CD reviews
On their latest, Gang Gang Dance tries some new things and gets thrilling results. Cold War Kids bore us and Vivian Girls are superb.
By Edwin Decker , Todd Kroviak
Gang Gang Dance
Saint Dymphna
(Social Registry)
*8.4*
Goes well with: Gwen Stefani on psychedelics,
going B-A-N-A-N-A-S
One of the most enchanting albums recorded this decade, Gang Gang Dance’s 2005 full-length God’s Money, might as well have been beamed in from an alternate universe, one where humans coexist with aliens and West African music tops the U.S. charts. On their latest, GGD attempt to bring that album’s visionary blend of pan-nationalism, fractured rhythms and electronic contortions closer to the mainstream, with thrilling results.
Most striking about Saint Dymphna is its fascination with uniting disparate musical styles. This is the sound of every current musical trend converging in one place, and from the unexpected U.K. grime of “Princes” (with guest MC Tinchy Stryder) to the sublime top-40-on-acid hypnotism of “House Jam,” GGD show they can hang with any producer in the world.
But Saint Dymphna is far from radio-ready, despite their pop concessions, and the band’s blend of styles can be jarring. In particular, the looping experiments on “Inners Pace” and “Vacuum” (oddly reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine’s “Touched”) will alienate those unfamiliar with their previous work. Regardless, vocalist Lizzi Bougatsos’ inimitable shriek gives the band its x-factor, and though used rather sparingly here, it provides both exclamation points and easy access points to their mountainous adventures in sound.
—Todd Kroviak
Gang Gang Dance play Sunday, Nov. 16, at The Casbah.
Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls
(In the Red)
*7.5*
Goes well with: The Jesus and Mary Chain,
every band on NME’s C86 comp, girl-punk daydreams
Hype is a bitch. When it starts flowing, my first instinct is to take a dive and swim around to see if the water’s warm. To my dismay, I usually find out it’s 80 degrees only because there are a thousand other people pissing in the pool. So when I hear a band as lovable as Vivian Girls, I always second-guess myself before belly-flopping into the deep end.
As part of a recent wave of DIY/C86 revivalists, Vivian Girls (yes, all three are girls) do a superb re-creation of their influences’ gooey, innocent pop (see: The Vaselines) and layers of noisy, deadpan posturing (see: The Jesus and Mary Chain). Somehow, the calculated carelessness of it all makes it even more adorable, as if these cuties were just friends who started a band to live out their rock ’n’ roll daydreams.
The only problem is the songs’ tendency to blur together. Aside from the gently yearning “Wild Eyes,” the slacker girl-group harmonies of “Where Do You Run To” and the nihilistic closer “I Believe in Nothing,” this 10-song, 21-minute debut album simply needs more memorable tracks. They’ve got the sound down, but Vivian Girls have to prove their songwriting can give them enough staying power to outlast similarly minded revisionists.
Let’s just say I’m wading in the hype pool and the water’s definitely nice, but I’m still concerned about other swimmers unhealthily whizzing away.
—Todd Kroviak
Vivian Girls play Monday, Nov. 17, at The Casbah.
Cold War Kids
Loyalty to Loyalty
(Downtown Records)
*5.0*
Goes well with: medication
I thought Cold War Kids’ first album, Robbers & Cowards, was full of snazz. Snazz is the stuff in the record that gets inside you, agitates you and churns your organs upside down and inside out. Snazz is the stuff that takes you to the peaks of the highest musical mountains and drops you to the bottom of the lowest valleys. Then, when you finally play out an album like that, after you suck it dry of all its snazzitry, you have no choice but to pine for the next.
Well, after much pining, I finally acquired Loyalty to Loyalty, the Kids’ second album. And I’ve been playing it over and over, waiting for some snazz to kick in, but it never does. Too bad, because it really had the potential to be an outstanding piece of work. Besides snazz, Loyalty has everything that made Robbers & Cowards great: It’s got the same industrial jazz and blues vibe, the same quirky, unpredictable tom and snare slaps, the same moments of lyrical despair echoed by reverbified guitars and the same plodding, exhausted bass line that sounds like a fat man lumbering down the basement steps to a waiting noose.
On paper, Loyalty is a winner. But in the guts, where music is really heard, it ain’t happening. It’s got no vavoom, no shama-lama, no snazz—dig?
—Edwin Decker
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Music Editor
San Diego CityBeat
3550 Camino Del Rio N., Ste. 207
San Diego, CA 92108
Published: 11/11/2008
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