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The Gossip
It's a bold statement, but I'm not afraid to make it: The Gossip's Beth Ditto is the most charismatic lead singer in all of indie rock. She's all sassy growls and shimmy, a big girl with a bigger voice and she's not afraid to use it. Backed by the impossibly ordered chaos of Nathan (Brace Paine) Howdeshell's sledgehammer guitar and Hannah (Stan) Blilie's clamoring drums, Beth leads The Gossip on a sinuous Southern Gothic blues trip by way of No Wave and punk. (Originally from Arkansas, Ditto and Howdeshell relocated to the international pop underground HQ and 'greener utopia of Olympia, Washington where they added Billie to the lineup in 2004 after the departure of original drummer Kathy Mendonca.)
To be more precise, The Gossip's catalog -- a couple EPs and 3 full-lengths, the latest of which, Standing in the Way of Control, is produced by equally magnetic Rites of Spring and Fugazi axeman Guy Piccioto -- are part Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, part Russ Meyer and most of the time sound like a rare and blue soul gem unearthed from an alternate universe where Robert Plant and Janis Joplin had a torrid threesome with Irma Thomas and later got it on with The Slits and ESG too and somehow birthed all the members of The Gossip in the process. The band fairly drips with a seemingly unending sexuality; Ditto is an equal opportunity crooner, singing her way into the pants of ladies and gents alike -- and it's quite impossible to resist her.
And their live show? Just let go and dance your ass off and get sweaty -- everyone else will. And there's nothing as satisfying as a good laugh over Ditto's stage banter with her sexily dour bandmates on topics that run the gamut from toilet humor to political statements to her craft and cooking projects and recent gall bladder surgery. Really, if you like what you hear here -- or even if it's just marginally interesting -- do make a point to catch up The Gossip on stage somewhere during SXSW. And if it's not the best damn live show you've ever seen, I totally give you permission to track me down and register a complaint personally. That doesn't mean I'll listen, though.
The Gossip - Listen Up!
The Gossip - Dark Lines
The Gossip - Rules For Luv
The Gossip - Don't (Make Waves)
The Gossip - Swing Low
The Gossip's offical webpage. Buy Standing in the Way of Control from Amazon or the iTunes Music Store. Listen to their amazing, melancholy cover of The Ramones' "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" at The Gossip's Myspace page. And there's more mp3s at the band's Kill Rock Stars page.
Shadows tags:thegossip.
Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll at 02.28.06 at 2:23 AM
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