Elite Gymnastics - 2 Ruin EPs. Full disclosure, the Ruin duo are more like the Ruin EP and it’s re-tripped, slugged down, relax-errythang’s-cool-baby counterpart. All up, we get five full tracks and four alternate versions. Enough for a few before you hit the town. And the rest for when reality begins to hit you back. A little housekeeping, Elite Gymnastics are a Minneapolis-based production team. They run a label called Psychedelic Surf Club. It says a lot about their sound. The Ruins are EG’s fifth and sixth EPs. They’re free to download over at their Tumblr. And now we move along. While the internet seems to be focused on Omamori, my personal favourite lies with Here, In Heaven. Maybe it’s due to my drum ‘n’ bass upbringing, but the broken beat, repetitive snares and layers of loop samples mixed with the band’s almost insignificant vocals instantly captured my affection. Also, you’d be forgiven for mistaking Here, In Heaven for the junkie cousin of The Postal Service’s - The Panter. Throughout the EPs, Josh & James’ washed out vocals easily slip under the radar. But hiding behind their trademark upbeat post-chillwave beats, the team reveals a growing paranoia for their own mortality. Like most of us, they’re searching for answers to timeless questions regarding growing old. From track two, So Close To Paradise:  “How many more, how many more times can you have nights like these? How many more, how many more times before whoever you love, whatever you take, you won’t feel a thing, and you won’t get to be young anymore?” They are thoughts from party animals once immortal. From a generation that never wants to give up getting fucked up, but struggles to bounce back like they used to. We’ve all been there. But the lives our narrators are afraid of leaving behind feels more… Lunar Park-ish. Little Things, the most accessible, Peter Bjorn & John-esque of the bunch, tells the tale of a couple of addicts on the verge of getting clean. The excitement of the first time is repeatedly recalled, until the regret sinks in: “I used to hope life would consist of 1,000,000 nights like this. I’m afraid, I’m afraid that they will never, never stop. If tonight was the last time, I don’t even think I’d mind. It’s a shame, it’s a shame, it’s a shame, that’s all it ever was.” By the time we reach the concluding track, Minneapolis Belongs To You, the conversation has turned completely to our impending afterlife. The questions have stopped, and the music faced: “When you’re dead, your phone will still blow up, your friends still calling to buy drugs, 1,000,000 unread messages asking where the afterparty is. When you’re dead, they will toast your life at your friends’ shitty DJ nights. No one will hear the speeches clearly, they’ll all just think it’s someone’s birthday.” Regardless of whether Elite Gymnastics are sharing their memoirs or simply exceptional storytellers, plugged into the paranoias of our spoilt generation, all 11 tracks are masterfully crafted and guaranteed to suck you into their trademark psychedelic, new wave escape. While you wait for your favourite new goin’ up, comin’ down ear pair to download, sample WAKA (WΛKΛ), below. It’s only a year old, yet demonstrates how the Minneapolis artists like to mix things up. via Gorilla vs Bear.

Elite Gymnastics - 2 Ruin EPs.

Full disclosure, the Ruin duo are more like the Ruin EP and it’s re-tripped, slugged down, relax-errythang’s-cool-baby counterpart. All up, we get five full tracks and four alternate versions. Enough for a few before you hit the town. And the rest for when reality begins to hit you back.

A little housekeeping, Elite Gymnastics are a Minneapolis-based production team. They run a label called Psychedelic Surf Club. It says a lot about their sound. The Ruins are EG’s fifth and sixth EPs. They’re free to download over at their Tumblr. And now we move along.

While the internet seems to be focused on Omamori, my personal favourite lies with Here, In Heaven. Maybe it’s due to my drum ‘n’ bass upbringing, but the broken beat, repetitive snares and layers of loop samples mixed with the band’s almost insignificant vocals instantly captured my affection. Also, you’d be forgiven for mistaking Here, In Heaven for the junkie cousin of The Postal Service’s - The Panter.

Throughout the EPs, Josh & James’ washed out vocals easily slip under the radar. But hiding behind their trademark upbeat post-chillwave beats, the team reveals a growing paranoia for their own mortality. Like most of us, they’re searching for answers to timeless questions regarding growing old. From track two, So Close To Paradise: 

“How many more, how many more times can you have nights like these? How many more, how many more times before whoever you love, whatever you take, you won’t feel a thing, and you won’t get to be young anymore?”


They are thoughts from party animals once immortal. From a generation that never wants to give up getting fucked up, but struggles to bounce back like they used to. We’ve all been there. But the lives our narrators are afraid of leaving behind feels more… Lunar Park-ish.

Little Things, the most accessible, Peter Bjorn & John-esque of the bunch, tells the tale of a couple of addicts on the verge of getting clean. The excitement of the first time is repeatedly recalled, until the regret sinks in:

“I used to hope life would consist of 1,000,000 nights like this. I’m afraid, I’m afraid that they will never, never stop. If tonight was the last time, I don’t even think I’d mind. It’s a shame, it’s a shame, it’s a shame, that’s all it ever was.”


By the time we reach the concluding track, Minneapolis Belongs To You, the conversation has turned completely to our impending afterlife. The questions have stopped, and the music faced:

“When you’re dead, your phone will still blow up, your friends still calling to buy drugs, 1,000,000 unread messages asking where the afterparty is. When you’re dead, they will toast your life at your friends’ shitty DJ nights. No one will hear the speeches clearly, they’ll all just think it’s someone’s birthday.”


Regardless of whether Elite Gymnastics are sharing their memoirs or simply exceptional storytellers, plugged into the paranoias of our spoilt generation, all 11 tracks are masterfully crafted and guaranteed to suck you into their trademark psychedelic, new wave escape.

While you wait for your favourite new goin’ up, comin’ down ear pair to download, sample WAKA (WΛKΛ), below. It’s only a year old, yet demonstrates how the Minneapolis artists like to mix things up.

via Gorilla vs Bear.

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