Caught in the Net: Raise a jar to Gang Gang Dance
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Your support makes all the difference.The Brooklyn experimentalists Gang Gang Dance re-enter the fray with their fifth album, Eye Contact, released on 4AD in May. Recently, they unveiled the opening track from the record – "Glass Jar" is streaming at ganggangdance. com. At a little over 11-minutes long, they're certainly in no rush.
It begins with a man speaking the words "I can hear everything. It's everything time," before a slow hum of synths roll out, finally building into something far bigger centred around the high-pitch vocal yelps of Liz Bougatsos. Their last record, Saint Dymphna, from 2008 was a cracker, so I'm intrigued to see what else "everything time" will include.
Not quite another collector's item
More Brooklynites, this time in the shape of Here We Go Magic. With "Collector", the lo-fi group, led by Luke Temple, made one of the finest songs of 2010. The ensuing album Pigeons – released last summer – didn't quite build on promise of "Collector" ; there were some lovely tracks on the record, but some that fell flat. Now comes a six-track EP, made during the sessions for Pigeons. It's called the "January" EP, and will be released in May on the Secretly Canadian label. One song is available now at ind.pn/eyBjiv. "Hands in the Sky" is slow meandering number that draws you in, mixing folk and some small but driving guitar lines. Not quite "Collector" standard, but still quite good.
Mercer and Danger Mouse return
Another band releasing an EP culled from 2010 album sessions is Broken Bells, the starry duo of the Shins' James Mercer and the tireless super producer Danger Mouse. Last year's self-titled album by the pair was well received by most. Now comes a four-track EP called "Meyrin Fields", released on 29 March.
The title track was previously a B-side to one of the album's singles and can be found on their Myspace page – ind.pn/fCt7jz – while another new track is streaming on NPR's music blog at ind.pn/fT34vp. The song "Windows" is a dramatic affair with shouty vocals, shuddering electronics and a winning pop sheen.
Nanobot deliver a nice electro workout
Nanobot is a Dublin four-piece exercising themselves on the electronic end of the indie music scale. This week they put out their debut EP "Sparticles" and the five-track effort is a free download at nanobot.bandcamp.com. It's a nice electro workout, made largely with synths, but with healthy use of various other live instruments, too. I particularly liked the the cacophonous conclusion of drums, guitars, synths and computers on the EP's final track.
l.ryan@independent.co.uk
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