#bob and Larry are trans and don’t forget it

[gregorio-loves-art]

Larryboy Cringe!

I’ve been relieving one of few things I liked about my Christian upbringing lol. He’s purple and yellow and one super fellow!

[livesthroughmagic-blog]

Artist Profile - Larry Gus

Larry Gus is the alias of Greek producer, songwriter, and absolute genius Panagiotis Melidis. He’s wildly prolific (if not publicly so) with dozens of unreleased tracks lingering in the digital ether. He’s a true expert on avant-garde and leftfield music - his favorite artists include Black Dice and Albert Ayler, giving a bit of an insight into his own aesthetic. His 2012 LP Years Not Living was one of the first projects I worked on at DFA, a dense collage of eclectic samples, falsetto vocals, and clattering polyrhythms, with a conceptual basis informed by George Perec’s Life - A User’s Manual. With All Your Eyes Look is an ecstatic start -  squeaky horns and snare rolls set the stage as a disembodied larynx gasps, sounding like Mr. Melidis is gripped with a bit of last minute stage fright. The Night Patrols (A Man Asleep) begins with a sample from Wendy & Bonnie’s Endless Pathway before entering the cosmos - lush flutes and a variety of handheld percussion perform the same sonic function as his looped and infinitely layered vocals, forming a head-bobbing piece of psychedelia. But my personal favorite is Pericles - beginning with a fuzzy Black Sabbath riff that is quickly overtaken with frantic rim hits and fried vocals. Squealing horns signal the end of the road, a rugged guitar solo - honestly, the last thing one would expect. Years Not Living is available now and forever from DFA Records. 

Pericles by Larry Gus

I spent a lot of time in the van (well, really, the cheapest rental car we could find) with Larry Gus on his tour in support of fellow LTM contributors YACHT and his 2015 album I Need New Eyes. Larry Gus is a force to reckon with live - running laps around the venue, cracking rude jokes, smashing his forehead open with a microphone - and let’s not forget to mention the uniquely improvised nature of his set, with tracks extended, manipulated, and rearranged on the fly. His sets have always been a delight, but he’s clearly stepped up his game since participating in RBMA Tokyo alongside rising underground stars like Deradoorian, Mumdance, and Lafawndah. A constant highlight each night was non-LP track Angelos Kyriou, named after “the most important Greek musician of this generation” - I don’t know a single one of the words, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to sing along. (Pretty sure the first lyrics are ‘soy chorizo’.) Peek at a live bootleg below for a taste - the clip also includes a bit of Larry’s typical self-deprecating banter. 

I Need New Eyes is a very different record from its predecessor - it maintains the frenetic energy of Years Not Living but places greater emphasis on the songwriting - his lyrics have become more personal, his production more concise. NP Complete is his strongest pop song yet - jaunty organ stabs and funk bass provide an ironic counterpoint to his bleak, anxious lyrics. Belong To Love is a glimmering duet with Orange Milk’s Kate NV, featuring crisp snares and plonky MIDI instrumentation. But my personal favorite is Nazgonya Paper Spike - the longest track on the album, but also the most effervescent. Each bit of instrumentation begins as a short loop that gradually expands and mutates to fill the frequency range before collapsing into a breakdown of found sounds and tin can drums. Listen to it below. 

Nazgonya Paper Spike by Larry Gus

2017 will see more live Larry Gus performances across the globe, keep an eye on his Facebook for announcements. Yacc is available now on the Lives Through Magic Bandcamp, with all proceeds to benefit the victims of the Oakland Fire and The Trans Assistance Project. 

Yacc by Larry Gus