How's this for horseshoe theory: Two decades ago I would have told you Pavement and Phish were diametrically opposed forces — above-it-all slacker-indie cool kids on one side, earnestly crunchy jam band types on the other. But over time (and quite a few Jicks albums), the gap between those parties has seemingly closed significantly. Guerilla Toss may be the ultimate point of convergence.
The veteran indie rock weirdos piqued our interest last month with "Psychosis Is Just A Number," a new single produced by Pavement's Stephen Malkmus. Our post on that song included multiple photographs of Guerilla Toss with Malkmus and Phish's Trey Anastasio, which now have been explained: Malkmus produced the new G-Toss album You're Weird Now at Anastasio's Vermont recording studio the Barn. Malkmus brought along engineer Bryce Goggin, who he's been working with since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, while Phish's longtime engineer Ben Collette was present too.
The results of this combination seem like they might be low-key spectacular. "Red Flag To Angry Bull," the new Guerilla Toss single out today, is easily one of my favorite songs of the year so far — a hallucinatory parade that bounces along beneath Kassie Carlson's neon cartoon vocals, sometimes backed by Malkmus' unmistakable voice, Anastasio's guitar threaded throughout. Listen below and see if you don't end up stoked for the new album's September release.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Krystal Ball"
02 "Psychosis Is Just a Number"
03 "CEO of Personal & Pleasure"
04 "Life’s A Zoo"
05 "Red Flag To Angry Bull"
06 "Panglossian Mannequin"
07 "Deep Sight"
08 "When Dogs Bark"
09 "Crocodile Cloud"
10 "Favorite Sun"
You're Weird Now is out 9/12 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.
