Album excerpts:

"Dimestore Diamond"

"Love Long Distance"

"Spare Me From the Mold"

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The Gossip : Music For Men
released on Sony Records
reviewed by Gaspar Oliveira for GBH.tv

Gossip can't change what they are. As one of the last remaining dance-punk bands left from the late 90's/early 00's post-punk revival (and, arguably, the most successful), the Portland-by-way-of-Arkansas trio of Beth Ditto, Brace Paine, and Hannah Billie has made its name on more than just simple, powerful tunes. To thousands, maybe even millions of fans, Gossip stands for staying true to yourself, no matter what.

So despite all the anxiety surrounding the signing to Sony and the tapping of Rick Rubin as a producer, the latest Gossip album, Music For Men, sounds exactly like it should: Billie's drums still sit on the delta between rock aggression and funky time keeping, Paine's guitars still scrape and slash at the dancefloor, and Ditto's vocals and personality still captivate. Far from being some grandiose sell-out or pitiable overreach, Music For Men is just a bigger, brighter, punchier Gossip album.

The central question, then, is whether the extra bells and whistles, discrete as they might be, are a good thing. Gossip albums derive a lot of power from their simplicity, and there are some unusual touches here: the thin burn of canned strings ("Vertical Rhythm"), rolling Italo disco bass ("Love Long Distance"), and spirited, honking saxophones ("Spare Me From the Mold"), just to name a few. But none of these changes the fundamental spirit and flavor of Ditto and Paine's songs, and if anything, they invite repeated listens in a way that their scrappier earlier work sometimes didn't.

It's still too early to tell if Sony's dreams of breaking Gossip in the mainstream will come true. The label's hoping another round of accolades from the UK press as well as advance MP3 releases will give Music For Men enough time to develop a word-of-mouth buzz before its physical release in the U.S. in October, and frankly, I hope that works. Succeeding on your own terms, without compromise, after all, is a very American thing, and Gossip's fierce passion deserves it.

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