Between solo releases and installments in their collaborative free improv series Rhythm n’ Drone, Beijing’s Gong Gong Gong have been releasing music at a steady clip since 2016. It wasn’t until 2019 that they released their official debut Phantom Rhythm, a Krauty post-punk album for Wharf Cat Records, which the band announced last month that they’ll be reviving this year with a full-length remix LP due out June 25. The latest track from Phantom Rhythm Remixed is a reworking of the minimal “Moonshadows” courtesy of Beijing-based artist and frequent GGG collaborator Simon Frank for a dancier—though equally tame—take on the track.
“Remixing ‘Moonshadows’ was actually my first time doing a remix,” Frank shares. “I think I have a unique perspective, because I’ve actually played a lot of music together before with Josh and Tom. So I almost tried to treat it like the three of us were playing together, even though we can’t do that altogether in a room right now. I had Tom’s vocals, and I cut up Josh’s bass into loops: these were their contributions to the song, and I tried to imagine what I would add if we were writing together, by programming a beat, adding synth lines, thinking about the rhythmic progression of the song. It’s pretty direct, but I think it sounds like Gong Gong Gong and me!
“I generally perform in a more ‘electronic’ context these days,” he continues, “but I’ve probably played more shows with Gong Gong Gong than any other artist in Beijing. And if I’m chatting with friends about ideas for music, production, etc…it’s more likely than not to be with them, even though on the surface our music is pretty different. So I’m really excited to be part of this project which draws out an unexplored aspect of their music, one which has always been there but some people might not have noticed.”
Hear the track below, and pre-order the record here.
