Gilligan Moss - What Happened? EP

Gilligan Moss
What Happened? EP
2018
Spotify

I've been waiting for something new in Dance music for awhile now. Stuff has felt a bit stale like we were holding on to ideas from five years ago. The real experimental artists often take things too far and make their music interesting but not something you want to go back to again. Gilligan Moss it seems have found that super special middle ground where they can be somewhat experimental, but also put a beat on the floor that you can dance too. This EP feels like such an amalgamation of whats good in electronic music with the tracks wiggling their way through genre after genre. The cover indicates you might get some old school acid-house but this record is far more complex than that blending in hip hop elements and with an ear always turned towards pop. The dirty disco bassline on "Want U So Bad" is so nasty that when it drops on the chorus you are straight up transported to studio 54 in 2086. Many DJs find a breakbeat and are fine sitting in it and allowing it to bang through, but Gilligan Moss create these full and complex songs that have lives and dimension all their own. There is this off kilter sense to music they make where it is far more interesting than basic pop or dance, but it also strokes that same part of your brain. Pretty cool shit.

The title track "What Happened?" is so varied with these xylophone runs and big expressive sounds. Gilligan Moss are never settling for subtlety and instead they take these wide swings catching up everything in their path. Yet this truly does feel like just the beginning. The duo have a big remix of Glass Animals' "Gooey" under their belt, but other than that they are relatively new. This album sets them on a path of something really interesting and a new take on modern pop music. It is raw and somewhat disjointed, but those elements somehow come together to create something that is really special. It's not clear what path Gilligan Moss may take, because they seem to be blazing their own. Now if only the world could hear this stuff they might just blow up.

8.0 out of 10