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GANG GANG DANCE “Thoroughly enveloping, with a mesmerizing, vertiginous charm.” NY Times Retina Riddim is a film made by Gang Gang Dance member, and visual artist, Brian DeGraw. Retina Riddim is by no means a tour film, documentary, live video, or anything as remotely stringent. Though “art film” is a moniker that may be justly used to describe it, the term falls somewhat short of it’s mark. It is, however, Mr. Degraw’s first foray into film making and proves to be a more forward thinking release than many of their contemporaries might attempt. Informed by DeGraw’s work as a visual artist the film proves to be a perfect combination of sound and vision, and, as the title suggests, provides a rythum that plays on your eyes as much as your ears. DeGraw began the process by compiling a soundtrack from the bands audio archives, going as far back as 2003 and using live recordings, practice tapes, field recordings and elements of previously released recordings; all of which was assembled together into one seamless half-hour piece of music. The video elements were then bought into play, with Brian exhuming hours of tape, drawing small pieces from the archives, creating wholly new visual vignettes, and drawing on documentary footage that captures the heights of the band’s live performances from the last year, as well as the more idylllic moments of their travels around the world. Included on the DVD is a fan film, GGDbyOP, shot and edited on the road by Oliver Payne, a friend of the band’s. This is comprised mainly of footage shot of Gang Gang Dance, on-stage and off, during their tours of both the US and Australia in 2004. As an added bonus Retina Riddim also contains an audio CD cut together by Degraw sepcifically for this release. This was approached by him in much the same manner as the film, by assembling fragments of Gang Gang Dance music, mostly drawn from sound-checks and live shows, into one whole. Along with the CD and DVD is a fold-out poster designed by Mr. DeGraw. Retina Riddim provides a perfect audio-visual package - film, CD and poster - that sums up the band’s multi-faceted approach to their art. It is both a document of Gang Gang Dance’s progress over the past few years, and a look forward to the direction they are moving in.
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Catalog Number: TSR033 DVD Content: CD Content: FOR MORE INFO ON All Tracks Listed In Blue Are Linked To A Downloadable MP3 |