A promising Franco-American pairing delivers a hallucinatory trip built from dub, electro, no wave, trip-hop, arty rock, and exotic visions.
It wouldn’t even take them half an hour to win us over with the nine tracks of their new album. The songs in question never stoop to pulling out the flashy, opportunistic tricks of artists brimming with ambition who want to seduce at any price.
Patchwork and magnificent, without dogmas or borders, Honk Gong’s sonic collages seem to stumble between styles, like a Gorillaz not quite clear or a 90s Beck who refused to grow up. Dub, electro, no wave, trip-hop, arty rock, exotic visions… It’s impossible to categorize this work under a single label, ending with a gnashing, wry laugh, in the manner of Thriller.
Delightfully Lo-Fi DIY Collages
The two driving forces of the group, the French Paul Ramon (Pleasure Principle, Bryan’s Magic Tears and the late Villejuif Underground) and the Californian Robin Jiro Margerin (Salopecia, There’s Ifs), take us on a hallucinatory trip on a flying rug that tears apart, yet carries us gently toward extraordinary lands.
The duo crafted these delightfully lo-fi bricolages with the deft hand of musician and producer Paul Rannaud. We can thank a thousand times the cult label Celluloid Records, recently revived after three decades of slumber, for this new discovery whose senses are left reeling and with a smile on the lips.
Honk Gong (Celluloid Records/Modulor). Release on November 6.
