“Do not call me, do not say my name, waiting for the alien, okay?”
Amidst a sea of cosmic lighting splayed on stage by Guerilla Toss, emerged the 5-piece art-rock band hailing from Boston, Massachusetts. Renowned for their cataclysmic live shows, freely incorporating sporadic jam sessions and solos, this band have duly garnered a reputation as one of the most notable underground bands of their genre this decade. With a lengthy discography exuding the shrieking vocals of frontwoman Kassie Carlson and the backing of more recent dancehall tendencies of their recent 2 LPs, Guerilla Toss at last entered through the doors of London’s intimate Moth Club last week for a performance to an even more intimate crowd.
After a slight deliberation of DIY-soundchecking and lighting design, Guerilla Toss launched into the glitzy, lo-fi, art-punk sounds strewn throughout their more recent tracks of ‘Come Up With Me’ and ‘Betty Dreams of Green Man’. With the former track revelling in an obscure dissonant sound encased in Carlson’s pseudo-singing delivery, the latter grooved its way into the fray of whirring synths and frenetic basslines much reminiscent of Talking Heads and David Byrne. The audience were immediately thrown into this groovier cataclysmic scene shaped by Guerilla Toss’ recent ‘Twisted Crystal’ LP, exuding a much artsier and more melodic take on the upbeat tempo bolstered by Carlson’s arcane lyricism.
These familiar glitzy sounds were further embellished through the set’s evolution, as such tracks as ‘Can I Get The Real Stuff’ and ‘Magic Is Easy’ were brought into the chaotic fold. Between the warped basslines and Carlson’s clamouring, Guerilla Toss attained a fairly hypnotic sound emblematic of their funkier recent discography. Peppered amongst it all, though, came the noisier, lo-fi hysteria of their former sound protruding from ‘Polly’s Crystal’, ‘Realistic Rabbit’, and ‘367 Equalizer’. Exuding an unstructured splurge of distortions and inescapably blaring synth sirens, Toss clearly wore their dissonant, ‘no wave’ influences on their tattered sleeves. Whilst my personal preferences laid with their funkier recent tracks, the audacity of the band to indulge in such jarringly atonal and dissonant sounds remained admirably enticing.
Yet the aforementioned influences of Guerilla Toss became all the more apparent with a subsequent rendition of The Velvet Underground & Nico’s seminal track ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’, importantly reminding us of Nico’s similar deadpan vocal delivery. Lou Reed & Nico’s-fronted band has evidently been held so dearly by many experimental punk bands such as Guerilla Toss which, if anything, was still pleasing to see the torch aloft in today’s day. To cap this reminiscent tangent off, the band aptly submerged us into the screeching distortions of ‘Diamond Girl’, once again returning to the all-encompassing cries of Carlson’s alarming omnipresence.
At last, a respite from this cacophony of noise was granted for a handful of minutes as the band deliberated in organising their prolonged improvised encore. Focusing primarily on their latest sound, Toss incorporated a cosmic facade of fluttering synth progressions and wall-of-sound atmospherics entirely reminiscent of Pink Floyd and The Doors’ hazy psych-rock influences. Yet this intricate tangling of atmospherics ultimately parted ways for their groovier closer-track, ‘Spider Heard’, revelling in a more straightforward rhythmic pattern packing a punch of energy at the chorus’ heart.
Finishing with an improvised flourish, their spontaneity bled into every aspect of Guerilla toss’ DIY set tonight - from the sound engineering, to the onstage lighting, and the numerous meet-and-greets thereafter. Yet with this DIY style came a slight compromise in tone quality, seeing much of the guitar and synth distortions blend into each other into an all-too-homogenous sonic mess. Much of the mid-section of Toss’ set became further weighed down by sporadic sonic tangents and soloing, including Carlson’s strict approach to her shrieking vocal delivery. Whilst further incorporation of other band member’s vocals certainly wouldn’t go amiss, my admiration for this tenaciously gutsy art-punk band remained at the sight of their 50-odd audience revel in their enticingly obscure tonalities. In fairness, it undeniably glitzed up a warm summer’s evening on a Hackney Tuesday to keep me adrift of my midweek banalities.
6.5/10
Guerilla Toss’ latest LP, Twisted Crystal, is out now and can be found here.
All photos are courtesy of INNO Media, whose work can be found here.
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