Guerrilla Toss - Cannibal Capital
All over the world they should be writing about how significant Guerilla Toss are in the resurgent New York psychedelic scene of the 21st century. It is almost criminal that they haven't had the accolades they deserve. Liminal Radio has been watching and listening to Guerrilla Toss for many many years; inspiring us with some very diverse experimental - but at the same time grounded - power psychedelic funk pop rock, with less of the pop and less of the rock. Its different in the same way that Roxy Music was different to Rock in 1972. The musicianship is exceptional.
A five-piece with five albums over ten years, Guerrilla Toss have previously been described as a Brooklyn Band from Boston. Three of the five have been in the band since its recognised inception in 2012: Kassie Carlson (vocals), drummer Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee. In their current line up they are joined by Zack Lewellyn on bass and keyboardist Sam Lisabeth, who has been with since 2015. In total they have released five albums. The latest - Famously Alive - was released March 25th 2022 on Sub Pop. It is from this album that Liminal Radio's second best track of 2022 emerges. Cannibal Capital was released January 22nd.
Guerrilla Toss are hard to pin down musically. A long overdue fusion of electronica, guitars, dissonance and variably obscure time signatures - possibly due to keyboard-led sequences - blend together to mess with your head and send you on the dancefloor. The vocals have a playful Syd-Barret-esque childlike charm about them, disguising an all-too-real psychedelic twisted-darkside beneath. The blend of guitars finding its timing with a confusing sequence of electronica provide a very modern innovation to music; taking guitar play to another level able to find the blend of the the perfect psyche-dance crossover.
This track - Cannibal Capital - begins with a confused dissonance but its the keyboard sequence that begins to dominate. Once settled down its Cassie's vocals that emerge, tight and on beat but still memerisingly difficult to catch where exactly it comes in for the listener; then suddenly it takes on a mesmerising journey of jazz-tastic proportions, almost Indian-raga style but with loops. The production allows the song to develop throughout all of its 3 minutes and 32 seconds. This space allows the outstanding Arian Shafiee to complement this exotic electronica with a crescendo of guitar-filler excellence. Incidentally its Arian's haunting image has been used as the backdrop to Liminal Radio's Facebook page for practically the entire year!
Cannibal Cannibal is a song that builds and builds. It is also one that grows and grows on you. If you haven't heard it before, give it time.
Watch this great video below.