Beijing duo Gong Gong Gong taps into a wavelength uniting musical cultures, drawing on inspirations ranging from Bo Diddley to Cantonese opera, West African desert blues, drone, and the structures of electronic music. Between the locomotive chug and banjo twang of Tom Ng’s guitar and Joshua Frank’s thumping bass harmonics, an aura of ghostly snare hits and timpani overtones emerges. Over Frank’s enigmatic melodies, Ng sings in Cantonese, piecing together abstract tales of absurdity and doubt, desire and lust.

 

 

Since their last performance in Shanghai in 2018, Gong Gong Gong has toured extensively in the US and Europe with New York groups Parquet Courts and Bodega. They’ve performed at SXSW in Austin, Texas, as well as New York’s MoMA PS1.

 

 

The band’s debut studio LP, Phantom Rhythm, will be officially released in October on Brooklyn’s Wharf Cat Records. They’re joined by Shanghai experimental rock favorites Absolutely Purity, who shape guitar noise and electronic effects around singer Wen Jun’s commanding vocals to create cathartic anthems.