The music of Brooklyn, NYC's Gang Gang Dance carries with it a strong whiff of Eastern/Mediterrainian mysticism. Blared in an open-air market in India, you'd expect it to charm snakes from their baskets or prompt bellydancers to gyrate their hips. Harnessing drum pads, keyboards, guitars, samplers, and the alluringly expressive vocal stylings of frontwoman Liz 'LZA' Bougatsos, the quartet specializes in electro-fractal, world-beat pop Until recently, the fruits of their labor were as profoundly improvisory as ocean waves. Saint Dymphna represents a seismic shift in GGD standard operating procedure, drenching the groups' propulsive exoticism in pop syrup while incorporating an even wider array of influences. (Afrobeat, anyone? It's in there.) The rough edges are polished lapidary smooth. Kaledescopic aural labyrinth 'Bebey' marries synths reminiscent of early Talking Heads to the delirious, jerky reverb employed by underground outfits like Black Dice and Growing; 'Vacuum' smears those Heads tones into a Surroundsound, headphone mindfuck. 'House Jam'? It really is a house jam; the track could slip into a club DJ's set unnoticed. And when London grime artist Tinchy Stryder leaps into the ivory-torrent spray, bongo-pummel, and jagged-synth shrapnel fray of 'Princes' - 'Oh shit, Gang Gang!' he enthuses - it somehow doesn't feel like a departure, but, rather, a natural progression.
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