Guerilla Toss – You’re Weird Now

Description

When NYC-based experimental dance punks Guerilla Toss, active since time immemorial aka 2011, were in Vermont recording their new full-length album Youre Weird Now, frontwoman Kassie Carlson would prepare what she called ‘punk lunch’: a communal meal made by raiding the studio fridge for whatever was left and assembling a sandwich from the most random ingredients imaginable.

Regularly joining punk lunch were two legends from their own corners of the weird music world: Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, The Jicks) and Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and owner of The Barn; the recording studio where Guerilla Toss were making Youre Weird Now, with Malkmus in the producers seat. Engineer Bryce Goggin, who has worked with Malkmus since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and Ben Collette, Phishs longtime engineer at The Barn, were also part of the crew.

While the idea of the guy from Phish and the guy from Pavement sitting around with Guerilla Toss, congenially assembling sandwiches from random foodstuffs dug up from the depths of a studio fridge, might seem absurd, it also makes total sense. Because really, if theres any band that serves as the natural bridge between slacker punks who saw Pavement way before you did, wild-eyed wooks whove seen Phish more times than you ever will, and even the eccentrics in 90s drip following former GT tourmates Primusits Guerilla Toss. A band so imaginative and unapologetically themselves, theyre basically the real-life manifestation of a utopian, post-snob world where all musical ideas are worthy of expression and everyone is welcome.

Youre Weird Now powers this message. Guerilla Toss fifth album and second for Sub Pop is a hugely creative and joyful statement about the joy of creativity. With Youre Weird Now Guerilla Toss reclaim the word weird for everyone brave enough to let their freak flag fly and stay true to their artistic vision no matter whata way riskier act than its ever given credit for, and one that requires a certain amount of serene self-confidence that it takes time and effort to cultivate and sustain.

Serene self-confidence defines Youre Weird Now. In many ways, its Guerilla Toss at their most quintessential. The energy is still high, but theres a new clarity behind it, with each musical choice crafted for maximum impact. Drummer Peter Negroponte half-jokingly calls the album Guerilla Tosss Greatest Hits that didnt exist until now, and honestly, it rings true. As a band, were always trying to reinvent ourselves,’ he says. But with this record, instead of asking what we havent tried, because weve done a lot of crazy stuff, we asked, what have we done thats the strongest? And how can we build on that? Lets dig into our own musical history and try to make the best parts even better.