Single review – Gideon King & City Blog: ‘Whatchya Gonna Do’

• 2nd Aug 2021

The New York music scene has been a fascinating melting pot of sounds for longer than this writer has been alive.  It’s a crossroads for many different tribes, vibes and sounds.

It’s a state of affairs that Gideon King & City Blog reflect effortlessly on their new single ‘Whatchya Gonna Do’.  The song has luxurious funk foundations, oozing harmonies that straddle soul and gospel, but swaggers with all the bravado of hip-hop. Band leader King, meanwhile, adds some extremely nifty Latin guitar and indeed the picture is complete.

Quite the original combination on paper, and even more compulsive when it’s actually coming out of your speakers, gushing positivity like a genuine force of nature.

Lyrically, the single is all about conquering the next chapter of life, urging us to “lose those .   A statement from the band says “It’s about emerging from COVID. Will people be better or will they go back to psychic stagnancy?” 

Their influences are many, clearly, but one they say looms above the rest is Steely Dan.  They’ve certainly adopted their instinctive knack for a tune that wraps itself around your consciousness and refuses to let go.  Well worth investigating, we reckon, and we can only imagine how effective this highly drilled eight-strong crew is as a live band.