Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Gang of Four

My not entirely negative review of Gang of Four’s Content, which has been out since late January on Yep Roc. The review runs at Dusted today.
“Who am I when everyone is me?” That’s the question that Jon King asks in “Who Am I,” one of 10 new songs on Gang of Four’s first album of new material since Shrinkwrapped in 1995. Since then, a whole wave of Gang of Four acolytes have come and, for all intents and purposes, gone — Liars, The Rapture, Radio 4, Franz Ferdinand among them. So, “Who am I” is a fair question, though perhaps a half a decade tardy. When you’re a vastly influential, much-imitated band that has been out of the game for a while, what do you do to distinguish yourself from your imitators?
There are two options, really. One is to become more yourself than anyone else. The other is to become something entirely different.


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