With five studio albums, four EPs and two live albums under their belt, Gossip is not new to the game. Since 2001, longtime lovers of the genre-twisting, dance-punk band have been savvy to frontwoman Beth Ditto‘s brazen stage presence and witnessed how thoroughly guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie enhances the trinity’s high-powered sound.
Passion for Gossip is more of a slow burn in the U.S., while in Europe, especially Germany, the Portland-based band is virtually Hasselhoffian in their appeal. According to Ditto, they’re perfectly okay with that, because if all else fails, beauty school is an option. But it looks like with their first album in three years, A Joyful Noise, this best-kept secret may not fly under the radar for too much longer. So Ditto may have to shelve her shears for a while with critics like Idolator labeling their second major-label effort as “the best album of 2012 … so far.” Gossip even has a celebrity super fan in Sacha Baron Cohen. Read more…
