On Friday, June 22nd, New York’s genre-defying stalwarts Gang Gang Dance released their first album in 7 years, Kazuashita, via 4AD, which they celebrated with a life-affirming sold-out release show that same night in their hometown of New York City.
They are now pleased to announce a run of newly confirmed North American Tour Dates this September, along with their debut performance on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, to air this Thursday, June 28.
They’ll also be appearing on Red Bull Radio’s Peak Time show on Tuesday, June 26 at 12:30pm Eastern Time, and are participating in an AMA on the /r/indieheads subreddit later that day at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Kazuashita roughly translates to “Peace Tomorrow” and features the singles “Lotus,” which NPR said sounds like “the chillest of screensavers look: pale blues and bright purples, dripping synths and echoing guitar over a bobbing trip-hop beat dubbed from a VHS tape. It’s like Gang Gang Dance picked up where it left off, especially as Lizzi Bougatsos’ voice winds through the track, elastic as ever, soon melting into blissful disarray.”
Second single “J-TREE,” is a stirring and euphoric paean to nature featuring audio of Shiyé Bidziil, one of the key members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, speaking out against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through sacred Native American burial lands. As Gang Gang Dance co-founder Brian DeGraw explains, “Standing Rock was essentially a standoff between beings who believe that money is God versus beings who believe that Nature is God. I think Shiyé’s moment was an example of the natural world confirming that the latter is much closer to the truth.”
And third single “Young Boy (Marika in Amerika)” is a piercing elegy, where Lizzi Bougatsos sings empathetically for lives unjustly lost to violence over weighty, tug-of-war synths and destabilizing beats. More on this and the making of Kazuashita is expanded on in these in-depth interviews that the band has done with Stereogum, PopMatters, and Tiny Mix Tapes.
Kazuashita is the band’s first record together since the acclaimed Eye Contact in 2011, produced by DeGraw after recording sessions across several New York studios and art spaces. The trio were joined by drummer Ryan Sawyer (who met the band through the Boredoms’ BOADRUM project) and Jorge Elbrecht (who worked on additional production and mixing duties).
Founded by Lizzi Bougatsos, Brian DeGraw and Josh Diamond, Gang Gang Dance has consistently blurred the boundaries between the New York art and music scenes for nearly two decades. They are as comfortable performing rare improvisational sets at the Whitney Biennial as they are at Coachella, and count Dash Snow & Dan Colen, Tinchy Stryder and the Boredoms as previous collaborators. The current live incarnation of the band features Ryan Sawyer on drums, and Doug Shaw (Highlife, White Magic) on bass.
Kazuashita is now available through retailers and streaming services: http://smarturl.it/Kazuashita
