Messed up danceable rock ‘n’ roll from New York’s finest.

Did you know that it’s illegal to dance without a licence in New York? All clubs are required to obtain a “cabaret licence” if there are “three or more people moving in a synchronised fashion”. And, since Mayor Rudy Giuliani started his Quality Of Life campaign in 1997, it has been notoriously hard to get one. Naturally, Brooklyn-based purveyors of funky danceable rock, Radio 4, are a bit pissed about that.

Gotham! is their second album (The New Song And Dance was released in 2000) and it's full of political comment on this and other stuff. The band, having been together for a mammoth three years, are elder statesmen of the New York scene. Singer Anthony Roman also runs a record shop that’s a regular hangout for the local “scene”.

The melodic rawness of the album is underpinned by a subtext of electroclash bleeps and grinding house groove. Some credit for this must go to production duo Death From Above (Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy) who’ve worked with the likes of David Holmes and UNKLE. Gotham!’s punk sensibilities follow in the footsteps of The Clash but are contrasted by a forward thinking dirty electronic production ethos. Messy and clever. MW 03 October 02

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