Gossip – Music for Men

On the surface, Portland band Gossip has little in common with North Carolina’s The Avett Brothers. While both appeal to a punk audience, they do it in different ways: Gossip with their disco flavor, the Avetts with an alt-country twang. The Avetts are a reserved group of fellows, and The Gossip is headed by the mega personality of Beth Ditto. But in 2009 several similarities draw the bands together for comparison. Mainstream press touted both as “The Next Big Thing” though the two bands have been around for years now. Drawing the two more parallel is that The Gossip and The Avett Brothers are both making their major label debut with albums backed by legendary producer Rick Rubin.

For Gossip, much like the Avetts, major label recognition is long over due. Music for Men is their first studio album for Columbia Records but the fourth full-length of their career (they also have several EPs, remix and live releases in their indie catalog). The album is a healthy dose of what the band has been doing for years. If the mainstream audience wasn’t ready for Ditto, this is her declaration of get ready or get lost.

Much has been written about Gossip’s frontwoman Beth Ditto— from her posing on a magazine cover with her plus-sized nude body, to her very public verbal lashing against Katy Perry for commercializing gay and lesbian culture without paying the dues of the gay and lesbian struggle for equality. However, even with the media fare, nobody can deny Ditto and her golden pipes. Ditto’s vocals are a heavyweight punch with the power of Karen O and soulful range of Aretha Franklin.

While Music for Men is missing an all-out vocal scorcher from Ditto (see “Night” from Movement or the title track from Standing in the Way of Control), she does flex her muscle on the first single “Heavy Cross” and the gay pride “Men in Love.” Elsewhere on the album she tones down but still shines with “Live Long Distance.” The track “2012” is a great call back to ’80s new wave with Ditto in full Pat Benatar mode.

Rubin behind the boards has done pretty much what he also did on The Avett Brothers album, this being to not mess with a formula that works. The sound of the album isn’t a giant leap from what Gossip produced independently — very punk, very disco. Here and there some keys and synths have been added for effect with great results. “Pop Goes the World” is a one-track dance party where Ditto screams out for emancipation, “We’ll start a demonstration, or we’ll create a scene,/ make noise from our frustration, newspapers magazines./ We’ll turn them on their heads, you can’t deny it.” The synth drumbeat is heaviest on “Four Letter World,” which slows down slightly to echo a Joy Division type sound.

Music for Men is a solid major-label introduction. It does little to compromise the sound for longtime supporters, but does have moments where the band strays from their comfort zone to further their growth. While a lot of publications continue to focus on Beth Ditto’s antics, they tend to overlook that the music coming from Gossip is even more colorful and outspoken than the lead singer’s personality. When it comes to punk music, Beth Ditto and Gossip are the real deal.

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Tagged as: disco-punk, Portland

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