Guerilla Toss were already weird but Stephen Malkmus and Trey Anastasio help Guerilla Toss get even stranger. Noted noodlers Stephen Malkmus and Trey Anastasio seemed destined to work together, but who’d have thought it would be on a single by Brooklyn DIY eccentrics Guerilla Toss? The Pavement frontman produced “You’re Weird Now“, the band’s second album for Sub Pop, which was recorded at the Phish frontman’s Vermont studio…
When NYC-based experimental dance punks Guerilla Toss, active since time immemorial aka 2011, were in Vermont recording their new full-length album “You’re 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 “You’re Weird Now“, with Malkmus in the producer’s seat
The song in question, “Red Flag to Angry Bull,” is a pretty perfect place for them to link up, actually. The trippy opening riff could go anywhere, but when the rhythm section kicks in with a distinctly loping ’90s-style beat, we’ve got a song that would fit right in alongside Spacehog, Bran Van 3000, Len, and yes, Pavement.
Otherwise, Malkmus doesn’t seem to have altered Guerilla Toss’ already eclectic sound, which has always been some sort of manic hippie electro-punk new wave sugar-coated breakfast cereal. The ’90s groups they most resemble are the genre-blender acts that sprung up in the wake of the Chili Peppers, like Whale or Urban Dance Squad. it’s fun. What is weird, anyway?
The Fat Angel Sings 