Josh Wildman
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Every Friday, the Song of the Day Podcast spotlights local musicians. Today’s featured selection, chosen by The Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole, is “House Jam” by Gang Gang Dance from their recent full-length album Saint Dyphmna available on The Social Registry.
In titling a song “House Jam,” New York experimental group Gang Gang Dance brings to mind cheaply hung strobe lights, and an unknown DJ spinning tinny house music. Gang Gang Dance, often times referred to as “neo-primal,” take the assumed ideas about the “house jam” and deconstruct them, fashioning a layered, disparate, wholly original form of electronic music. What begins as an almost typical pop-electronica track, slowly devolves over the four-minute length, fading away from the standard view of electronic music, as it slowly incorporates guitar, tribal drums, and a churning aggressive synth. These varied instruments, and the inclusion of a distinctive electronic bloop, pull “House Jam” out of the sweaty interiors of a neon-lit club and places it in a strange, futuristic outdoor setting, infusing it with a tripped-out slowness that grows and grows until the song fades in to chilled silence. Over all of this, Liz Bougatsos’ sometimes-melodic-at-times-tribal yelp ebbs and flows, pushing the boundaries of electronica standards. Gang Gang Dance are currently on tour in the United States and recently performed with Marnie Stern at The Triple Door. Check the band’s MySpace page for more dates. Here they are performing the song live in Tokyo:
