Beijing’s Gong Gong Gong make driving, stripped-down transnational blues, tapping into the spirit of Bo Diddley, the Monks, and psychedelic music from West Africa to Southeast Asia. “Phantom Rhythm” is the concept at the duo’s core: between Tom Ng’s percussive guitar and Joshua Frank’s melodic, charging bass, an aura of ghostly snare hits emerges over a thumping low-end pulse. Atop this framework, Ng recounts Cantonese tales of absurdity, love and lust with fragmented, wry vision.
On their first US release, “Siren 追逐劇” b/w “ Something’s Happening 突發 “ (out 11/9 on Wharf Cat) Gong Gong Gong brings to life a cinematic chase scene. Shot-by-shot, frame-by-frame, “Siren 追逐劇“ is a story of galloping hooves and screeching tires—a horse and car racing each other through mountains and desert, charging into the city. The flip-side, instrumental “Something’s Happening 突發” is Gong Gong Gong at their most raw: locomotive jangle and fuzz-faced roar. Dust, sweat and engine oil, the landscape rushing by. Gong Gong Gong have dates lined up on both sides of the Atlantic with the likes of Parquet Courts, Bodega and Flasher. A full list of upcoming tour dates is below.
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