Guerilla Toss

Guerilla Toss - GT ULTRA
Guerilla Toss - GT ULTRA

Guerilla Toss - GT ULTRA

$22.98

GT Ultra is the second full length album by Guerilla Toss on DFA Records. The album demonstrates a remarkable shift in sound, musicianship and songwriting, without ever giving up the unhinged quality that made their earlier recordings so exciting.  


The album title GT Ultra is a clever nod to ‘Project MK Ultra’, the government sponsored experiments using new experimental drugs to explore mind control, torture and forced confessions, often with LSD as their drug of choice. These tests lasted from the mid 1950’s-1960’s, but with a new administration in the white house, government sponsored torture is fresh again on many minds.

The songs on the album ricochet back and forth between hyper bouncy pop and deeper darker longer, more nuanced tracks. Peter Negroponte’s drumming, always a major highlight for the band, are in full force once again, this time bringing a Nassau/Compass Point feel to many tracks, like the classic recordings of Grace Jones and Talking Heads. 

Kassie’s vocals and lyrics are both more personal and more cryptic than ever. But you can hear every word this time, and there is a lyric sheet. As preferred, the meaning is within the listener. It is a dream state record for sure, meant to take you along on a similar vibe that the band has been tripping on these past few years, filled with an insistence to “hydrate, gyrate, think straight, no weight”, all the while under the influence of golden beams of orange sunshine, glimmering glitter and kaleidoscopic bursts.

It is no mistake the album is wrapped in vintage blotter acid, created by legendary LSD archivist and artist Mark McCloud and The Institute of Illegal Images, based out of San Francisco.

    1. Betty Dreams Of Green Men
    2. Can I Get The Real Stuff
    3. Crystal Run
    4. TV Do Tell
    5. The String Game
    6. Skull Pop
    7. Dog In The Mirror
    8. Dose Rate

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    Guerilla Toss - Eraser Stargazer
    Guerilla Toss - Eraser Stargazer

    Guerilla Toss - Eraser Stargazer

    $5.00

    Ecstatic, vital, and brilliantly unhinged, Guerilla Toss promotes positive energy and twisted spirituality through the less-traveled path of brutal, intelligent, live rock and roll dance music. Like a hurricane of healing bliss, a Guerilla Toss concert is more of a ritual than a performance. It is the unique pairing of musical voices and backgrounds that makes Guerilla Toss such a special party band. But they are more than that – GT gets real when you pay close attention. Their music is inspired by both tragedy and beauty, drug addiction/mental illness and the re-birth of the soul through spiritual practice and psychedelic drug healing - helping the listener overcome these mind-fuck hardships.

    GT had a productive 2015, releasing their acclaimed DFA debut Flood Dosed, which cemented support from folks ranging from punk icon Henry Rollins to Busy P of Justice’s Ed Banger Records. The band also relocated from Boston to NYC. “We felt like it was time to move closer to our favorite active bands and artists and they all just so happen to live in NYC!” This didn’t slow the pace of their live performances - between road trips to universities and DIY Festivals, they have a de-facto residency at Brooklyn’s premiere underground venue Palisades and scored opening slots for The Juan Maclean and Mission of Burma.

    Eraser Stargazer was written and recorded in 6 weeks of winter isolation in upstate New York. Fans of the group will hear all of the beloved hallmarks of the Guerilla Toss sound - solid bass grooves, squealing guitars, and kitchen sink percussion. Each instrument now occupies its own part of the audio spectrum, with vocalist/poet Kassie Carlson’s spirited incantations brought into focus. Album centerpiece Grass Shack is a perfect example of this leaner, yet tougher Toss. It traverses nearly seven minutes of game- show-winner keyboard stabs, mutant funk basslines, and time signature changes - all grounded by Peter Negroponte’s virtuosic drumming. Carlson describes the themes of the song as “A deep analytical depiction of a small unit of time, with heightened senses, Ripping yourself out of bed even though it might be harsh and overwhelming. Seeing patterns in the little things that make life beautiful.” Heavy subject matter permeates the rest of the record - but that doesn’t mean it’s a downer. Lead single Diamond Girls casts Carlson as a no-wave cheerleader over instrumentation reminiscent of DFA alumni Black Dice and The Rapture, culminating in the group’s catchiest chorus yet. Album closer Doll Face On The Calico Highway is the perfect summation - angular guitars, bells, and low-end vibrations interject and decompose as quickly as they appear, until a hissing cymbal is all that remains.

    Eraser Stargazer is released by DFA on March 4th, 2016. The initial pressing is limited to 1000 copies on green vinyl.

    Tracklisting: 

    1. Multibeast TV
    2. Diamond Girls
    3. Grass Shack
    4. Color Picture
    5. Eraser Stargazer Forever
    6. Perfume
    7. Big Brick
    8. Doll Face On The Calico Highway

     

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    Guerilla Toss - Twisted Crystal
    Guerilla Toss - Twisted Crystal

    Guerilla Toss - Twisted Crystal

    $22.98

    TRACKLIST: 
    1) Magic Is Easy
    2) Jesus Rabbit
    3) Meteorological
    4) Hacking Machine
    5) Retreat
    6) Come Up With Me
    7) Unicorn Cigarette (Vinyl Only)
    8) Walls Of The Universe
    9) Jackie's Daughter
    10) Green Apple

    Analog synthesizers give tangible life to the works of
    Guerilla Toss. Whether it be the sound of a rocket ship, a kitten-with-a-wah, distorted dolphins, or a clavichord made out of honey-baked ham, the band consistently finds new ways to bring together the many ideas that combine to shape each new batch of art-rock puzzle pieces.  

    Twisted Crystal, Guerilla Toss’ new LP, feels more personal than ever for the band.  Angular yet irresistibly catchy, this collection of pop songs pulls influence from powerful groups like The Slits, ESG, Gina X, and early Madonna, with sing-speak vocals from Kassie Carlson nodding to legendary artists like Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones, and Lizzy Mercier Descloux – combining this all into a twisted, crystalline concoction.  

    Oracles and enigmatic egos are common lyrical themes, but charismatic instrumentality springs the listener back to extraterrestrial comfort. Old favorite sounds ring true from the trusty Sequential Circuits Six Track Synthesizer and Clavia Drum Machine. New, more refined sounds are molded and polished by drummer/producer Peter Negroponte, whose passion for perfection and creation goes far beyond an all-consuming Tetris effect.  Peter has truly excelled on this new recording, creating a complex networks of beats and sound that become easily intertwined with the rhythmic fabric of life.  

    Raised in a devoutly religious family, vocalist Kassie Carlson started performing at the age of five. She often participated in large pastoral choral performances, as well as her family’s four-part harmony gospel quartet, making her no stranger to the stage. Growing up under the fear of God leaves a distinct footprint on your perception. An omnipresent male dictates not only your present waking life but also the rest of your eternity. Discovering a rock band was more than self-expression for Kassie, it was a manifestation of a self-healing temple, a personal pipeline for power. What better way to part the waters of toxic sludge than a matriarchal shout? 

    Arian Shafiee, Guerilla Toss’ resident textural-guitar guru, is inspired by aspects of non-Western tuning and extended techniques. He designs moments of dense, glistening, pitch-shifted harmony and measured strumming that link classical impressionism to no-wave and early minimal music. His recent solo work truly comes through on this new record, as he tethers fantastical surreality to noise rock to deconstructed Middle Eastern pop music.

    Keyboardist Sam Lisabeth paws the keys with distinct virtuosity and expressive sass. A new member, Stephen Cooper (of the band Cloud Becomes Your Hand), binds the group with an urgent, disciplined, and melodic style. The hypnotic, ostinato-like basslines and up front rhythm tracks guide and grip each song like gravity, keeping the listener from swirling off into the cosmos.

    In albums past, Kassie’s performances resembled more of a manic, possessed high priestess; humming at the gates of hell, hacking telepathy and tugging the strings of every audience member. Twisted Crystal goes beyond this familiar darkness, leading us into a rhythmically calming charm with deep wisdom, serenity, and understanding. What is a twisted crystal? And who told you it would heal?

    At times the listener wanders through mazes of dizzying, alternately pulsing time signatures, but the roads always bounce, meet and magically snap back together. That meditative groove, both live and in the studio, has become signature for Guerilla Toss, drawing deep influence from 70s krautrock and experimental rock music like Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Neu!, Cluster, Todd Rundgren, and La Dusseldorf.

    A constantly evolving, living breathing entity, the band now presents the album Twisted Crystal.  Enjoy the same surrealistic, kinetic healing energy of live Guerilla Toss, today in your own home.

    “Magic is Easy. Hypnotize yourself well.”

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    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"
    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"

    Guerilla Toss - Jay Glass Dubs Vs. Guerilla Toss 12"

    $12.98

    Now on vinyl for the first time!

    DFA Records and Bokeh Versions have teamed up for a joint release - a reworking of the freaky post-punk stylings of Guerilla Toss by Athens, Greece-based musician and producer Dimitris Papadatos, a.k.a. Jay Glass Dubs.

    The EP comes on the heels of the former’s latest record, GT Ultra. Jay Glass Dubs vs Guerilla Toss turns the hyper-bouncy pop and deeper, darker tracks of GT Ultra into four, stripped-down dub ruminations, each one spacier and weirder than the last.

    The frenetic, zany tempos of songs like “Skull Pop” and “Can I Get The Real Stuff?” are transformed into slow, viscous existential crises that focus in on Kassie Carlson’s echoing vocals. Jay Glass Dubs works headphone magic with reverberating percussion and slinky basslines, as always keeping one foot in dub’s past but both eyes on its horizon.

    Artist in demand and Bokeh-affiliate Patrick Savile’s artwork eloquently articulates the ethos of the EP – speedy, psychedelic textures are blurred and made malleable, gracefully reflecting the sounds of original album through a hazy prism.

    Tracklist

    A1 - Skull Dub
    A2 - String Dub
    B1 - TV Do Dub
    B2 - Can I Get The Real Dub
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    Guerilla Toss - Live In Nashville
    Guerilla Toss - Live In Nashville

    Guerilla Toss - Live In Nashville

    $22.98

    A live one from Guerilla Toss, experience the madness from the comfort of your home! 

    Live In Nashville finds G-Toss playing a decadent array of tracks across a variety of earlier releases, as well as tracks from their breakout 2016 LP "Eraser Stargazer". This limited 12" features cover art by Keith Rankin, and is pressed on heavyweight black vinyl. All orders ship with DFA stickers. 

    Tracklist: 
    1) Polly's Crystal (Live)
    2) 367 Equalizer (Live)
    3) Drip Decay (Live)
    4) Eraser Stargazer Forever (Live)
    5) Operate (Live) 
    6) TV Spell (Live)
    7) Operate (Reprise) (Live)
    8) Diamond Girls (Live)

    RECORDED MARCH 11 2016 AT "THE END" IN NASHVILLE TN

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    Guerilla Toss - Flood Dosed EP
    Guerilla Toss - Flood Dosed EP

    Guerilla Toss - Flood Dosed EP

    $14.98

    Long-awaited vinyl version of Guerilla Toss' FLOOD DOSED, now on wax instead of magnetic tape. 

    Cut incredibly loud at 45RPM, Featuring a new (bonus track) from the same recording session, "Teacher Speaks".

    Ships in early March. 

    1. Realistic Rabbit
    2. Polly's Crystal
    3. Ritual In Light
    4. Teacher Speaks

     

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