Biography
Gil Mantera's Party Dream fuses the glossy surfaces of 1980s electronic pop with garage-rock abrasion, raucous party energy, and an unmistakably bold retro aesthetic. The project originated with brothers Gil Mantera and Ultimate Donny, both natives of Youngstown, Ohio. On New Year's Eve 1999 the siblings assembled for their first performance in that city when a promoter's scheduled out-of-town acts were stranded by a snowstorm; pressed for replacements, he recruited the pair. Joined by another acquaintance, they hastily assembled a satirical outfit named Party Talk that delivered '80s-inspired dance tracks while, in Donny's words, "pretty much making jackasses of ourselves." The gig proved successful, prompting a return appearance months later for a purported CD-release concert at the same venue even though no recording existed. After the third participant departed, the remaining duo rebranded as Gil Mantera's Party Dream. Their unrestrained stage presentations—featuring trampoline leaps, quick costume swaps, onstage furniture demolition, and direct audience incursions—quickly became legendary, while the music itself matured into vocoder-driven electro grooves that displayed a keen grasp of pop melody. The first album, Once Triangular, appeared in 2004. The next year the brothers joined the roster of Audio Eagle Records, the label operated by members of the punk-blues duo the Black Keys and distributed through Fat Possum. Bloodsongs reached stores in spring 2006.
Albums
