Week in Pop: Foster Olson, Pangs, Rainsford

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Pangs

PANGS / NUDITY's own Lindsay Johns; press photo courtesy of the artist.
PANGS / NUDITY’s own Lindsay Johns; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Pangs continue to take it from the man while sticking it to the man as they take on the techno variety with their boisterous new dance track, “ARMS CTRL (SO COSMO Theme)”, that also serves as the actual theme for the new E! network program “SOCOSMO”. Nick & Lindsay enter into a digital battlefield of their own devising that echoes their own attitude of resisting questionable executive orders & asserting their voice of dissent with inspired voices & instruments of liberation. With Pangs’ own brand of electrified lens that they apply to almost every track they drop; the Nashvile shit-disturbers/underground-mover-groovers take tropes of vintage epic tranced-out tracks and stretch them to updated echelons of absolute awe-spiring levels of achievement.
“ARMS CTRL (SO COSMO Theme)” is the glorified boss theme that you are met with once the computer game arrives to that decisive point of no return & no time to look backwards at the scorched earth formerly claimed by enemies bested. Except the world that Pangs & ourselves inhabit is no binary battleground but a real time world in flux and embattled in a full-on quagmire that is a civil war, all but in labeled name. As the Nashville crew resists the ease of complacency for an increasingly activist set of attitudes; the Southern pop mavens stick to their creative guns by forever expanding their own definitions of pop music magic by finding new ways to enhance the majesty & magnificent presence that their eclectic arsenal of sounds posses. We caught up with Pangs in an interview featured after the following first listen to “ARMS CTRL (SO COSMO Theme)”.

What inspired the heavy rhythms on “ARMS CTRL”, and what are some of the best things you all have seen & heard.
I was listening to a DJ called MikeQ (Michael Cox) from NJ whose tracks put me on to ballroom. About the same time I’d been watching YouTube snippets of the documentary Paris Is Burning. It all happens to be on Netflix at the moment. The film chronicles the ball scene and LGBTQ culture in New York in the late 80s. The music, which then was pretty much original house music, and dance styles borrowed from and in turn influenced fashion culture. So “Paris Burning” and Madonna’s Vogue are like the outsiders’ (me!) introductory guide to ball culture. I’m fascinated by it and the music today exudes individual expression to an aggressive degree. I had that aspiration for ARMS CTRL anyway. The name itself refers to a form of vogue dance.
Spring plans?
Pangs is going strong this year and we have some new tracks coming. We’re working with an old friend on new material that’s really exciting and Lindsay is going to take the reigns producing while I’m on tour most of the year.
Current cosmic state & 2017 survival tips?
Working to stay sane in 2017. Everything political is maddening. I’m trying to remain informed without burning out. I’ve been blowing up the Capitol switchboard talking to our maniac congressmen. They’re either cowards for capitulating to Trump or bigots themselves. It’s not really any more complicated and I let em know. It may sound trite at this point, but RESIST is the mantra. Won’t go quietly. I really recommend it…(202) 225-3121, tell them your zip code and they’ll put you through to your representative for a nice chat. Democracy!