There’s no shortage of cheap and obvious attempts to predict what pop music might sound like in the future, but every so often, New York band Gang Gang Dance resurface with a studio album that's so effortless, intuitive and imaginative, it suggests that maybe they know something we don't. The core members of the crew manage to keep busy with various side projects, DJing and art world vocations, and seem to only come together when they feel they have something worthwhile to add to the conversation, hence the 7 year lapse since Eye Contact. Their sixth full-length offers a chunky stew of jagged experimentalism, swirling shoegaze guitar and hand-picked garnish of global club sounds, which on paper sounds like any other GGD record, but on Kazuashita it manifests in a different form. “Lotus” is a relatively-straightforward dreampop gem, with Lizzi Bougatsos’ ethereal vocals bouncing around inside an echo chamber lined with supple synth strings and tribal drums. The title track offers some of the same bubblegum bliss, draped over a bouncy afrobeats riddim built from what sounds like a Lex Luger sample pack. Also check out “Too Much, Too Soon,” “Snake Dub” and “J-TREE.” Limited edition red colored vinyl pressing with download code.

• red colored vinyl pressing
• digital download included
• limited edition
• music label: 4AD 2018

reviewed by big dumb man 06/2018