Ahead of the release of his fourth solo album as GUM, multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson admitted that at this point, he doesn’t even pay attention to what kind of music he’s making, he just does it. Traversing a buffet of genres that serves-up everything from prog rock to disco, Watson seamlessly stitches them into Jay’s Psychedelic Dream Coat, allowing the trademark sounds of his other projects Tame Impala and Pond to spill over while maintaining his own flavor. Watson’s passive-if-not-self-deprecating modesty is noted in everything from his decade-long silent involvement with Tame Impala to the GUM discography itself, yielding names like Glamorous Damage, Flash in the Pan, and the current [the] Underdog, but the caliber of his psych-rock disco casts a shadow of irony across his effort to make incredible music under the radar. Give yourself some boogie-room for this one, chief.
“The Underdog” is the title track to GUM’s latest record, out now via Spinning Top.
-Taylor Wallace// Host, Thursdays 8p-11p & Saturdays 2p-6p; Producer, Eklektikos with John Aielli