Good Weird by Basic Printer | Album Review
Nashville-based indie artist Basic Printer’s debut album takes electronic indie-pop into new, unexpected directions.
For Nashville-based indie artist Jesse Gillenwalters, known by the moniker Basic Printer, music has been an instinctual experience. Growing up in Binghamton, New York, he let his mind wander while creating his earliest works. This wide-eyed sense of wonder would be honed into what we hear today once he relocated to Tennessee. Gillenwalters revealed to Atomic Disc how he uses this organic writing process to his advantage:
“I am really not a great keyboardist by my standards, but typically my first thought is to start with a synth sound. If you’re not 100 percent sold on it, use another song to try to reach that point. Like don’t slave over this one song to try to reach this arbitrary standard. I like to find a tone base to inspire the song and melody… It’s been pretty weird. I wrote 100 songs that way before I started learning how to write a song so to speak. Only lately has it been like ‘Alright, what are the chords? What is the melody in conjunction?’ Some of that stuff has been happening naturally, but I’ve only recently taken a more classical writing approach. I’m making sure the song has an effect, meaning and through lines. I’m usually not interested in that, but it’s been a little more there.” — Jesse Gillenwalters via Atomic Disc (2022)
It’s this whimsy that breathes life into his debut album, Good Weird. As the title suggests, he allows the various samples and synths to go wild, creating an I-Spy book quality to the soundscapes he sits atop of.
We kick off the record with the titular track, “Good Weird.” Gillenwalters’s erratic electronic synths, chaotic guitars, and rather stripped-back percussion work bring to mind the neon shapes of Memphis Design buzzing around your headspace. I love how soulful Del Florida’s vocals are in juxtaposition to Jesse’s controlled uproar. His soundscape steps in line with the song’s mantra to march to the beat of your own drum no matter how off-beat that might be, “Everybody wants to cause a problem/ Self-love isn’t pleasing if they’ve got none/ Try to change it for their liking — hold up/ It′s not for me/ Got the good weird bug in my heart gonna use it/ I might care what you think of me/ And I might be ushered to a knee/ But I can′t have you telling me what I need/ When you know what to say to me/ I’ll just sit and listen with glee/ But good luck tryin′a stop me from falling asleep.” It’s playful, campy, and filled with an infectious spunk that makes you want to get up and move.
Jesse filters the oddities into a bubbly soup of synth synths and samples in “Hard Look.” His DIY sound has a child-like whimsy to it as you are flooded by glockenspiels, synth pads, and guitars that all bring a cartoony roundness to the soundscape. All of this gives a carefree vibe to Gillenwalters’s outcast point of view, “I′m not tryin’a be someone that I′m not/ I’m not tryin’a be someone/ I′m not tryin′a be upfront when I’m not/ I′m not tryin’a be anyone/ When you shoot that hard look I′ll be on the run/ I don’t wanna be happy and having fun.” I get a feeling of Saturday Morning cartoons with drops of adult complexity. His playful nature shakes off the need to prove himself to anyone.
“When Ya Gonna” builds with a sense of frustration over being pulled in only to be kept at arm’s length by the person you have developed feelings for. Gillenwalters’s jangly synth broth now simmers with the electricity of a punk act. His need to get some sort of answer of where they stand grabs you from the start, “In what timeline are we together, huh/ In what timeline are we together, yeah/ This ain′t a machine that I can jump into/ It’s just a rouse/ I′m cut up too/ Just drop it/ This ain’t a trend, said I’m talking to you but you won′t listen to me/ I′m covered up stifled by that lazy suffocating hand.” So much of the fervent production reminds me of the indie-rock/electronica Santigold dazzled us with on her debut album.
Jesse pens an ode to the growing pool of chronically online men in “Offa Ur Phone.” An indie-rock sound commands this track with the energy of his guitar work, bringing to mind late 2000s experimental acts. Gillenwalters calls out all these “alpha characters” for who they are behind their phones and keyboards, “Who are you really when you′re sad and off of your phone/ Just ’cause you′re chemical don’t stir the pot don′t mean I’m basic PH debunked it/ Mysoginistic and a flaming head, yeah, surely that will do the fucking trick/ We′re not perfect, we’re all a mess, bet you kinda liked that Tim Burton film/ You’re in denial, you know that you′re stuck in the ground.” His brand of DIY alt-rock combines flavors of MGMT, Weird Al, and Devo into this jovial yet sarcastic cocktail of bouncy sound.
“Snore Captain” attempts to break the hold of the negative mindset that has crippled a close friend. Gillenwalters’s synths build tension as the song ascends upwards until breaking forth with the inclusion of his backing vocals. Once we break the atmosphere, Jesse uses the lull attempt to reach us from the dark void we’ve crawled into: “You are a genius/ A creative and friend/ Braindead and lost is not a good agenda/ Why don′t you answer/ When I send you a text/ You are my confidant, my muse, and we can′t let it end/ 2 hour train rides/ And 90 proof rum/ You need to stop slowly killing yourself.” It’s all the personality that Jesse exudes throughout this album with a candy-coated sense of concern that you can’t seem to escape.
Gillenwalters laments about a relationship that he fractured in “Two Heart Tombs.” We’re set adrift in a rather askew sea of mellow guitars and synths that leave you feeling uneasy once Jesse’s vocals fall below where the melody should end. This calm, unsettled tone does congeal nicely with his conflicted state surrounding how things fell apart, “I shot and killed the heart of another/ A chest inside a room entombed/ So bleak and painful, nebulous one/ No door and sixteen ways to be done/ The circumventing/ Looking into a sorry room/ Nothing protecting/ But glass don’t shatter with a boom/ Two heart tombs/ Was never living from the start.” Its esoteric nature has grown on me with each listen. There’s something magnetic about its disjointed soothing wash.
“Drunk Hug” pours out like a drunken confession of admiration stifled by the anxiety of rejection. The verses creep like a shy child over plucked string samples and glockenspiel, only to explode into an anthemic roar in the chorus. Jesse’s frustration with this barrier keeping their friendship from developing into something more boils over violently, “Katy/ What the hell′s wrong with me/ Am I so lame and normal… I always daydreamed about feeling your softness against my jaw/ But not in this place, not in this place/ Something′s not right/ When your best shot at a sincere moment’s bookended by crooked pubs/ Just drunken hugs.” I hear little drops of Weezer in rock-oriented “nerd wants the girl” tone of this song that brings to mind the earnest frustration of the Blue Album.
We come to a close fighting off inadequacy in “Headbangs.” The playful scatter of synths illuminates the soundscape between delightful moments of psychedelic acoustic guitar. Gillenwalters salts the sentiment with a healthy dose of sarcasm, calling out that put on a self-important act: “Sometimes you′ll see me ‘round talking about the things that I don′t even see/ But I need to believe in them because if I don’t I’m an average prick/ Every time the sun is up I kinda start to feel like the pressure′s on and I need some time alone/ I′d rather pretend like it needs me for energy/ So I grab my head/ Force myself to just get out of bed and re-envision all my stupid shit/ Pretend it’s better ′cause it’s artistic.” Its chaotic fuzz and wink-and-smile attitude distill his character nicely.
I enjoyed how Jesse took bedroom production and allowed his imagination to run wild. Much of the soundscape reminds me of a coloring book. He allows the synths, samples, and guitar work to take on whatever shape they want in a way that captures the jovial sprint through a theme park. Songs like “Good Weird,” “When Ya Gonna,” “Offa Ur Phone” all bounce around wildly with the “whatever” attitude that many wish they could dress in throughout the day. I enjoyed the mellow release that came with “Two Heart Tombs.” Coming out of Nashville’s indie scene, I have to say that Gillenwalters is a unique artist that I look forward to listening to grow with each release. If you like bright yet experimental indie pop with an electronic edge, give this album a listen.
My overall thoughts on Good Weird:
Loved it: “Good Weird,” “When Ya Gonna,” and “Offa Ur Phone”
Liked it: “Hard Look,” “Snore Captain,” “Two Heart Tombs,” “Drunk Hug,” and “Headbangs”
Disliked it: None
My overall rating: 6.5 out of 10.
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