Polydistortion Manhattan KS

Polydistortion

Gus Gus

4AD Records, 1997

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 07/15/1997

Let's be honest here - when you think of rock and roll, the first place in the world that comes to mind isn't Iceland. Hell, if the Sugarcubes hadn't burst onto the scene back in the late '80s, probably the only think Reykjavik would have been remembered for was a summit between Reagan and Gorbachev.

So it was with trepidation that I approached the debut release from Gus Gus, Polydistortion. Any band with nine members tends to scare me. Even their cryptic bio kept me from listening to the disc for a few days.

But after a few spins on the old CD player in the Pierce Memorial Archives (sterilized for your protection), I have to admit this is an entertaining, though at times challenging, listen that blows Bjork and her former band away.

The sparse liner notes prevent me from giving credit where credit should be issued. It's hard to tell if it is Daniel Agust, Magnus Jonsson or Hafdis Huld singing. Thanks to the bio, though, some performances can be singled out: Agust's vocals on "Polyesterday" and "Believe" (the latter featuring a killer riff from Kool & The Gang as a sample) make these tracks some of the best dance-cum-alternative I've heard blaring out of the speakers in a long time. And Huld does wonders on "Cold Breath '79," sounding slightly like a more controlled Bjork, only much more fluid in her vocal. (I'd love to know who does the vocal on "Is Jesus Your Pal?," a song which may be the unheralded performance on the disc.)