Available on: Latitudes 12″

Southern’s boutique Latitudes imprint has just released Kamakura, a session New York’s Gang Gang Dance apparently recorded prior to their Saint Dymphna wake-up call to the world. It’s a fascinating snapshot of the band as they stood in 2007, and sits nicely with the rest of their body of work. Hitting many ideas in the space of one track is a brave move; a statement of intent. But how well does it work?

The CD begins bewilderingly, with shady, stuttering beats and slo-mo, yawned vocals. It quickly evolves into a duet between variously-sped vocals as noises and brief melodies filter in and out of the mix. By about two minutes in, a shape evolves out of the aural mists, with clipped melodic stabs making like a G-Funk Autechre. GGD allow the song to settle into this groove for long enough to the listener to appreciate it, initially a concern when it seemed as though the piece was going to go through more changes than a Kid 606 remix of Aphex Twin.

But change it does once more, into a more minimalist, rhythmic, sound, around the four-minute mark. Echoing sine waves and string stabs combine to evoke an almost paradoxical clean grime sound; Ruff Sqwad in the lab in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It becomes more of a party when we get to six minutes, a “put your hands up” and gorgeously thick bass allying with beats to get your head nodding in violent agreement.

A new beat enters two minutes later, the vocal sample speeding up and a real menacing beat introducing the arrival of Tinchy Stryder. It’s a segment that could be clipped out from the whole and the world would declare it one of the finest singles of the year. As it is, it’s just another fantastic phase in the song they call ‘Amorphous History (Closing Seen)’. At ten minutes GGD decide we need a rest after the crescendo to the grime-core aggro, so we go chill with Latin arpeggio and snatches of Middle Eastern melody, bound by the strangely melancholy return of the synths from earlier. Growing into a more traditional song-sound – with singing and everything! – the track finally begins its gradual descent into silence before ending at fifteen minutes.

What initially sounded like it could be a bit of a mess, and a very long quarter-hour is actually a densely-layered, thoughtfully composed piece of work. Repeated listens reveal the structure and hooks become evident. Ideas that shouldn’t work together actually juxtapose beautifully, and the sense of pacing is perfect for a song of this length. Kamakura is a stand-alone extended single release of a bustling, insane genius that recalls the magnificent Boredoms’ 2008 ‘Voaltz’ / ‘Rereler’ remixes. Get it if you can.

Robin Jahdi