Everything Comes Together
Written by Editor Friday, 12 March 2010 02:12
Everything you ever wanted to know about Go Chic and their debut album, I Am Confused!
We like to do things a little differently
here at Waakao so we've got three different points of view about Go Chic and
their brand-new album, I Am Confused!. First up is an interview with Ariel
Zheng, lead singer. Then, to get the male vs. female perspective on the band's
new album, it was sent out to two of
Marcus Aurelius
Ariel Zheng, lead vocalist for Go Chic, faced
a difficult day when she had to tell her mother that she wanted to quit
college. But the experience of leaving school to "find herself" was
the best decision she ever made. "People are scared to listen to what is
inside themselves. They complain all the time that they can't change
everything, but they can. We encourage people to open up. To change." Zheng's
efficacious, take-no-prisoners attitude is the heart of Go Chic, and the group's
first album, I Am Confused! "People
think we are slightly absurd or don't know what we are talking about,"
says Zheng. "But there's an idea in it. We want people to know that it's
OK to be confused."
Winners
of a $400,000 grant from the
With lyrics in English ("I tried writing songs in Chinese, but it's hard not to be poppy"), and a pop/punk/electro sound that has been influenced by everyone from Primal Scream to Chicks on Speed to Spykee Fat's DJ sets, Go Chic has developed a sarcastic tone that mocks everything from fashion to foreigners with droopy pants. For Zheng, the best part of being in a band is the time she spends with her band mates in the studio. There's a moment where all the ideas and words synergize. She says, "It's all about when everything comes together."
Grrrrrl Pow! Pow! Power!
Alita Rickards
Go Chic don’t just break the
stereotypical innocent-little-girl mold that permeates Asian culture, they jump
up and down on it in brightly colored sneakers and smash it to smithereens. The
band has become more polished in the last two years since it began and it shows
on this album as well as in their live performances, but they have not been
overmastered to the point of losing their edge.
You enter the world of the “She”
generation through the chaotic robotic intro track This is Go Chic, with it’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics that are more
than a just a nod to pop culture; more of a full on head bang to it. “You
bought me a shot, it was like a shot through the heart.” Whether or not lead
singer Ariel Zheng (鄭思齊) is always aware of the references is debatable, and irrelevant.
Original lyrics like “If you wanna party with me, you gotta scream, shout,
jump, and fuck with me” do more to show the ethos of the band: punk rock not in
sound but in the I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude.
The second track, Acid Mstrd, makes reference to 1969 and
has a trippy psychedelic melody with great back ground vocals by Zheng
hypnotically accompanying the extended jamming on the track, and an excellent
line “the world was waiting for him to change, but he said ‘ooooh, oooohhhh,
ohhhhh’” The lyrics have more depth than previous efforts: “How do we liberate
the souls of a young mind?” which echoes the sentiments of the 60s.
Culture Supervisor takes us right back to the future with its
creeping synth and no bullshit message. Zheng raps out an attitude-ridden
litany of advice for ‘culture vultures’ with their ‘bullshit lectures’ that
just manages to avoid being strident.
More video game inspired synth
work lead us into 2010 which starts
off sounding more like 1980. Synthesizer and guitar player Sonia Lai (賴思勻) controls this song with the
simple chanting vocals adding a high-speed spoken-word nuance. Half way through,
when Zheng shifts into more smoky vocals, it enriches the song and brings to
mind an electronic femme fatale
singing an anthem to her generation.
24-hour Party Pooper starts off with some unnecessary video game
nonsense that quickly leads into an addictive bass line which is unfortunately
lost somewhat in the chaos of the song. The phrases “disco slut” and “cranky
pants” showcase Zheng’s way with words but it’s Lai’s grinding guitar riffs and
the winding spy-movie bass lines of Sarah Wen (溫一珊) that shine here. This is one song that would be good to hear live
with a more extended instrumental jam version. The interlude that does occur
makes me want to jump up and dance, though the fade out at the end is a
shocker! It needs a punchy full stop to end that awesome bass, not a dwindling
off that leaves me standing awkwardly in my living room as more video games
start with the next track.
Is that Ms Pacman? Again the
bleeps and buzzing seem excessive, especially when Zheng kicks in with some of
the best pop-indie-electro singing on the album. Hard Date is incredibly catchy, bringing to mind a chick version of
The Killers at the beginning. Is “Love will tear you apart” a nod to Joy
Division or an original creation of Zheng’s own? Does it matter? Go Chic are
the future and as she says repeatedly, they “are the reason to dance”. Another
one that is guaranteed to get people up and moving, which very likely could
become the top single off of the album.
The synth on Pod suits it perfectly, with the song as a whole seeming a bit like
a dark Dr. Seuss story told by party girls, with a scathing indictment of
foreign men here that has been a long time coming. "You’re fantasizing how
you’re making Asian pussies wet/ You’re only here ‘cause you’re not cool in the
United States/Well FYI you're also drooping in your shitty old pants.” A spoken
piece in the middle puts a more serious slant on the song, which again suffers
from an abrupt ending—just like a woman in bed, we want to finish! Don’t cut it
off right before we get there. The lyrics and message more than make up for
this technicality and may cause many to think it’s about time. In this song,
Zheng joins the ranks of Kate Nash and Lily Allen by writing lyrics that tell
the truth with no holds barred.
Track eight, Clap it for the Heartbreakers is alternately compelling and
annoying. It’s a Go Chic classic, if you can call a song by a band that has
only been together for two years a classic. In this album version the song gets
catchier at about two minutes in than it has seemed in live versions in which
Zheng fittingly uses a loudspeaker to chant the lyrics. Both the lyrics and
beat have a lot of potential but it seems raw considering more recent efforts
by the band.
Dance With Her is a good example of the more polished sound that
the group has become capable of. Although it starts off more down tempo and
groovy than most of the album, showcasing Zheng’s ability to sing rather than
scream, chant, or shout, it still has a modern edge.
The final song on the album, We Are All
Lovers and Runners is a great example of how far Go Chic has come in the
last couple years. It risked the same chanting style of track eight but instead
has become a fun, upbeat, hyper pop electro anthem for the band. Great drum
rhythms from Winston Lee (李昀璁), uplifting guitar riffs, and a youthful, engaging melody capture
the listener firmly in Go Chic’s sweaty embrace.
Alternating irreverent, in your
face, shocking, hilarious, mischievous, sexy, and goofy, Go Chic is a grrrrl
band with a post-feminist edge. Apologies to the male drummer, but it is what
it is. They are so over inequality they are prepared to reap the benefits of
being female without bothering to stoop so low as to use it to their advantage;
it is quite simply irrelevant.
In Mandarin, you call a hot girl
“la mei” or "spicy little sister," and a hot guy “ku ge” or cool big
brother. It’s considered wrong to say “ku mei”, which says something about the
limitations girls can be exposed to—and yet this is just what Go Chic’s girls
are: Ku mei—cool little sisters. And as to whether or not that is wrong to say?
I don’t think Go Chic would give a fuck.
Tom Leeming
"A
woman without her man is nothing" goes the old adage. Depending on your
punctuation, you can read that as you like. As a previously all-girl group but
now with a drummer dude, Go Chic’s first album, I Am Confused, walks the line between punky pop and electro rock,
but definitely leaning towards the manly. “I can not even bother explaining
this to you” is the opening proclamation to track one, ironically explained
however, as it is called This is Go Chic—a
self-referential acknowledgement of a woman’s innate ability to say one thing
and mean another.
The album is certainly in your face, with multiple layers of guitar, synth and a driving drum beat throughout with very little let up. Like only a woman can do, there is some serious multi-tasking going on, with tracks such as Culture Supervisor slipping from cool electro 8-Bit Nintendo effects straight into hard electro rock and some great hands going up and down the synthesizer, with a sense of foreboding on guitar leading out.
“We are different, we’re the same. All we do is play the game” spits Ariel Zheng in track three, 2010. A song about telling you all about this current generation but like any good band, much of what is different is actually the same, such as the guitar riff that is thrown in and repeated towards the middle, which sounds fabulously like The Stone Roses’ John Squires on Sally Cinnamon (or any other Roses track he played on while high on cocaine). It is broody in parts also, with big fat chorus and definitely maybe a nod to Rolling Stones in the last 40 seconds. For a track with constant claims of "We are…." the first line sums up this track about right, "We are young, we are fun."
A song about a 24 Hour Party Pooper at track four sounds somewhat distressing. In essence this would be a person who probably doesn’t like partying and shouldn’t be out; perhaps online gaming would be more up this person's street and he or she needs to really work on sociability skills. But to pro-actively go out and try to spoil a party, 24 hours of the day, seems excessive and not very cool. Perhaps this person was once a gamer, and is now trying to deal with real life in 3-D, but poorly, since at a supposedly happy occasion to meet and greet, a live music show is a perfect place to chit chat and dip in and out of conversation. When the terror of talking to someone who is not an avatar gets too much, one can simply focus on the band and look earnest. One even goes as far as to wonder what tactics are employed by a 24 hour party pooper. Telling everyone your mum just died, cry for help suicide attempts, …flamboyant moshing? After listening to this track several times I still have no real idea what it is about. But it is a pretty great track after 10 listens, if you like nonsensical, high BPM imperious lyrical annoyance, possibly about some twat standing in a party looking cool who you might fuck later. Top marks.
If
you have ever heard that fucking horrendous, yet terribly catchy song that Pink
did about doing ecstasy at a party and ‘getting it started’, and if you can
remember her flow in it then welcome to track five, Hard Date. This is a much times stronger though with more punk.
(Pinkier?) Zheng’s flow is remarkably similar and even the narrative arc has
some resemblance to Miss Pink’s in that a party is entered and ranted about
with someone at sometime ‘raping a song’. It has a tight dirty opening to get
into (two thumbs up?), which is nice, and again like all the tracks before it
the angst and subdued anger of the tune is dominant. ‘We are your reason to
dance’ says Zheng over and over. This album is just ‘getting started’.
Seriously though—question for Ariel—did you intend to wonderfully and skillfully
parody Pink?
"Hey
you mother fucking wanker with your super ego, going round and criticizing
other people’s culture ... Oh my God I do not talk to biased bastards and
dickheads" Like everyone’s favorite everyman Jerry Maguire in the movie of
the same name, "you had me at … 'hey you mother fucking wanker'" This
song, Pod, is brilliant and slags off
all the American clowns over here "fantasizing how you’re making Asian
pussies wet." A fair point indeed, glossing somewhat over the fact that a
lot of Americans are actually doing something of that nature to the "open
party girls" with or without lube. Concise? Yes. To the point? Yes. "You
are only here because you’re not cool in the
One of the more annoying posits from young Taiwanese students when asked is that ‘men are better at math, women are more patient.’ Well, this should be track 7 if the count be right and yep, patience is needed if you are hoping for something outside of the 120+ BPM, hard rocking, electro clash, fast and furious vocals with ‘eccentric’ overlaid synths. Clap It For The Heartbreakers does just that. Two more to go.
The next track, Dance With Her, Go Chic prepare a different dish. Using similar ingredients they have chilled out their sound a bit. Ariel sounds less pissed, not really bothered if anyone dances with her or not. A much poppier track but still a bit sad. Definitely a tune with atmosphere, helped out by the somber drumming and low-key guitar. Cool breakdown, too. Is that a Stone Roses sounding bass lick again? There is a definite whiff of Fool's Gold in here.
Last track, We Are All Lovers and Runners is another little belter. Vocals sound great at the beginning and like the Pink comment before this time they have a sniff of Uffie, the Queen of Slut Fem-rap, about them flow-wise, with some French in there too? Home of Uffie. Surely not another little ‘homage.’ Very diggable tune. And some happy guitar, too.
Getting into Go Chic was an easy enough treat to have. It is difficult to criticize a young band of the weaker sex getting things done with such attitude. Ironically, belittling chicks in this article has been a boring childish chore while enjoying listening to Ariel and the band wax lyrical about cumming, raping songs and destroying wanky Yankees. Occasionally it is tough to hear exactly what Ariel is yelling about and one or two of the tracks may be a touch similar. This could have been an issue had the album been a plus size 12, but at a slim 9 songs one supposes this is their groove and this is what they are showcasing. And it is a technical feat with many layers of sound to pick at with good headphones and some cracking lyrics. Alas, as an old man with a wooden heart and a dicky bladder, it would have been nice to hear what else Ariel and the band could do with a slower tempo arrangement and if the gnarly fuming voice was tempered a little. For an "all-girl band," Go Chic rock. And rock only. (Sorry drummer dude but we all know you are the heart of the band anyway even though they make you wear a wig). A very accomplished album.
A woman; without her, man is nothing.
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