Gang Gang Dance Are Banging

The haters say they’re just another hipster band from Williamsburg, but with their latest disc, Gang Gang Dance are set to silence the sceptics with their unique, polyglot approach to rhythm. Saint Dymphna — named after the patron saint of confusion and madness — finds the group consolidating the many tangents of their nine-year existence into a kaleidoscopic masterpiece. Embracing danceability without sacrificing their jagged stream of consciousness, this disc is both focused and diffuse. Dub effects whip around the stereo spectrum, while beats occasionally skip just for the hell of it. Brian Degraw’s keyboards are particularly imaginative, with textures that suggest Indonesian gamelan, East African synth pop, or Prince’s "Darling Nikki.”

As for their new dance moves, guitarist Josh Diamond laughs at the perception of greater ass-shaking potential. "It started with our live shows. We’ve had the same sound guy for years, and we started to get these bigger sounds live. From that I felt we could really make sounds that could move people. In a twisted way I thought we always made dance music, but nobody else thought so.”

Diamond admits to only incremental changes in the band’s approach. It’s still about jamming first, then sculpting the results. "It’s really not that unusual, a lot of bands have a similar process. Now it’s changed slightly, we’ve got a good recorder for our practice space. I feel like we revisit things more easily, and Brian has gotten exceedingly good at cutting things up on computer.”

But more than just an artistic triumph, Diamond says the record will jumpstart live bookings. "We try to keep our live show very fresh, we’ve changed it a million times. But people wouldn’t want to book us anymore. They’d say ‘you don’t have a full-length record.’ I can’t believe how much shit is attached to having a full-length record!”