The much-loved New York City-based experimental collective Gang Gang Dance has left me conflicted in the past. Their 2005 breakthrough sophomore effort God’s Money came packed with the sort of warped, world-infused freak-outs that would greatly upset and confuse Chipotle-core artists like David Byrne. And it was awesome. In contrast, 2008′s Saint Dymphna showcased a sonically untamed artist attempting to produce club bangers; their intriguing interstellar mysticism sullied by bizarre grime and house flavors that just didn’t mesh. This year’s 4AD-bolstered full-length Eye Contact, however, offered an extremely focused, brilliant approach to the band’s two disparate sides, providing both a return-to-form and a serious progression. Eye Contact is a polymorphous beast, and remains of one my favorite albums of the year.

Better than Eye Contact, however, is their live show. The audience at last Wednesday’s show at Louisville’s Zanzabar was treated to the debut of the full Gang Gang Dance A/V experience. The photos do a little justice to a near-capacity crowd being lead down the rabbit hole, but not much. Space, time, auras, extraterrestrials, sacred geometry – all made an appearance in vibrant light projected across an extremely energetic five-piece. The outer limits approach of their visual show acted as an obvious yet still dazzling optic reference for the group’s trance-inducing grooves. Throughout their hour-long blistering set of reality-twisting astral electroclash and clairvoyant psychedelia, the band employed sharply executed extended jams across a cross-catalog selection of the band’s best songs, augmented by the affable and towering live presence of Lizzi Bougatsos. Often, three-fifths of Gang Gang Dance were found hunched over various skins engaging in sprawling drumming exercises. Couple that with decimating programmed beats and human tests in percussive fortitude, and you’ve got a live show that belongs in the same conversation as Boredoms. Adding to the ritualistic vibe of the band’s mythos, the band travels with a spiritual adviser who acts as a sort of holy hypeman, waving a flag from the side of the stage and within the crowd, eventually passing out cymbals for show attendees to slug near the end of the set. The end result is a hypnotic, transcendent, globe-sweeping live performance that will quell anyone’s ambivalence about Gang Gang Dance, as well as provide the type of fun often missing from the meditation-centric experimental scene they’re often associated with. Positive energy, indeed.