Gay Beast is a band that defies the word “genre”. On their second LP, Second Wave, they're on full-explosion mode, and every corner of this album is filled with some of the most mathematical “dance-noise” you'll ever hear. Literally, every song will catch you off guard, and it even seems that they have invented new musical time signatures. The record is mostly instrumental, but some tracks do feature vocals from lead singer, Daniel Luedtke. If you want to hear something new and intensely interesting, Second Wave was made for you.

This album pulls influences from post-punk, lo-fi, techno, and just a tiny bit of new wave. Think of it this way: If Sonic Youth and Le Tigre got together and wrote songs for a messed up version of At the Drive-In, you may have Second Wave. Dancing to what sounds like a broken record has never been more fun. It’s hard to pick any stand-out tracks from the album, as each song has the same quirky qualities as its predecessor, but with just enough differences to keep things exciting. Even their song names are a good kind of strange, with “Eeexxxpppaaannndddiiinnnggg”, “Exploding Knee”, and “Make a Map, Pressing Hard” as examples.

Second Wave is certainly something most music lovers have never heard before. Upon first listen, it may also be hard to digest because of how different it is. Changing time signatures and experiments in noise sometimes make it sound like each member is playing three different songs at once; but if you listen closely, you can hear that these three people are very talented musicians who know how to make their experiments fun.

MP3: Gay Beast- "Eeexxxpppaaannndddiiinnnggg"


For more Gggaaayyy Bbbeeeaaasssttt, go to myspace.com/gaybeast.

-Article by Doug Liggins

Labels: album review, experimentala, gay best, noise, post-punk, second wave