Originally posted at Sick of The Radio on June 12, 2010:
Hailing from Glendale, CA, electro-folksters Gangi comprise Matt Gangi, Eric Chramosta, and occasionally Lyle Ness and Oliver Hild. By blending paranoid, echoing samples, dusty guitars and drum machines, Gangi’s music evokes cinematic, wide open spaces. It all seems to make sense, then, when Matt declares “I really want it to sound like an industrial silo in the middle of an open field.” Despite scaring off a prospective producer with this cryptic demand (see their interview with BuzzBands here), Gangi seem to have achieved their vision. On the intoxicating ‘Region One’, Pink Floyd-esque acoustic guitar licks and eerie vocals are shadowed by the hum and grind of background radiation: the industrial silo, looming in the darkness. It is in this atmospheric, sprawling synthesis of psychedelic rock and electronica that Gangi have found their niche. It represents a duality between the old and the new – in the words of Matt Gangi, “we’re surrounded by natural environments and industrial complexes.” The result sounds like Dark Side of the Moon colliding with Endtroducing, via 2001: A Space Odyssey (Gangi and Ness’s educational backgrounds in film certainly shine through).
Following their 2008 debut, A, Gangi featured in Spin Magazine’s Best of CMJ 2008 list. The follow up, pencilled in as Gun Show, is still in the works. In the meantime, check out Gangi’s facebook/a> and the live performance of ‘Waiting On the Line’, below.