Dance? Trance? Disco Be-Bop til you can't stop? Well, my friend, Grand Rapids, Michigan's
GARGANTA is for you! Fusing electronic gadget with live instruments, this trio gets heads nodding from the first note and simply refuses to let go.
Original
ly a duo (video-DJ Kevin Brumm and guitarist/keyboardist Josh Wilson), the group recently added percussionist Kurt Schmiege to round out their sound and has stepped undaunted into the ever expanding realm of live electronics.
With bands like
STS9 and
Lotus paving the way, much of the electronic scene has moved away from the rave DJ and towards the musicians with pedals, synths and whatever other fantastical gadgets they c
an get their hands on; and in an age of ever expanding technological abilities, why not tap a creative impulse into the computer?
GARGANTA knows this and uses it to their advantage when approaching their nearly 100% improvised live sets. Like any good DJ, the band will feel out the crowd and play to the strengths and weaknesses of the moment transitioning from up tempo booty-shakin, arm-flailin beats to down tempo head-nodding grooves. This is done not only through the music, but also with live visuals that would make any 1950's sci-fi film maker turn harlequin green with envy.
More so than perhaps any other genre the atmosphere of an electronic show plays as important a role as the music itself. Almost anyone can plug in a few flashing lights, hand out glow sticks, and call it good, but
GARGANTA is one of the few to not only take visuals a step further, but run every aspect of the show themselves. On the fly. In the dark.
I was lucky enough to have the fellas stop by the WIDR studios the day before they opened for
EOTO, and play a live set (
click here for the podcast). I didn't know much of them, but it didn't take long before my head took on a bobble-head feel, my foot started a tappin and nearly impulsively I put my headphones on to hear every small beep and boop coming out of the sound studio only a few feet away.
Simply put, it's engrossing.
GARGANTA's music has the feeling of a party you don't want to miss and know you belong to.
