GUS BALDWIN – S/T

Sit back, chill, lean back, whatever, and just mind your business. That’s the point that many should take heed of while simply listening to music. But rarely does anyone take an interest in my advice, so I’ll just keep saying that to myself over and over again. That’s the point I’m at as I listen to this new one. But I do wonder, where did this guy come from? I know next to nothing about him, aside from the fact that he has a band he works with called The Sketch. Seems a little, um, sketchy.

I ended up Googling this guy, and what I found pretty much mimics his one-sheet. Gus Baldwin is a “singer/ songwriter/ ex-hippie/ part-time punk” who calls Austin, TX home. The 20-something-year-old just dropped his self-titled release (Permanent Teeth Records), and the one-man band doesn’t go through an identity crisis, but seems to live and breathe out of the dirty garage that’s infected his sound & vision here. While he’s released music with his band The Sketch, this seems to be his solo debut full-length offering, recorded anywhere between fall 2022 and the spring of 2023. But let’s get to the heart of the matter: the album compiles 13 songs, all of which were recorded on a Tascam 8-track. Now, it’s been years since I’ve heard anyone doing this, but GOTDAMN, Baldwin doesn’t give a fuck, and neither should you. Many songs here sound a bit grainy, but they still have a charm to ‘em.

Baldwin has a sound that’s explosive at times and soothing at others. He’s expressed with this release that he was attempting to find himself somewhat, and it pretty much sums up who he is as an artist. I’d love to start at the beginning, but this release doesn’t require me to move in any linear fashion, as Baldwin thunders through “St. Sinner,” and one can only imagine every time he hits those guitar strings, it bursts into flames. It storms right out of the gate with expectations of glory, which it delivers, and then some. It’s almost as if it were recorded in a vacuum, with the rhythm leaving space for him to run his blistering fingers across red-hot strings before melting away. But it’s “Depression” that hits with the fury of a thousand suns. In honesty, in my head it needed to match the power of Black Flag’s “Depression” (because every song named ‘depression’ should hit this way,) and it does at some points, with Baldwin leading the charge with the song’s infectious melody. It’s probably the song you’d hear matched with the feeding frenzy of sharks when they smell blood in the water. Yeah, that’s it right there. Then there’s the overdriven “West Korea” that seems to crash into everything around it, and that’s fine considering it’s seemingly where Baldwin is more than comfortable. Vocally, he matches the guitar melody, and sometimes, like now, it’s a beautiful thing, as the rhythm runs circles around it.  

Now, did I mention “Credit Card”? I don’t think I did. Ok, I know I didn’t, but this right here; as he plays those individual guitar notes, shooting off a melody that’s a bit more than infectious, and he even included a remixed version. The bassline coasts atop those sturdy drums, and everything is right in the world. The song takes the liberty of bleeping out “motherfucker” from the song, though, that’s my only problem, because you know, artistic freedom. BUT! There’s always a but; on the other version, it’s audible. Yeah! Motherfucker! I’m with it, and its distant horn play in the distance. If that doesn’t get your goat, maybe “Aesthetifuck’ will. The band’s punk ethos comes out here, but it’s balanced out by Baldwin’s penchant for tossing in cheerful melodies.

Gus Baldwin has the chops, the energy, and the talent that’ll eventually lead him to greatness. With this release, he’s taken that leap of faith, and from this point, this is the springboard to get him there. Everyone will probably tell me I’m full of shi,t but if you don’t agree, there’s definitely something missing in your life. You can fight me on that.