Straight of Rekjavik Iceland, the collaborative of artists, designers, actors, filmakers, musicians -- Gus Gus -- brought their unique blend of scratchy-analogue-trip-hop-house-groove to San Francisco's Fillmore. Where their first full length CD release on the ever-eclectic 4AD records tends to stray more in the introspective dark direction, their live show tended to be anything but melancholy. Gus Gus hit the stage initially with five members of their collective and delivered a tasty deep analogue groove as an "intro". Having half expected a more slow moving, methodical performance I was pleasantly surprised. By the third song performed, two of Gus Gus's three main front people had graced the stage. Already they had managed to serve up enough variety to show that this collective was some strange hybrid between electronica, ambient, and trip-hop, with just an occasional of a Bronski Beat-style vocal or two to invoke an odd flashback. Each front person having their own unique on-stage character and the accompanying video projections, complete with Gus Gus catch phrases and philosophies, seemed to give the show a well thought out design as well as offer some strange insight into the band as characters - as if straight out of a film. The imagery and stage antics were also approached with just enough campiness tostrip the group members of the ever-popular overblown ego that accompanies many electronica and techno artist's performances (take Moby for example) and present themselves as a fun event for the audience to enjoy as much as the group members obviously were. By the time Hafdis Huld, the final of Gus Gus's front people, hit the stage the performer count was 8 of 9 core Gus Gus members and the set was in full swing. Her super-pixie raverette dancing and audience interaction seemed to easily get the crowd finally moving, grooving and responding to the show at a level above what had already been achieved. From song to song vocal responsibilities were traded off and the invocation of the audiences positive response continued. It was refreshing to see a performance that continually increased in depth, scope and quality so that by the time it ended you really did want more. The final adjective that can be used to describe a Gus Gus performance would simply be FUN. The band is having fun and they invoke the audience to share in it with them.
Learn more about Gus Gus, their music, and their history by visiting the 4AD web site.
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