Gatekeeper's Aaron David Ross announces solo LP for Hippos In Tanks

Photo credit: Leia Jespe

As ADR, Ross experiments with “schizoid lifestyle music” on his forthcoming LP.

For the last few years, Aaron David Ross has toiled as half of Gatekeeper, crafting “psycho killer symphonies for the back alley discos of the macabre.” While that has meant wedding John Carpenter soundtracks with the entire history of Chicago dance music, his sophomore solo LP (following 2011’s Solitary Pursuits) tacks in a different direction.

On Chunky Monkey, ADR has fused the elevator music of everyday life with the electronic dance styles of days past (big beat, trip hop, jungle, and so on), resulting in “wholesome exotica and woozy, schizophrenic pop.” The first dispatch from the album, ‘Slush Fund’ (below), combines breezy acid jazz with vocal scats and breakbeats, like Muzak for a generation of ravers.

Chunky Monkey will be released on LP, CD and digital on April 16 via Hippos In Tanks, the same label that released Gatekeeper’s Exo last year. The cover art and tracklist are below.