REVIEW: Gus Gus, Gus Gus Vs. T-World (4AD)
- Andrew Duncan
With their second release This Is Normal gaining the proper respect in the electronic community, the nine-piece Icelandic outfit certainly has no shortage of talent. Who else has the art of blending ethereal pop and new wave ethics with finely defined techno from a collective of artists, filmmakers, musicians, a politician, a computer programmer and a teen star? With Gus Gus Vs. T-World, the band is actually taking a relapse in time.
Before there was Gus Gus, there was T-World, a band consisting solely of Biggi Thorarinsson and Herb Legowitz, the two members responsible for turning Gus Gus into the underground phenomena they are today. The seven songs - all instrumentals - that are included on this CD are mostly T-World's work prior to Gus Gus' debut Polydistortion. The most familiar track on this CD is probably "Purple," a bouncy, outer space techno song that crossed over into Polydistortion release, and also remixed by Paul Oakenfold on the Tranceport CD.
Influenced by a healthy dose of Depeche Mode and early industrial, T-World's style offered a sound that contained motion, glistening across a vast landscape of sampled textures while building and expanding like the polar ice caps that drift across the Arctic Ocean.
Without the crafty vocal wit that is displayed on the Gus Gus albums, songs like "Northern Lights" and "Sleepytime" offer elegant trip-hop rhythms and loops, even with the flat four-on-the-floor beats, a feat that not too many musicians can pull off.
Whether the band develops distant tribal and subtle ambience on "Anthem" or mysterious trance on "Esja," there is not one dull moment to be had, and that goes a long way given the fact this music was created years ago.
