Showing: Gossip- Heavy Cross. FIERCE

Posted by Will in Archive on 06 15th, 2009 | one response

Music videos are interesting little additions to the image a band projects. And for so many years, since they first came to public fruition, I’ve been waiting for a video of the Gossip just being ‘there’- none of this cartoon background larkey of “Standing In The Way…”or the busy “Listen Up”. With some bands, I’m always hoping for a big new idea since I don’t feel their persona is enough to carry across the idea of a song. Kasabian showed how a cool idea can lift a song with ‘Shoot The Runner’, taking Apple’s iPod advert groundwork and then adding paint. It was genius.

The Gossip are different. Say what you want about Beth Ditto, the girl has serious style, and I want to see more of them being themselves. And that is why I am so happy the day has finally come. In the video to their new single “Heavy Cross” (from the forthcoming Music For Men), they just belt out the damn thing, of course with arty backlighting and glitter effects. “Heavy Cross” is out today and is an absolute beast of a record, far and away some of their strongest material- it has all the boxes checked, the raw aggression and passion unchecked but with some much improved song structure, down to Rick Rubin, who produced the record.

Watching the video for the first time, I instantly thought of Lady GaGa, and her quirky ’style’. Beth gets once over on her by wearing funky head-gear in the video, combined with a catsuit. Oh, and she can shoot glitter from her hands, like a modern day version of Jubilee. Take that, Germanotta.

I find the controversy surrounding Ditto totally unnecessary. And I would like to point out that if Beth was a small waif like ‘normal’ girl, that voice, the incredible Ditto wonder, would not be blessing our ears. We have so much more to hear from this band, the saga isn’t over with yet.

The video is also a great excuse to post some of the fantastic remixes that we missed first time around. Fred Falke is a bit of an unsung hero, and he turns the formerly breakneck song into a near-9 minute ballad with an epic bridge to complement the origianal. In the Burns remix, we are treated to some understated percussion which then transforms into a floor-filler. And if you are unconvinced at the live potential, fear not- we have Culture Bully to thank for a mp3 version of Gossip’s performance of “Heavy Cross” on Friday Night With… Jonathan Ross. All together, this song is an anthem for ‘09, and will no doubt be on many of our year end lists.

Gossip- Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix) Link 2 Link 3

Gossip- Heavy Cross (Burns Remix) Link 2 Link 3

Gossip- Heavy Cross (Live on Friday Night with… Jonathan Ross) Link 2 Link 3

In other news, I was meant to attend a fan party in London with free booze and the first play through of the new album, but it was cancelled. No news yet on the reschedule, but there will be one. We’ll cover the event if it happens! Stay tuned- we will be back to normal business from tomorrow, when my laptop is finally fixed!