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The Black Ghosts: Self Titled Album |
Contributed By: Dan Schwartz
Created On: Sunday, 29 June 2008
Hits: 76
 The Black Ghosts Aside from youthful contact with the occult both Theo & Simon’s childhoods were steeped in music. Theo was a vinyl junky for as long as he could remember, by the age of 12 he had immersed himself in the world of Hip-Hop and by 16 he was an accomplished DJ. Meanwhile, Simon’s grandfather was part of the London Symphony Orchestra's woodwind section.
"He played the oboe on the Star Wars theme" says Simon, "which meant absolutely nothing at the time, and on various Beatles tracks, including A Day in the Life, which he also just wrote off as 'some rock thing'. Simon's father, however, had a more progressive attitude to sound, building synthesizers that translated plants’ electrical fields into sound and creating a white noise dream machine for his children.
The sounds are menacing yes, but in a cool tongue-in-cheek fashion that makes the out-of-nowhere appearance of Damon Albarn (on ‘Repetition Kills You’) fit perfectly, in a Gorillaz-esque turn of catchy brilliance. Placed somewhere between Ibiza and the haunted house of this record, ‘Anyway You Choose To Give It’ is it’s irresistible highlight; all house pianos stabbing and dancefloor revolving beats. Admittedly it's nothing Hot Chip haven't already been and done, but The Black Ghosts have condensed their lush style into something just a little bit darker - and just as interesting.
Current activity has seen Theo & Simon taking their mercurial two-man decks, FX and vocal set-up on the road to a rapturous reception during both their Australian tour and SXSW shows. Their recent ‘Mixtape’ compilation, which offered an early glimpse into their collective psyche, established their ghetto-gothic aesthetic, simultaneously setting dance-floors and minds alight, whilst future single ‘Repetition’, featuring a very mysterious and exciting guest vocalist is lined up to soundtrack the summer.
 
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