Beijing duo 工工工 (Gong Gong Gong) make music from the sparest of means: one guitar and one bass, interweaving riffs and rhythms to create forward-charging, drummerless grooves. Drawing inspiration from Bo Diddley, the Monks, drone, and African and Southeast Asian psychedelic music, their sound exists between cultures.
\"Down Quantity Road 數量的王國,\" Gong Gong Gong’s second single on Wharf Cat Records, showcases the duo in a more meditative realm than the galloping roar of their earlier material. The song is a cryptic account of modern existence, where happiness is quantified and inextricably attached to productivity. Tom Ng’s lyrics, delivered in his native Cantonese, compound and overlap, contained by the dark twang of his guitar and floating on the chiming harmonics of Joshua Frank’s bass drone. The song progresses as if a ferry pulling away from shore, resolution left churning in its wake.
Gong Gong Gong ended 2018 on a high note, releasing their first US 7”, Siren and supporting Parquet Courts and Flasher on back-to-back American tours. Their US performances have brought them everywhere from San Francisco’s iconic Fillmore to storied New York performance space The Kitchen. They’ll be embarking on their first European tour in February and March (dates below) including a string of shows with Bodega. A limited edition flexi disc will be available at their upcoming shows featuring \"Down Quantity Road.\"
\"Add Quotation Here.\"
Tour Dates:
Feb 7 Munich – Import Export
Feb 8 Viechtach – Altes Spital
Feb 9 Basel – RENÉE
Feb 12* Brussels – Botanique (Rotonde)
Feb 14* Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
Feb 15* Glasgow – The Art School
Feb 16* Dublin – Whelan's
Feb 17 & 18* Manchester - YES
Feb 19* Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
Feb 20* London – Scala
Feb 23* Paris – Point Éphémère
Feb 25* Rotterdam – Rotown Rotterdam
Feb 26* Amsterdam – Bitterzoet
Feb 28* Berlin - Berghain Kantine
Mar 2 Berlin – Dave Lombardo Bar
Mar 7 Copenhagen – Mayhem
*with Bodega
\"Down Quantity Road 數量的王國\" Lyrics
數量的王國
數量如惡夢在增加發熱
數量和數量在相加相接
不安穩 不斷開 不可知的上限裏面
線條從眼神射進半空裏面
線條和線條在空中交接
消失點交錯於不可靠的透視前
在雨中 被研碎 往河裏沖
在海中 還繼續 隨水流動
Quantity’s nightmare, feverish rise
Quantity on quantity, connect and entwine.
Unstable, unbroken, under an unknown ceiling.
Lines shoot from eyes, straight into the air
Lines over lines, interlocking in the sky.
Vanishing points weave into an unreliable plane.
In the rain, pummeled to pieces, swept to the stream.
Out in the ocean, at the mercy of the tide.
Praise for Gong Gong Gong’s Siren 追逐劇 7”:
“Their work is spare and savage, with Ng’s Cantonese singing uncannily evoking a heavily accented British punk.”
– The New Yorker
“They’ve captured that feeling of being alive on the road, of the speed and the gravel and the fear.”
– Stereogum
“...listeners are given a totalizing soundscape that brings to mind a pure immersion in a foreign land.\"
– Interview Magazine
