Guppy Says Slappydoo? on new record

 

Guppy have released Big Man Says Slappydoo, which isn't their first record but it is their debut for southern California’s Lauren records. It was my introduction to the band though but between the first single and production from fellow Los Angeles native Sarah Tudzin, whose praises I’ve sung before here, I was pretty sure that this record was a sure thing and I’m happy to report I was correct in my hunch.

That track, “Aliens” offers a bit of a calm introduction to this record before spinning into punk rock. There is a horse-galloping like percussion behind the introductions, something that begins this trend of a Western-esque regional sound to parts of the entire project. A part of me wants to call the lyricism here quirky but it’s a pretty useful metaphor for not really fitting in or being misunderstood.

“Do you think they can tell? I’m an alien too, yeah my body’s a shell and inside I’m just goo.”

Another line I’d like to point out is;

“I’ll cut off all my hair and I’ll send it to the troops, it might not make sense to you but to me it do.” To me, that sums up a lot of the themes on the record. A lot of these metaphors and wordings may not make direct sense to the one consuming them but they make all the sense in the world to the one churning them out. That and “to me it do” as opposed to “to me it does” of course rhymes but it feels a bit more intentional than even that. Similar in the ways that a band like Coheed and Cambria will word things in ways of referring to things as titles, this feels like such a unique way of speaking that you couldn’t get from any other band.

The following “A Voicemail to the Mayor” shows a bit more of the band’s LA side in that it’s a rather beach rock cut with its slow, oceanic riff and distinct backing vocal stylings. It also has a marching band sounding bridge section to make for an interesting switch up. The narrative here I would say is more what you’re going to get down the line with it’s sort of exaggerated story-telling. On the opening;

“Think I’ll call the mayor, says he’s busy says he’ll call me later.

But that’s okay, I’m busy too, I’m stuck here thinking about you.”

By my interpretation anyway, is a really clever way to acknowledge political negligence while also arriving at the point of the track; having a crush and being love sick.

The song “Die Slowly” is one of my favorite instrumentations on the entire record. The main song structure itself sounds like it’d be in the soundtrack to something like Welcome to the NHK, which I do mean in the best way. So much of this lyricism is so interesting in talking about being manic as well as the push-pull of pessimism and optimism. Wondering what song will be on the radio when you die, then listing all the reasons you’re happy you’re alive, then again thinking on the ways you could die. As someone who suffers from a lot of anxiety myself I really relate and cling to the constant switch between being fine and not. Toward the end this declaration of;

“I don’t want to die today, but sometimes it feels that way.”

Becoming simply; “I don’t want to die,” followed by this chaotic instrumentation and what is more or less just mouth noises. I think the song in all aspects narrates the day starting well but then having your insecurities creep in until you have to freeze, crash and try again tomorrow and brilliantly uses the progression of the instrumentation to arrive at that point.

“Smooth Jazz” closes out the halfway point and feels like an outro of everything that has gone on with side A. It’s a ballad of being hard yourself and features a detailed list of insecurities; body issues, lack of sex drive and overall feeling down on outselves but ultimately trying our best to recenter.

“I’m listening to smooth jazz in the parking lot outside of Joanne’s Fabrics & Crafts.

And I’m feeling like a dumb spazz because my mind is moving way too fast.”

From there we arrive at a point of the track that I’m a little torn on the symbolism of. A tempo change ushered in by a radio voiceover from DJ KMS (which means what you think it means) takes us to a jazz-inspired section is something that I feel like is saying that jazz as a genre just feels like noise coming from the chaotic places in our head but I can’t quite decide and feel like there are layers of metaphor I don’t quite understand. Regardless, it’s still another well written, enjoyable cut and something like those closing moments here aren’t really found anywhere on Guppy’s back catalog from my exploration into it after hearing this record.

I’m going to awaken my inner swanposter for just a moment to, frankly, yell at all of you. At the time of taking notes for this review, “Route 666” had so few plays on Spotify that the play count didn’t even show up on the record. It has, since the writing process began, broke one thousand. That is still, however, criminally underrated. This is one of the best tracks. Period. Released this year. Listen to it! Do better!

All that being said, yea, this song is incredible. More galloping percussion walks us through a story of driving through the desert to find oneself, then losing the ability to drive and stopping into a cafe where our hero ultimately does arrive at the desired self-discovery. The rant in the middle of the track is so extra, so over the top and yet it’s my favorite part of the song. The end section of;

“Beam me up, Scotty. That’s not my body.”

Is another section that I feel is masterfully produced. During this existential nightmare there is the sound of characters in the background debating just who this body actually belongs to and paints vividly a picture that I had on various points of this entire album. It almost feels like a fever dream in which the protagonist has found themselves in a world (maybe of Muppets?) where they are slowly losing grip with reality and the vany characters they meet aren’t really helping their situation.

There is a lot of rumination on gender in the closing tracks “I’m Your Daddy Now” and “Simple Man.”

“I’m not the milk, I’m not the cow”

As well as lines asserting the narrator isn’t your mother, won’t nurture or clean up after you, to me has this sense of being so sure of yourself that you’d die to be seen the way you wish to be;

“Fuck your mother and kill your father, so you might as well kill me.”

Moreso on the last track though, where we’re insisting our identity is masculine while our “simple thrills” are all traditionally feminine. “I’m someones daughter” as well as the boring and monotonous sides of gender roles as well, like discussing the neighborhood politics with the “ladies in the cul-de-sac” all great lines that demonstrate not only the difficulty in caring about gendered roles, but also that it’s hard to live up to anything imposed upon you just for being born. To the point that it feels more like this person is rejecting both sides to just be themselves. There is huge production and world immersion in this one. Whether we’re hearing the gargelling of pickle juice, the microwave ding or someone promising fame and fortune, it all makes for a really grand closing statement in contrast to the more lowkey, more lyrically focused “Smooth Jazz.”

That is technically the end of the record; however Guppy also decided to throw us back a decade or two by including a “hidden” track, “Take it Nice and Slow.” I was really curious about this track as it was credited to Rabbi Steve Labow and sounded like the acoustic version of everything this band was doing on this entire record. This very introspective lyrical style as well as responding to the wishes of those around you to live life at a slower pace seemed so in line with the lyrics to the entire record as well. In wanting to know more about it I actually reached out to the band who explained to me that the song was written and performed by the father of front person J Lebow and ripped directly from a FaceBook video of him performing it. The inclusion was exactly what I had suspected, the two’s lyrical styles were so similar that it was fascinating and so, on their drummer Ian Gibby's suggestion they included it in this way.

If it’s one thing I walked away from on this record it was actually a curiosity for what led to this sound. Something I don’t always get to do between writing and releasing a review is going backward in the discography of a band that’s new to me but with Guppy I had to. Their previous material sounds nothing like this. This new record sounds very L.A. and I don’t mean that to say they sound like rich kids, I mean that to say they have a very regional sound almost spun off from beach rock or even punk rock especially in the riffs and backing vocals. In spite of that, however there is also a country western element with the drawls, the galloping, the storytelling. Then when you consider the illuminati hotties production, the fact that the last song is written by a family member, there are so many elements that melt together to make something that ultimately belongs to this band and this band alone.

I also want to thank J Lebow themselves. As I stated above I had a huge curiosity about that last song and I was already mutuals with Guppy so I took a chance and ignored my social anxiety to ask some questions to have a deeper understanding of the record. J was really happy to give me a lot of insight and some fun facts about the writing and process behind this record and I tried to use everything they told me in some way or another. They were also excited that I “cared enough to ask” about everything and you should definitely care enough to listen to this record as a lot of love went into it. J, if you’re reading this review thank you so much you really made me feel legitimate about being a music journalist and I hope we can do something else like this in the future and that I can catch you on that Boston date in the Fall. As always, for everyone else, you can find the artist links as well as my own below and we will be back for another album review next week.

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