Ebu Gogo
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Ebu Gogo

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"Ebu Gogo in the Memorial Union"

Wikipedia.org defines Ebu Gogo as a "grandmother who eats anything."

The site goes on to explain that the Ebu Gogo are "a race of human-like creatures similar in form to the leprechaun or elf. These 'little people' are said to be about three feet tall, covered in hair, pot-bellied and with ears that stick out."

Okay, somewhat odd, right?

The band Ebu Gogo could probably be defined as equally as odd. Yet, just as this race of "grandmothers who eat anything" are intriguing, mysterious and surprisingly interesting, so is the band by the same name.

Ebu Gogo played in the Memorial Union Ballroom Wednesday night at an event sponsored by the Kingston Project. The band was second in the lineup and played with Facing New York, Joe Beats and Blak.

The "ballroom" was barely large enough to fit a stage into. The crowd was small, and there was a friendly German-shepard-looking dog perusing the aisles throughout the show. But the few who attended the show know just how talented Ebu Gogo actually is.

As Gavin Castleton (keyboard), Brendan Bell (percussion) and Justin Abene (bass) walked onto the stage, the first thing I noticed was the pair of white, semi-creepy goggles that each band member wore on their head.

These goggles looked like they belonged on the head of someone dressed up as a giant bug (no, I'm not really sure why anyone would be dressed as a giant bug), and certainly not as part of the outfit of a band playing in concert. However, these unusual accessories served as foreshadowing for the rest of the set.

I had been warned beforehand by the friend who I was attending the concert with that Ebu Gogo was an instrumental band. This was something I was a little apprehensive about since most of the music I'm accustomed to listening to sounds pretty much the same and always contain words.

Yet, as the show progressed, my doubts about the band's talents and abilities ceased. They were so talented instrumentally that adding in lyrics would have probably ruined the songs. Each song seemed to be doing to me what music is supposed to do: make you feel something.
I felt relaxed, so much so that I put down my geeky journalism notebook and pen and sat back to devote my complete attention to the band. Somehow, the band's energy and passion about their music seemed to transcend into the crowd and create this sort of hypnotism-like effect on the audience. I found myself completely absorbed in the complexity of the music.

To describe the exact genre of music that Ebu Gogo plays would be somewhat impossible to do. Most of their songs were along the lines of "experimental" rock, where the musicians just play a lot of seemingly unrelated beats which somehow come together to sound quite amazing. Some of the songs were more mellow and laid back and had a sort of jazz-like sound. A lot of their music reminded me of something that would be played during the closing credits in Star Wars (weird, I know, but surprisingly awesome). One thing is for sure, and that is that Gavin Castleton is a keyboard genius.

So next time you're just "chillin'" in your dorm room and have gotten tired of the Flavor of Love reruns on MTV and Facebooking everyone and their mothers, check out Ebu Gogo's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/ebugogoband. You'll be pleasantly surprised, I promise.
- The Good 5 cent Cigar


"Ebu Gogo"

Ebu Gogo is a three-piece instrumental group from Providence, Rhode Island that combines upbeat rock grooves with classic 80’s synth to make impressive movements of film-inspired sonic experimentation. As stated on the band’s MySpace page, Ebu Gogo’s “sole purpose is to enjoy itself, reference movies more than music and embrace its inner nerd.” Indeed, the group definitely places a strong emphasis on having fun and draws most of its influence from classic movies such as Creepshow, Gremlins and The Goonies, to name just a few. The band’s first and only album to date, entitled Chase Scenes 1-14, is a homemade collection of songs that pack a seriously surprising punch. From the spastic opener “Cuckoo For Bird Flu,” to the groovy “Marathon Morning” and the tranquil “Cave of Les Miserably,” Chase Scenes showcases a diverse and amusing array of tunes. The drums and bass supply plenty of driving beats and intricate rhythms, while the synthesizer embarks on wild tangents of entertaining and often hilarious melodies that evoke fond memories of primitive 80’s Hollywood film scores. Each track rapidly develops and moves into the next, making for a whirlwind of a listening experience that seems to end just as it got started. While Ebu Gogo’s music certainly comes off as comical, you need only look at the bugeyed goggles worn by the band members during performances to realize that they wouldn’t have it any other way. It seems clear that the band’s primary goal is to have fun with their music and to resurrect the inner children of those who grew up watching the Hollywood films that they adore. But do not let their goofiness and sense of humor fool you—Ebu Gogo possess a sharp artistic insight and sophisticated skills that pushes their sound to impressive heights. - Sonic Frontiers


"Musica In Tensione"

Seeing as how I seem to spend the majority of my largely illusory (and thus more disposable) income on what has quickly become obsolescent, the compakt disk, and any remaining phantom funds to obtain secondhand instruments (such as doodads, gizmos, and whizzing whirring whatthefucksitdos) for the express purpose of composing and performing music, it's frustratingly rare that I actually get out and enjoy music like it's supposed to be enjoyed. This disparity between live and Memorex could have something to do with the stultifying effect of being me, dancing. You (or I) might think that I would be relieved then, that it's rare for me feel that pulse, that rhythm, the beat, the need to get up and physically act on what the sound is telling me to do, but no—I fucking love that feeling, I think we all do (assuming you and I, and the other yous that are not you, that we each have a soul). That's why this lacking in my life, a lack of the most pure expression of what is a vital part of my life, is frustrating, exacerbated by the unbearably lame self-consciousness responsible.

And so it is that I've decided to fill that chasm, bring disparity closer to a parity, and by the power invested in me by the almighty bullet-shaped signifier, chronicle my adventures in enjoyment of the good rock show as many an internetist has chronicled before, except with a far greater percentage of neologisms and legomenons (the hapax kind).

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The sun rose on Thursday to reveal itself as actually being a Saturday (well, no it was still Thursday, but we, the marginally employed/gainfully self-employed can treat any damn day we please as a Saturday), a day to be spent with a group of friends and falafel pockets in the streets of Providence and then head south, with those very same friends, to catch a free show on the beautiful beach of Matunuck, headlined by the well-goggled, but less googled, purveyors of semi-sinister chase themes, Ebu Gogo. The show was generously put together by a group of youths appearing more youthful than they probably should and generously attended by youthier youths courtesy of the ever-popular all-ages denomination. Wearing their usual attire of abused irony, the kids know how to enjoy a good thing, and a good thing it was.

Now let me be concise in describing the venue: shit was fucking intimate. Can you understand how that emphasis resounds? If not, I'll explicate: I'm not talking cramped hovel that smells like piss and skunk-stench; where the stage is not a stage, just a slightly elevated extension of the floor that ultimately makes the band more cramped than the audience; where you can't actually hear the music above the din of people who just came to do "something" (except listen).

No, this wasn't like that at all. Probably because it wasn't a real venue at all, it was nature. Make like Mr. Rogers and imagine it if you would: you're standing on soft grass, grass that you could sit on too if you like, it's clean, no needles hiding among the blades. The band is set up on that very same grass, and you can get as close as you like, as long as you're not making anyone uncomfortable and/or physically ruining the performance, but maybe that's ok too, shit is intimate, just don't be an asshole. And everyone there is there because they came for music, reacting to the music in personal forms of exultation. And the beach behind you, it too is just there for the music, waves crashing quietly in the background; Neptune doesn't want to interrupt. Maybe this is the way to experience live music.


Clouds
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If you're unfamiliar with the sound of Ebu Gogo, get familiar. An extension of the cultishly-adored-by-those-that-know, Grüvis Malt, self-proclaimed innovators of Futurock currently on indefinite hiatus, Ebu Gogo has whittled themselves down to a lean, mean, instrumental machine, a Bass/Keys/Trap Kit combo engaged in the production of soundtracks to motion pictures of their own imagination. On their first album, Chase Scenes 1-14, they run through the fourteen breathless non sequitur in under 40 minutes, slowing only to add menace on "Never Ending Hole" and parts of "Mostly Evil, Totally Dead", a song so treacherous they added outtakes at the end so that we can feel drummer Brendan Bell's pain as he misses one of the many time changes ("Red Light Fever").

You can draw connections to a lot of the bands if you want, especially those they themselves acknowledge (I would choose the ones making linear structured mayhem), but you don't need to. They say This Heat, I prefer Massacre (if you replaced Fred Frith's avant-garde noise infatuations with good ol' NES-nostalgia; Ninja Gaiden's got'm cut in two).

For all the goodness of Chase Scenes, however, I never really listened it. The recording quality is admittedly low-budget, not in a teenager-with-a-four-track kind of way, but in a way that you know they're professionals that just wanted to get something out - Man-Made Mammon


Discography

"Worlds" (2007)
Streamed through various online & digital websites Receives airplay within the college circuit

"Chase Scenes 1-14" (2006)
Streamed through various online & digital websites Receives airplay within the college circuit

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Bio

We are a weird band. Loud and exciting to watch. This is what people say. From our musicianship to our ability to have goofy fun with our songs, we bring the audience into our version of how live music should be enjoyed. The concerts we play are some of the only artistic situations that allow us to express our inner nerd, and our crowd loves us for it. Our influences are just about everything, including weird sounds your coffee machine makes.