"What the fuck"
  
Beth Ditto, lead singer of The Gossip, spouted between songs after an unexpected technical glitch.
  
A few seconds later hands were clapping to a smutty guitar riff and the band was on to the next song.
  
In spite of a few nearly unapparent technical blips throughout the night, the Arkansas trio delivered a soul fused blitz of spirited glimmer punk that had a sold out crowd at the Troubadour jumping Thursday night (September 28), alongside Mika Miko and Swan Island.
  
While The Gossip aren't as well known as other alt-dance troupes like Le Tigre and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, their followers are devout. On some level they are truly still the gossip, the secret of the dance punk circuit, even though they have been around for some time now.
  
The Gossip have a sound distinct from other dance punk outfits. The clean, bare-bones drumming of their latest member Hannah Bobbie sparkles like reflections of light off a disco ball against the scratchy, sludge stricken lead and rhythm guitar of Brace Paine.
  
But the backbone of their sound is in the strength of Beth's voice, crackling with depth and resolution.
  
At moments her soulful wail transforms into an angry punk growl. The often blues structured lyrics are again strangely resolute. Blasted from the pipes of Ms. Ditto, words resound affirmations of simple truths. The feeling that sometimes doing it is just as easy as saying it. There is no whiny, artsy pretension here. At one point in the middle of a song, Beth quickly says, "Sorry i'm at crotch level with you. I haven't washed these underwear," then goes on singing.
  
The band performed tracks from their new release "Standing In The Way Of Control," as well as a few oldies.
  
Songs like Listen Up! with its finger wagging, I told you so credo, and the neck jerking Yr Mangled Heart boast a restraint
and depth of introspection missing from previous albums.
  
The clean, precision of Hannah Bobbie's minimalistic drumming is nearly the antithesis of former member Kathy's punchy, rough-and-tumble drumming, which dominated albums like "Movement." Live versions of songs like Nite and Jason's Basement sound more polished and almost pretty.
  
Beth is less Joplin and more Aretha these days, less grungy and a little more glam. And more experienced. 
  
In keeping up with current dance punk trends, the bands sound is undoubtly more glossy, but it is also more thoughtful. They've abandoned raw aggression and their punk onslaught has subsided.
  
The band hasn't however abandoned their philosophy to always have fun and get the crowd moving, which they did ultra successfully. Halleluja!

Photos & Review by............

Alisha Ways

Bringing you all the noise you haven’t heard, off the track corners of L.A. you haven’t seen, and stinging cool like you’ve never felt before. Alisha’s on the L.A. music beat like vibrations from a blasting amplifier and reporting it all straight to you.