Yeehah Gang Gang Dance
So I was hugging myself with joy when I found out not only were Animal Collective playing at Brixton Academy, but they were supported by Gang Gang Dance…Quite a crew came along, threatening to incessantly sing ‘My Girls’ at them till they bought tickets worked a treat. It’s difficult to get my friends to default from their East London routine I tell you. But it was wholly worth the tube trip to Brixton.
Equally difficult is it to get my friends out of the pub early to watch the support. So we then smugly revelled in their jaw dropping surprise at the awesomeness that is Gang Gang Dance live. Ha, that is not actually true at all, cos my jaw was firmly dropped as well. GGD much to my surpise are a live band. Saint Dymphana is a richly crafted diverse album, with some downright wierd noises on it…crazy industrial fans, chimes, panflutes for christsakes? I had assumed their set would be pretty heavy on loops and samples. Not at all. The 4 of them are switching between numerous instruments on stage, with the lead singer yelping and beating a drum like some kinda gorgeous crazy future pocahontas. She’s awesome, way better than Disney’s version of Pocahontas. And I found out her and the lead guy are a couple, or some might say a boyfriend and girlfriend. Anyway…just leave me to my girl crush already
I know the whole wall of sound concept is usually associated with scuzzy guitar bands, but GGD create these atmospheric bridges and crescendos that could definitely be described as walls. They flirt with dubstep, breaks and grime (Tichy Stryder guests on the album) to create tribal sounds that are even more atmospheric live. To paraphrase we lost our shit dancing to them.
