Archive Review: The Gossip's Undead In NYC (2003)

Although the Reverend has vintage bootlegs in his collection with better sound quality than Undead In NYC, there’s no denying the power and the passion of the Gossip’s performance. Kicking out mutant punk blooze with a whiskey edge and an amphetamine heart, the Gossip’s secret weapon is singer Beth Ditto. Ditto’s sweaty, leather-lunged vocals rise above the muddy mix to grab the listener by the ears and shake ‘em out of their major label induced coma. Axeman Nathan Howdeschell rails at the world with all the subtlety of the Mississippi River breaking through its levees and flooding the Delta.

With Ditto’s vocals lost in the din, and her lyrical obsessions with love and lust all but indecipherable, the band rocks like a drunken fratmonkey and the audience’s obvious enthusiasm is contagious. A raucous cover of the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” performed with friends from Chromatics, quickly spirals out of control and into chaos before ending in an orgy of feedback and clashing instrumentation. Undead In NYC may not be the best example of the Gossip’s charms but it does show that 30 minutes is all it takes for this Arkansas trio to rock your world. (Dim Mak Records)

Review originally published by Jersey Beat music zine, 2003