Pictured: Lydia Gammill (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter), Vram Kherlopian (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tine Hill (Bass Guitar), Tarra Thiessen (Percussion/Backing Vocals) and Melissa Lucciola (Drums) (2021) (Photo by Adam Lempel)
Good Morning to you! You’re reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke and the time has come for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because, for the best part of two years, it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We have reached the end of another exhausting week, and so there are a handful of fresh new releases to hanker down to in our beds tonight with our headphones switched on full blast. This week, new LP’s from the likes of fuzzy New York Psych-Rock guitarist JW Francis, quirky Nick Allbrook-led Prog-Rock group Pond, the Essex-based ‘Genre-Less’ multi-instrumentalist Tirzah and 80’s Synth-Rock icons Yes! all vying for your hearts. The most exciting new album release, however, arguably comes from the female-fronted Brooklyn-based Industrial Punk 5-piece band Gustaf. Formed in 2018 by frontwoman vocalist/guitarist Lydia Gammill, they have opened up the stage for 90’s icon Beck at one of his secret parties in Los Angeles, and the popular group have also performed as the warm-up act for the luminary No Wave pioneer James Chance. Bodega and Omni are two more of the names they have supported on tour and the band have racked up support from BBC Radio 6 Music’s daytime playlist, NPR’s Slingshot’s 100 Artists To Watch In 2021 and NME’s Essential Emerging Artists list for 2021. Garnering up a solid reputation for performing a large amount of live gigs on New York’s DIY scene, Gustaf have been hailed by Brooklyn Vegan as one of their city’s “hardest-working and most relaibly fun bands” to come from their circuit, as they continue to find success outside of their domestic market. Gustaf’s debut full-length album release, ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’, has been released by Royal Mountain Records today, and it will be supported by a US tour this month and some UK shows next month. They will join IDLES, Pillow Queens and Osees on tour throughout the autumn. Taste their single, ‘Best Behaviour’, below.
‘Best Behaviour’ was one of the few songs that Gustaf crafted by jamming together in the studio instead of testing the audience’s response on the stage, and it finds the leading lady, Lydia Gammill, embodying a narrator as a character titled the ‘Ego Slob’ who is really at odds with themselves. Gustaf explains, “Our narrator, the ‘ego slob’, is bargaining with itself, scrounging for self compassion and self assurance despite a pile of hurt feelings in its wake”, explaining, “In demanding spoils despite having nothing done nothing to earn them, we see the initial cracks in a brutish facade – our anti-hero slowly realizing maybe the shell they built for themselves was not built for the world”, in their press statement. The story-driven lead single aims to twist Gustaf’s formula of danceable indie rock and 70’s Doo-Wop influences up a little, with a music video that acts as a visual companion to the single. Starting off with an angelic backing beat that subversively transforms into a distorted male vocal and a more melodic soundscape, Gammill assures us that “I’ve been good today” and hasn’t lied or betrayed their companions. In the second verse, she just argues that she hasn’t thought of anyone else today and “just you and your little face” to fabricate an idea of selflessness, but her tone implies something more psychotic happening in the true meaning. There’s a catchy chorus that Gammill leads us to, with her and the band chanting “I’m good, I’m very very good” in the more affirmative context of the lyrics. Fragile, small cracks of deceit and self-absorption lie in the fray, however, with the narrator giving into temptation when Gammill begs “Can I touch it?” before bouncing back to the more infectious guitar-oriented melodies. Overall, I had fun with this tune, and it is a complex exploration of how the psychological priority of treating ourselves warps around the brain. The sound is very reminiscent of Alt-Pop 70’s acts like Bush Tetras and The Ronettes, with a little bit of Blondie’s female perspectives placed in for more punch. The backbeat harkens less back to 70’s DIY Punk, and more towards a bizzaro Funk delivery that 70’s George Clinton or Gang Of Four could have diverted towards. This is a little rough around the edges with a slightly disjointed narrative, but I like how the instrumentation is kept groovy while also being a little too laidback to be a conventional Pop track but you’re still going to be inclined to move along to it.
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’ (LP) (Released on October 1st, 2021) (via Royal Mountain Records)
That’s all for today! Thank you for coming back to the blog for another day, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at a recent collaboration between the frontman of the platinum-selling Washington-based Alternative Rock group Death Cab For Cutie and a San Francisco-based IDM producer also known as the graphical designer ISO50.
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