Our Critics Pics
By Jim Ridley
GUSTAFER YELLOWGOLD If Adult Swim can find an audience by brokering an alliance between wiseguy tweens and 30-ish stoners—and ’80s club-rockers from Jason Ringenberg to Dan Zanes can find a huge new following playing parent-friendly tunes for tots—why can’t someone create a gumdrop world where “Puff the Magic Dragon” frolics in an autumn mist of twee indie psych-pop? Someone has: NYC illustrator-musician Morgan Taylor, bassist for Wilco side project The Autumn Defense, who devised this disarmingly daft bedtime-story vehicle for his Maurice Sendak-like drawings and whimsical wordplay. As Gustafer Yellowgold, a friendly little flamehead from the sun whose playgroup includes a dapper pterodactyl and Slimothy the eel, Taylor performs witty, wide-eyed songs catchy and wistful enough to pass for a kindergarten reworking of The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle, filled with bouncy sing-along choruses and cooed tributes to insect buddies, fantastic creatures and the joys of punching cheese. His Have You Never Been Yellow? DVD/CD set was hailed as one of 2007’s best releases for kids; live, he’ll perform a morning show for the little ones in Hillsboro Village, accompanied by his charming low-tech animation and projected illustrations. If you’re pushing 40 and still get choked up at the mention of little Jackie Paper, be there. 10 a.m. at The Belcourt.
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