Pete Gustard – Stupid By Design
Pete Gustard – Stupid By Design – Album Review
Those of you that know me know I love to hear whatever Pete Gustard has been up to lately.
Man – the DRAMA to be found in the lead guitar on the opening track “Breaking News” is really something ain’t it? Gustard has always been a master of the atmosphere and mood he wants to put into his music, and he’s certainly known to not be the biggest fan of modern day media and the powers that be. Heck, those are two of the many reasons I love this dude. “I was never meant to feel this all at once” is a fantastically insightful line, and frightfully true. It’s super scary to take a breath and really take stock of how much information, misinformation, and disinformation we’re exposed to around the clock now…it’s inescapable and so damn insidious. The fact that it’s only become even more difficult for most folks to separate what’s real from what ain’t should alarm everybody…but as Pete and I know all too well, it won’t. “Breaking News” – not much can shake the zombies and the NPCs outta their slumber. Sounding solid right off the bat though…I like the crispness of the drums, I like the message at the core of the song, the hook works, and for a finale, Pete adds some undeniable art & poetry in before the end. His aim is true; he hits the media hard for their lack of subtlety and distinction, ultimately showing them all the amount of respect they’ve earned for becoming such a soft and easy target. Having a track like this up at the front of your lineup definitely sets a tone for an album, not just in the style of sound, but also in the compelling level of substance that has you really digging into the words as much as the music.
Pete is venting just a FEW frustrations at the start of his title-track, and I’ve got my bowl of popcorn here with me while I’m enjoying everything he’s decided to say here. You could say that some of Pete’s determined optimism has been kicked in the ol’ proverbial gonads by the greater determination of a population that’s become “Stupid By Design” – it is fuckin’ HARD to not get bogged down by how much we’ve turned into the Idiocracy that Mike Judge once predicted we’d become. Pete’s from the UK, and I’m from Canada, but you’ll notice that Gustard isn’t singing from a singular perspective that’s any more immune to stupidity than wherever it is you live right now. Sure, with a song that is laced with a ton of quotes from Temu Mussolini of the USA, it’d be hard to miss that he’s pointed towards the neverending source of what has been the catalyst for society’s growing dumbassery…and rightly so, #47 has earned the credit for that with his daily displays of verbal garbage numbing the masses. Can we just give Pete Gustard a few additional bonus points for a moment here too? Like, I know music and art are supposed to play a role in documenting who we are and what it’s like to be human…but like, damn…the commitment it would take to tie anything an artist does to Donald The Dickbag is beyond anything I know I’d be capable of doing! I can’t even bring myself to write out his name or speak it aloud, because I’m genuinely afraid the ground will open up below me and swallow me whole if I do. In any event, you’ll know precisely who Gustard is after hearing this track – he’s always been unafraid to speak truth to power. What I love about a song like “Stupid By Design” is that ‘power’ is defined in a couple of ways, and he drives home the need for real accountability. Obviously you’ve got your one definition of power being more traditional, like the example of the Mandarin Munchkin that currently runs the United States – but Gustard doesn’t shy away from reminding the people how much power and autonomy they had as well, albeit he’s doing the latter while pointing out how much we’ve squandered it by allowing our heads to be filled with complete and utter nonsense, 24/7. Pete’s gone to great lengths to illustrate the points he’s making here in how the minds of the masses have been righteously abused & who is largely responsible, and all I can do over here from my side of the screen is find myself wishing any of this would make a damn lick of difference! You end up making a song like this in spite of that very truth.
Do I always know precisely what he’s talkin’ about? Nah. I’m not the Pete Gustard-whisperer. To be fair, sometimes he makes themes clearer than others, but I’ve always felt like his material has been highly considered and purposeful from the very moment I started listening to him some twelve years ago. Ain’t no harm in simply letting a tune hit you in the way that it does…sometimes you dig right in and pick up on intentional meanings, sometimes your ears are drawn more towards how a song simply sounds…there’s no right or wrong method to engage with music and art. Like, for myself, “Pragmatic Tax” came on, and I was immediately interested…like, everything just sounded so damn good right from the very start. I was instantly hooked, and “Pragmatic Tax” continued to keep cookin’ as it played on, revealing smart ideas from the lead to the background, with clever use of production techniques and effects in the mix as well. The heavily distorted vocals in the call and answer design of this tune tickles my ears…so that’s fun…you can look forward to that – talk about sensory sound! I have my theories on what this track would be about, which I believe largely revolves around a “Pragmatic Tax” being a reflection on how we’re sold an image of what could be if we let our governments have their way with our money for this reason or that. So like…pragmatic in an ironic sense, yes? Marketing on behalf of money… gaslighting that makes it appear like the powers that be have the best of intentions and aren’t corrupt at all…obviously they can be trusted to tax us and be responsible with our dollars and SENSE right? Hopefully I’ve got my theory somewhere near the target or I am way, way off on a tangent here.
Dude’s uniqueness should never be understated, only celebrated. Listen to how inventive the music on a song like “The Rich Make The Rules” is! Remarkable! Truly remarkable. Like, this might very well be one of those stunning examples that you might look at on paper and scratch your head trying to make sense of it, yet when you go to execute the vision, the results make it all make sense. I like the way he’s approached this tune…it’s hard to explain, but it’s like there’s a traditional melody at the heart of this, or a melody that works in a brilliantly gentle-but-anthemic type of way…it’s got an inspiring vibe to it, even while Gustard’s still reminding you that “The Rich Make The Rules.” This, at least to myself from the perspective of a guy that’s been listening to his music for years, is the kind of contrast his music has always found tremendous success within. Between the seriousness of the theme and his own uplifting attitude towards it, the never surrendering perspective of Pete Gustard and his empowering optimism ring incredibly true. “The Rich Make The Rules” pretty much has it all if you ask me…the story that Pete weaves together is excellent, the music is as inventive as it is fun to listen to, the melody is both sincere AND catchy AF…I mean…if we’re supposed to want for more than what we get here, I don’t know what it could be. The Spoken Word samples are a fantastic inclusion and vehicle for the social commentary in this tune, the bass lines provide great emphasis in this whole song – “The Rich Make The Rules” has an undeniably inspired blood running through the course of its veins…there’s real life in this entire idea. Artistic inspiration is one of those things you can’t mistake for anything else when you hear it, and “The Rich Make The Rules” is fully loaded with that from the moment it starts, straight through to the end. “If you stand for everyone, then I stand with you,” is the rallying cry that society really needs right now.
Personally, I think one of the things about Pete’s music that often gets sorely overlooked is how often he does things that he hasn’t quite done before. Sure, there are always going to be a lot of similarities in the body of work by any artist or band over the course of their career, whether it’s in the themes of the content or within the sound itself, but Gustard has always found a way to subtly shift his music in ways that keep the art fresh for himself, and also give his audience the ability to come along with him. Case in-point, “Idiot Parade” seemed like something noticeably new in his overall sound…it’s a mellow and fairly serene tune, which is perfect for the blissful serenity that works perfectly in tandem with the subject matter he’s working with here. I’ve said it many times myself – I can only imagine how amazing it must be to live life as a complete and total idiot. Can you comprehend how incredible a straight-up lack of real consciousness would be? “We’re just high on being loud.” How wonderful that must be. Here I am, burdened by thoughts, compassion, and empathy when I could have been “dancing in the idiot parade” all along…hardly seems fair. I love the atmosphere that Pete’s paired this concept with, it’s not just insightful and clever, it’s a genuinely smooth listen from start to finish as well. This track floats along dreamily, because it’s a direct metaphor for what it must sound like on the inside of at least a few million heads out there these days…approximately seventy-seven million at the very least I reckon. As he always does, Pete makes a cogent and compelling series of points on “Idiot Parade” that would be hard to miss if your thinker is still functioning properly. His words are always so considered, and he’s wise enough to know there are bigger issues in the overall system than merely on one single side of it all. He takes on many aspects of our daily life here, from personal politics to broader technological implications…I mean…if you’ve just woken up from your coma, these things have become entwined in today’s world. “Every question gets a price tag now,” as he explains. If anything, he might be taking a direct shot at the ‘influencer’ culture we’re stuck in now…if anyone should be leading the “Idiot Parade,” by golly it’s anyone out there that would be proud to call themselves one of those, as far as I can tell.
Hey! On “Blue Light Sun,” did he dare to pick on dogs for a moment in this sad technological tale that tells the story of our rapid disconnection to the humanity we used to share? EVERYBODY knows the internet is ruled by CATS Pete…leave the dogs outta this! The joke is on you all – I’m pro-BOTH – I love dogs AND cats, so take that! To be completely fair, he does briefly mention a cat in this narrative as well, albeit a dead one…still, a shout-out is a shout-out in today’s world, is it not? There’s so much to love about this song in my opinion. Thematically-speaking, it’s brilliant, and accurate enough to be the storyline in a modern-day Horror film. I cannot even begin to explain how many times I’ve said goodnight to my wife at like, 9pm at the latest, only to find her still awake at 2am when I finally crawl into bed, still scrolling away. Or how many times we go to watch a show or a movie, and she’s got her bloody phone out, viciously pretending she can pay complete and total attention to both things. Sadly, technology has affected many of the people we hold most dear…practically no one is immune to it, and we have to make a concentrated effort to actually disconnect – how fucked up is that? I’m not claiming to be any better – I sit in front of a computer screen all damn day, every day, and as much as I’d love to say that I’m just tippity tapping and typing my life away writing about all of your amazing music, I know the reality is that I’m sharing much of that time with checking the news, checking out YouTube videos, all that bullshit distraction is the same, whether it’s on a phone screen or a big ol’ desktop computer. In any event, “Blue Light Sun” is a genuinely fantastic tune. Lots of remarkable and commendable tunes on this record, but from the very first moment I heard this song I knew it’d be up there with my favorites.
Continuing along with his ‘of mind’ series that shows up in some form on every one of the guy’s records, “The Purchase Of Mind” is what you’ll find on Stupid By Design. And you know what? I’ll bet ya that good ol’ Pete’s still got plenty more of pieces of mind to share with you in the future to follow! Look at me, ever the optimist…how cute it is to think that we’re going to survive ourselves. If you’re familiar with this subseries of his musical legacy, you know full well to pay close attention to these tunes, because he’s always got something substantial to say in the ‘of mind’ songs. Which is like…I mean, it’s kinda weird to think that only now at track seven that someone out there has just woken up and really started to listen – Pete’s far from silent about much of anything. If he’s got something important to say, he’s gonna say it. What I love about the guy is that he doesn’t ever blow hot air around. He knows that silence often equates to a twisted sense of complicity, but I’ve never gotten the sense that he’s ever just talking to talk, you feel me? He moves with purpose & intention in all that he does, and his music is a reflection of that. “The Purchase Of Mind” deals a lot with…hmm…let’s say, intellectual property – as in, your own individual intellect, and how fragile the agreement of you keeping it that way has become. You know all those ‘click here to accept’ terms and conditions forms we run into in the digital realm? How many have you read in this lifetime, right? Yep – don’t kid yourselves, we ALL know the answer is actually ZERO. You haven’t read a single damn one of them from top to bottom. You have no idea if you signed your life away to Apple years ago. You don’t know if Microsoft technically owns the rights to your third-born son. “The Purchase Of Mind” is remarkably cheap these days, and we’re all too happy to sell as long as we can buy, buy, buy that next shiny product or watch that amazing new viral video, isn’t that right? If anything, “The Purchase Of Mind” should serve as a reminder that YOU are the real product that THEY are after. The idea that they have US paying for what THEY want, is fucking crazy. How these thieving mind-purchasing monsters have gotten away with ducking accountability for so many years is sheer insanity – but how we’ve allowed them to become a standard part of the process for us to access just about anything you can think of by signing their legalese, is even more maddening.
I dig how the additional intensity of “The Purchase Of Mind” breaks, and out of the depths of its theme of darkness, “Only Love Will Get Us Through” takes us back into the light. Gustard is always focused on what the balance is, and I appreciate that. He’s well aware that if it’s dark, then somewhere else has been illuminated. He knows that where fuckery runs rampant, there must be justice established in another capacity. With all the hate that’s being promoted daily by #47 and that ketamine-infested Tesla dickhead, it’s up to the people to embrace love as the solution to the problems that people like these billionaire assholes have become. Unity is what it takes y’all, and Pete will help remind you of that in the words he’s penned to “Only Love Will Get Us Through.” The whole obsession we’ve developed with power, money, and authority figures is outright fucking strange…like, it drives me a little bit crazier, every single day. The fact that people out there could so easily turn their attention to positives like art and music, yet choose to idolize politicians and choose to help accelerate the divide for a few more clicks & views & a few more pennies from rage farming…all I can do is shake my head in disbelief. I know so many capable minds that have been altogether consumed by this madness…people that would have normally been on the front lines of the resistance, who have been reduced to tweeting out their thoughts like they’re not simply tossing their knowledge into the technological void of post-Twitter life. “Only Love Will Get Us Through” – I’m confident that the sheer concept probably seems a whole lot cheesy to much of the testosterone-charged attitude of today’s typical discourse, and much like I’m sure Pete feels about that himself, I couldn’t give one flying fuck what an asshole thinks about love not being the solution to the problems we face. “We just argue over nothing,” every damn day. The fact that we can’t all simply come to the conclusion that “Only Love Will Get Us Through” is genuinely unbelievable. This should be a universal concept that we can all agree on…but I fear we’re already long past the point where one side will be able to agree with the other anymore. I’d be more than happy to be wrong. All in all, Gustard delivers the message of this song with the sincerity a moment like this truly requires.
“The Gilded Ghosts Of Monaco,” you say, eh Pete? How the heck did Monaco get involved here? I’m assuming this is one of those tax havens, or…hang on…lemme Google this for a second…holy shit! OKAY. Governments of Monaco, yes indeed, you can collectively get fucked. Once again, Gustard is creating awareness for the ignorant folks like me, and hell yes, I appreciate his efforts. He’s also found another remarkable pairing between the sunny disposition of the sound in this song with one of the record’s heavier, more specifically targeted themes. You’ll have to forgive my lack of knowledge on the shady business of Monaco brother-man…over here in North America, we get practically zero exposure to anything that’s happening outside of this continent. My other excuse is that I purposely try not to know anything about anything that’s not something to do with music, that way I can keep expectations on myself down to the barest of minimums. Dig the backing vocals in this tune, like the additional horn sounds in the mix, like the spirited vibe of the music, and of course I like the content of the lyrics in this song as well…plenty to love about this finale. Plenty to love about this whole record overall if you ask me! My appreciation for the music of Pete Gustard has been long documented on these pages of ours throughout the years and I make no attempt to hide it when I’m writing new reviews on his music. That being said, I remain as objective you’ve come to expect me to be, no matter who I’m dealing with at the time. So take it to heart when I tell ya that there’s not a bad song in the lineup here – Pete has done an exceptional job from start to finish, and delivered a set of meaningful new music on Stupid By Design.
His brand-new album comes out officially at the end of this month. Until then, find out more about the music of Pete Gustard direct from his official website at: https://petegustard.co.uk
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