listener to crawl inside.

It's hard to pick highlights from the album. "BEAD" may be the big hit song (err...) but its psych-funk groove (think ESG, Liquid Liquid or Konk on acid) is matched by the monumental krautrock-influenced anthem "I Hate Numbers." "Nuke Duke 'Em" burns like a fuse to a block of TNT, twisting and turning as it consumes itself.

% is original to its core. Though you can spot plenty of reference points in it, you won't see anything resembling imitation. There is simply no substitute. If you like this, you better get your hands on it because it's one of a kind.

Live: The Slits

When: 12/14
Where: Highline Ballroom

The only time I really research anything music-related is when I'm writing a review, so often, I check out albums and concerts with really no idea what to expect. So at the Slits show at Highline, I didn't realize only singer Ari Up and bassist Tessa Pollitt were still in the band from its heyday. I thought Viv Albertine was playing with them again, but apparently, that was a one-off deal earlier this year. Bummer that.

However, Ari Up's personality is so huge that even the absence of my favorite Slit wasn't that glaring. Ari was in fine form. Despite her apologies, she really did sing well, and as for the dancing, well, she's still got it! Pollitt seems a little worse for the wear, but she's still a great bassist - just a little stiff in her stage presence.

The Slits choice in band members was certainly interesting. Hollie Cook (the daughter of Sex Pistol Paul Cook) is listed as the keyboard player, but the woman I saw was definitely not Cook. Whoever it was, she was the best of the non-original members. She seemed so genuinely swept up in the moment that she'd often forget to sing/shout her backup vocals into her microphone, being too busy jumping up and down and yelling at the top of her voice. Despite being the newest member, she owned her parts. She even did a clumsy dance with Ari and attempted a solo on train-whistle. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone have so much fun on stage. And if you're playing with the goddamn SLITS you better be having fun!

Drummer Anna Schulte also proved herself up to the task. It must be tough coming into a legendary band, and especially for a drummer, who is ultimately the person with the most control over the music. But Schulte didn't waver - her reggae beats were authoritative and flawlessly executed and she seemed well amused by her bandmates' antics. On guitar, Michelle Hill didn't do so well. She's a great guitarist, but watching her, it was obvious she was playing music she didn't write. That may be true, but Schultz and the unnamed keyboardist/back-up vocalist both made the music their own, not by hijacking anything but by putting their own personality into every note. Hill played well, but she seemed more like a session player than a Slit.

The set was mostly reggae, as I expected. Reggae and dub, of course, evolved in tandem with punk in the late 1970's and early 1980's, especially in the UK, and many of the original UK punk bands went in an increasingly reggae-inspired direction as they progressed as musicians. The band did balance their reggae numbers with some punk tunes, including the Slits classic "Typical Girls." At one point, the venue threatened to kick the band off the stage - apparently there was a mix-up about the set time - and Ari Up told them what was what. Despite it all, though, seeing the Slits today is definitely not at all the same as having seen them in 1977. But they are still a great band, and for anyone with an interest in UK punk, anyone who's ever read England's Dreaming*, it's still amazing to see Ari Up in person. She's as crazy as ever. Maybe even more so.


*Okay, I have a funny story, and this seems like as good a place as any to share it. One time, I was reading England's Dreaming on a bench on the Upper East Side. There were two very elderly women sitting next to me and the one closer to me suddenly struck up conversation, which went something like this:

Old lady: What are you reading?
Me: It's called England's Dreaming.
Old lady: What?
Me: England's Dreaming! It's about punk. Punk rock.
Old lady: England's dreaming??? I'm from England! I'm still dreaming!
Me: Oh, how long have you lived here?
Old lady: Since 1962! Where are you from?
Me: I'm from Chicago. [FYI, I tend to lie about where I'm from]
Old lady: Chicago? I've never been to Chicago.
Me: It's a nice city.
Old lady: [Pause] You're from England?
Me: No, I'm from Chicago. You're from England.
Old lady: Oh...

At this point, she tries to look at my book, but she clearly can't read and doesn't have glasses with her, so I flip to the pictures in the middle of the book.

Old lady: What's that?
Me: It's a band.
Old lady: What's that? I can't read it.
Me: It's a band. It's the Sex Pistols. A punk band. Punk.
Old lady: What? I can't hear!
Me: It's the Sex Pistols.
Old lady: What?
Me: It's the Sex Pistols.
Old lady: What?
Me: It's the Sex Pistols.
Old lady: What?
Me: It's THE SEX PISTOLS! THE SEX PISTOLS! SEX PISTOLS!

At this point, I realized I'm sitting on a bench yelling "sex pistols" repeatedly at a 92-year-old woman I just met. And I'm getting some pretty funny looks from passers-by. Meanwhile, the other old lady is cracking up - I think she was following the conversation much more lucidly. Anyway, I said it was nice to meet them and excused myself before someone called the cops.

Dust It Off: Alternative TV - The Image Has Cracked

Album: The Image Has Cracked
Deptford Fun City, 1978 [Import, 1994 (Bonus Tracks)]

In the history of punk, particularly in the UK, a brief moment occurred between the break-up of the Sex Pistols and the establishment of the major movements of post-punk. In January of 1978, the Sex Pistols parted ways without warning, and by the end of the year, Brian Eno's No New York compilation and John Lydon's Public Image Limited would begin to define the post-punk landscape. The following year saw the LP debuts of definitive British post-punks like Joy Division and the Fall, with goth, new wave and, across the Atlantic, hardcore punk not far behind.

In this period of indecision and potential, Alternative TV released their full-length debut, predicting many of the sounds that would dominate indie music in the 1980's in both the UK and the US. The Image Has Cracked keeps one foot squarely in the classic London punk tradition, but the other explores uncharted territory in every direction.

The album opens with a ten-minute live track featuring frontman Mark Perry attempting to give his audience a chance to speak into the microphone to say anything they may want to talk about. Instead of political or personal insight, all he gets is meaningless jabbering. This track shows Perry, who founded the early zine Sniffin' Glue, acting more as journalist than musician, illustrating the rapid corruption of punk's ideals.

With this almost explanatory track, Perry sets out to find a way to keep punk challenging and relevant, and he certainly succeeds. Drawing from influences as artistic as Frank Zappa (covered on the album) and krautrock (listen to the sonic experimentalism "Red"), The Image is hard to take in as a whole, especially when you get the version with eleven bonus tracks tacked on.

There are some more or less straightforward punk numbers included, such as "Action Time Vision." These fit seemlessly with longer, less conventional tracks. At six minutes, "Nasty Little Lonely" has a winding, dark groove, while the only slightly shorter "Still Life" falls halfway between goth and no wave - all while still remaining accessible.

If you can get the version with the bonus tracks, do so. It may be rather unwieldy, but it's well worth it, since the addition includes some of the most interesting tracks of all. The tight dub of "Life After Life" is among the UK punk scene's best. Pop sensibilities also crop up here with surprising clarity, including the tuneful back-up vocals masking the dark theme of "Life."

Meanwhile, the mellow blues of "Another Coke" is a shockingly intense track whose rambling lyrics fall somewhere between Neutral Milk Hotel's "Song Against Sex" and Minor Threat's similarly titled "Milk and Coke." Deeply personal social commentary, the song laments the quiet violence inherent in society's attitude towards sex and expresses Perry's longing for a more meaningful, pure existence.

As a whole, The Image Has Cracked marks the death of punk's purity and Perry holds little of himself back in mourning its passing. But it also marks the beginning of post-punk and indie music. Bouncing from the no wave-esque avant garde to Joy Division-style gloom to the youthful politicization of proto-hardcore, the album is document of ideas just one step ahead of their time.

Best Albums of 2008 - Part 5 - #5-1

Although this list has shifted a lot, there's never been any doubt that these five albums would top it. They are not only the best of 2008, they are a full head and shoulders above everything else.

PREVIOUS>>
Part 1 - Rules and Runners Up
Part 2 - #20-16
Part 3 - #15-11
Part 4 - #10-6


#5

Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
The Social Registry

I have searched and searched for some criticism to make of this album, but I haven't come up with much. Gang Gang Dance have always been innovators, but in this release, which fleshes out their club/dance tendencies, the band has at last fully lived up to their immense potential. Saint Dymphna is one of the only true masterpieces of 2008, and if this were not explicitly a rock/pop list, this album might have placed even higher than #5.

An epic electronic album, Saint Dymphna draws on influences from My Bloody Valentine and Brian Eno to "world-beat" (in the rawest, most "tribal" sense) to trip-hop, and uses elements from each style so smoothly, you could swear each one was invented specifically to be a tool in the dub toolbox. Of all the electronic acts who are supposed to be lovable to rock critics (Aphex Twin, DJ Shadow, Mouse on Mars, etc.), this is the first one to really win me over. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because the music has genuine feeling but none of the machismo that usually accompanies it in the genre. In any case, the album shows brilliance in inspiration and meticulous care in execution. It's as close to perfect as 2008 has to offer.

Tinchy Stryder, guest rapper on "Princes," puts it best: "Oh shit! Gang Gang!"

Track picks: "Blue Nile," "Desert Storm"
MySpace


#4

Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
Troubleman Unlimited

For all of us who thought the twenty-first century and hardcore punk would never really find a meeting point, Titus Andronicus has proven us wrong. The subversive edginess of hardcore is alive and well in Grievances, but the album is as far as you can get from revivalist - the punk of Titus Andronicus is fresh and original, smart, innovative and unrestricted by convention. It takes into account the important musical developments of the last few decades, borrowing guitar techniques from shoegazers, songwriting ideals from British indie popsters and experimentalist cues from post-hardcore burners. Punk, meet 2008. 2008, meet punk.

Track pick: "Titus Andronicus"
MySpace


#3

Wavves - Wavves
Woodsist

I think what's most compelling about Wavves is that its only member, Nathan Williams, delivers his songs with the confident ease of someone who knows his music could kick anyone else's music's ass. It's dope to the point where if you don't like it, everyone will know it's because you're not cool enough, not because there's anything wrong with the music. Yeah, that's not fair to say about any band, but Wavves are the best candidate for getting away with such cooler-than-you trickery since Sonic Youth's heyday.

But it's not really trickery, because the album really is that good. Wavves sounds like it may have been recorded through a jet engine - the guitars are distorted, the drums are distorted, the vocals are distorted, absolutely everything is distorted. But the pseudo-surf, pseudo-punk numbers are short and catchy, if you can make them out through the roar of static. Most importantly, the album is fiercely independent, fearless and self-assured to an degree very few bands have ever achieved.

Track picks: "Teenage Super Party," "Wavves"
MySpace


#2

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...
Wichita Recordings / Arts & Crafts

I can't possibly tell you how obsessed I am with this album. Los Campesinos!'s second album of the year, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed placed at #15 on this list, so I've already said a little about the band. While Hold On Now is a less refined effort, it won out for top spot because it's got the best songs and the higher level of originality of the two releases.

Los Campesinos! are a manic Welsh pop band that boasts seven or eight members - who all together generate a hella lot of noise. They play ping-pong with melodies, passing them back and forth, at times by the word, and there's always a half-dozen different parts at once, making this an album worth hearing many times through.

Most importantly, the melodies and hooks are hands-down the best pop music offered up in 2008. Keeping in mind I don't even nod my head at most concerts, you can take as evidence of the album's catchiness the fact that I've been seen jumping up and down like a maniac on subway platforms because this was playing in my headphones. True, the band goes right up to the very brink of overly self-aware, puke-inducing preciousness, but just when you think you're going to start hating them, they pull something else awesome out of their hat and you're back to being madly in love again. In the world of straight-up pop, this album is not only the best of the year, it's one of the best of the decade.

Track picks: "My Year In Lists" (how appropriate!), "Death to Los Campesinos!"
MySpace


#1

Marnie Stern - This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
Kill Rock Stars

No, this isn't a "worst album title" list, though This Is It would score just as well in that competition. But this is a "Best of 2008" list and this album is the best of the year. To be honest, I ignored Marnie Stern for a long time because I saw the individual name and wrote it off as "boring solo project" without giving it a try. But I heard so much about Stern this fall that I decided to give the album a fair chance - and it was not remotely like anything I might have expected. It's a high-speed riot-grrrl-inspired noise-rock explosion featuring a dozen tracks of non-stop shredding, lightspeed drumming and raging, enveloping melodies. It's like nothing I've ever heard.

I put a lot of consideration into the placement of This Is It at the top of the list, and I feel confident that this is where it belongs. The reason is simple: while most of the standout albums of 2008 will be surpassed and fade into the background of their respective genres with time, I really believe in ten or twenty years, Marnie Stern's record will still sound fresh, and that it will still have the power to move and inspire. Time might prove me wrong, but of anything released this year, it's the most worthy of becoming a classic in the world of rock and roll.

Track picks: "Transformer," "Steely"
MySpace


That's it! Comments welcome!