Chinatown, New York City darlings chanpan have published their new EP endlessly, fortuitously timed with the unprecedented sweeping victory of Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral primaries on Tuesday, June 24th. This EP serves as both an upbeat respite for the ongoing heatwave plaguing New York City citizens but also as a battle hymn for a new tide in the metropolis from which they hail.
When faced with a group as tapped into the local politics and entertainment scene in New York City like chanpan, it’s challenging for a fellow city citizen who identifies with their politics, to not see their music as tailored for them. To really paint a picture of versatility and eclecticism, writ large in their sound, let’s get into some of their accomplishment’s outside of sonic output.
Despite all being in their mid-late 20s, they’ve been involved in community work for a long time, volunteering with multiple ethnic advocacy groups in Myanmar, organizing with them to bring their causes to Capitol Hill. They have spent a decade involved in immigration rights advocacy and labor organizing. They were instrumental in founding the EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee), a joint project of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) and United Electrical Union, helping workers to organize the first Trader Joe’s union as well as Taco Bell, Jimmy John’s, and REI. They worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign and more recently and presciently, advocated for NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
The music they create is a precise descendent of their diversification of interests. endlessly is an impressive body of work, marrying an array of genres all under the umbrella of electronic pop. There’s undertones of jazz, r&b, indie rock, and a plethora of others planting a fruitful garden for a true melomaniac to get lost in.
Their EP opens with “liquid iron,” a two minute and forty second soothing soundscape of marshy lyrics flowing over fragmented percussion. It’s followed by the titular “endlessly.” If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to hear an Alanis Moorisette and Kaytranada collab, this might be as close as we come to that. What starts as a moody little mid-range ballad builds into a frenetic and rhapsodic tune leading the listener into a therapeutic piano break before bringing them along for one more joyride around the loop.
We arrive at a cheeky number titled “luigi mansione.” Don’t let the punny title fool you. The band delivers another curveball to its listeners, pulling them in with a ominous intro that again builds into an unexpected dance anthem… Dancethem? There’s something there. Although it inspires its audience to dance, it also subconsciously capture the disenchantment of many New Yorkers, unintentionally encouraging them to mobilize in other ways.
We come to the EP’s standouts track, “striking vipes.” With guitar licks reminiscent of the Gorillaz this song sets this group apart. Aggressive whisper rapping chanpan is able to traverse so much ground in so little time with many of the songs ending around two minutes and thirty seconds, save for a few. They are able to do this because despite being so young, their values and identities are firm. They know how they want to contribute socially and musically and they don’t hold back in either path.
Throughout endlessly, chanpan creates a parade of songs marching with multiplicity and nuance. The identity of their music is diverse in the same way their chanpan’s interests are. At a time where it is mythical to find a member of society who only does one thing, the group’s music perfectly reflects that thereof. Because at the end of the day we can be musicians, activists, painters, lawyers because (and sorry for saying this) we contain multitudes. So, why would the music be any different?
Words by Ilana Rubin for Staged Haze
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