Blog: Mixtape Maestro

When all is said and done, Gossip 's fifth effort A Joyful Noise probably won't be ranking among the band's finest projects. As their glossiest pop-minded offering yet, the album's ABBA-influenced, Xenomania-slicked sound just feels a mainstream bid too far, depressingly positioning the band with great distance from the refreshingly rebellious bluesy dance-punk aesthetic that put them on the map all those years ago while also suffering from the dual disappointment of an entire track-list of mildly fetching, but woefully interchangeable dance-floor nuggets and the tragic restraining of the Powerhouse [...]