Wednesday, February 17, 2010
New Music / News flashes Megafaun + The Rosebuds + Bon Iver + more: Gayngs' stoned-soul
Posted by Grayson Currin @currincy on Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 5:33 PM
This afternoon, big-time Indiana indie label Jagjaguwar finally dropped the official word on Gayngs, the psychedelic soul collaboration between all of Megafaun, Ivan Howard of The Rosebuds, Justin Vernon and Mike Noyce of Bon Iver and a slew of Minnesota and Wisconsin musicians culled from bands like P.O.S., Solid Gold and Andrew Bird's touring unit. And that was a long sentence. We mentioned the project last summer, and Megafaun and Howard even unveiled the album's sublime, surreal closer, "The Last Prom on Earth," at last year's TRKFest. But the band's debut LP, Relayted, now has a release date of May 11 and a cover of, uhh, an intertwined pot leaf and vagina.
Helmed by Twin Cities beat man Ryan Olson, Relayted's 11 tracks—all set at 69 beats per minute—cum flooded with stacked keyboards, thick bass and at least one shocking sax solo. There's soul-singing, spectral harmonies and a Bone Thugs rap from Vernon. Meanwhile, the interludes that link the tracks lift all of it to a sort of rarefied Miles Davis Get Up With It space. It's a project without a lot of precedents, especially given the music on which most of those involved have built their reputations. And as silly and preposterous as it might sound, it somehow works, thanks in large part to the excellent playing and surprising singing and its consistent, slowly unfurling aesthetic.
At any rate, it should be interesting to see the public's response to Gayngs: Can what began mostly as a joke become one of the weird successes of music this year? Maybe.
Comments (1)
Showing 1-1 of 1
- To create paragraphs in your comment, type <p> at the start of a paragraph and </p> at the end of each paragraph.
- To create bold text, type <b>bolded text</b> (please note the closing tag, </b>).
- To create italicized text, type <i>italicized text</i> (please note the closing tag, </i>).
- Proper web addresses will automatically become links.
Latest in Scan
-
Saturday: The Backsliders, PKM raise money to battle Parkinson's Disease
Seven bands join to raise funds for The Michael Gardner Foundation.
- May 16, 2013
-
The Third Expression will roll tape at Marsh Woodwinds
A live recording at Raleigh's finest listening room features two of the region's best instrumental outfits, The Third Expression and the Bernie Petteway Trio.
- May 15, 2013
-
Interview: Lost in the Trees' Ari Picker discusses the band's new, non-orchestral lineup
We caught up with Picker to gain some insight into his outfit's creative shift before they head to the studio.
- May 15, 2013
- More »
More by Grayson Currin
-
The Darkness and the woes of revivalist one-hit wonders
No matter how well Hot Cakes recaptures and reasserts the charisma that made people love them a decade before, The Darkness are now only a relic of a previous moment.
- May 8, 2013
-
The week in music: April 3-10, 2013
10&2: a dozen gigs for your consideration
- Apr 3, 2013
- More »
