Guster Keeps Going All Day

February 28, 2024 5:59 PM

Ex-Boston-Street-Band Guster has a new album coming out and they've released two new songs. Keep Going has a fantastical music video. All Day is a lyric video. Their last album was 5 years ago.
posted by hippybear (20 comments total)

Ooh La La
posted by Phssthpok at 6:02 PM on February 28

Oh man, I remember seeing their name on flyers and stuff around Boston: I started at Tufts the year before, and their name was all over the area for a while. So cool that they are still playing!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:17 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]

Aw man, I can remember seeing these guys in 93, 94 at the Rare Duck in Oak Bluffs when they were still Gus. Bongo drum and acoustic guitar. And we danced. Which was technically not allowed. Good to see them still rocking.
posted by vrakatar at 6:19 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]

Babe, are you OK? You've barely touched your Gustard.
posted by Earthtopus at 6:19 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]

One of my high school* besties introduced me to Guster and we actually went to go see them at least once if not twice together. I still think about them fondly. I'm glad they're still making music.

*We didn't go to the same high school & we actually met online, but we lived close enough to each other that we hung out a lot. I lost track of her after college and she has an incredibly common name so I doubt I'll be able to track her down at this point.
posted by edencosmic at 6:19 PM on February 28

when they were still Gus

My CD of their first album is under the name of Gus. Bought from a guitar case in Something Square in the greater Boston area.
posted by hippybear at 6:22 PM on February 28 [4 favorites]

she has an incredibly common name so I doubt I'll be able to track her down at this point.

Completely aside the point of this thread, but you'd be surprised these days how far you can get if you google Name + Street Name or Name + City Name for information from even decades ago.
posted by hippybear at 6:26 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]

Guster is for Lovers.
posted by knile at 7:05 PM on February 28 [7 favorites]

Okay.

Oh man, I remember seeing
Aw man, I can remember seeing

So cool that they are still
Good to see them still

I was writing the thing and saw your thing pop in the preview, but did not refresh. Spooky.
posted by vrakatar at 8:27 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]

They were my first and second concerts, Portsmouth NH and then Portland ME in ‘99 or ‘00. This month, I’m tired enough that it feels like a quarter century ago.

I’m glad they are still playing.
posted by gauche at 3:53 AM on February 29

Guster may be the only good band to be associated with Aware Records.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:49 AM on February 29

My introduction was stumbling into a free concert at Government Center in Boston, maybe 2003? I can still remember hearing Mayor Manino - “ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for GOOSTAH?”
posted by q*ben at 7:04 AM on February 29 [3 favorites]

Back in the Napster-era of file sharing, when their song "Amsterdam" broke Guster recorded a version of them singing the song with just the word "meow" to mess with the file sharers. When people started putting "Amsterdam (no meows)" files up, the band changed their version's name to that as well. I actually enjoyed that version :)
posted by indexy at 7:52 AM on February 29 [3 favorites]

This microphone smells like pastrami.
posted by gauche at 7:55 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]

I also went to that 2003 Government Center concert! I think it was the release party for their album, Keep it Together. I worked at Tufts that summer and spent all my free time walking around listening to Guster and Elliott Smith on my Sony Discman, so the timing of that concert was amazing for me. It was crazy how their music echoed off the walls of brick and concrete.

I liked their new songs, thanks for sharing, OP!
posted by Maarika at 8:26 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]

I've been listening to Keep It Together and Look Alive and Easy Wonderful and Lost And Gone Forever quite a bit recently so this is such welcome news! Thanks for the links!
posted by brainwane at 8:54 AM on February 29 [1 favorite]

I loved Guster back in the day! I went to see them alone at Avalon in Boston years ago, it was a great show.
posted by maryellenreads at 11:08 AM on February 29 [1 favorite]

Guster I think was the second act I saw at Woodstock '99. The first was P-Funk (the night before) which is pretty hard to follow.

But then the ATM looting and everything was set on fire, and someone drove a quad through the campsites, so no one really remembers Guster's performance... but they were there!
posted by alex_skazat at 6:00 PM on February 29 [1 favorite]

So, I truly truly love me classic Guster. I mean, I bought their first album when they were named Gus out of their guitar case! And then Goldfly came along which was Parachute but more adventurous. And eventually they added a drum kit instead of just bongos, and I was great with that. And THEN... OMG... THEN...

Ganging Up On The Sun! [YT playlist] It's the first album with the band as a four piece, and it is their most sonically expansive. The two tracks that aren't typical Guster songs that stick in my mind are Ruby Falls and Empire State. I actually saw the band in Spokane, WA touring for this album, the only time I've seen them since that first encounter.

I understand why they pulled back after that high mark for experimentation. It went too far, like POP did for U2. They had to return to what their fans were expecting, and we've gotten a perfectly fine set of Guster albums since then. But for me, fucking Ganging Up On The Sun is their zenith. I wish they'd continued exploring.
posted by hippybear at 6:35 PM on February 29

Ganging Up on the Sun is great, even though I also love their older stuff. I’ve seen them twice but haven’t been listening to their stuff much recently so this is a great moment to fall back into them.
posted by PussKillian at 11:31 AM on March 2