Gustafer Yellowgold’s Dark Pie Concerns – Brand New DVD/CD Releasing 9/4

 Gustafer Yellowgold’s Dark Pie Concerns, the seventh and final installment in the award-winning series of Gustafer Yellowgold “Musical Moving Book” DVD/CD sets by illustrator/songwriter/performer Morgan Taylor

This review of Gustafer Yellowgold’s Dark Pie Concerns is a little bittersweet.  It’s the last installment of this award-wining  ‘musical storybook’ series that follows the sun-drop looking Gustafer Yellowgold from his former Sun-Planet to the woodlands in Minnesota.  It was a huge vision by Dayton, Ohio native, Morgan Taylor, over a decade ago so it has to feel good to see his product come to fruition.  The album and DVD (which features all the lyrics on the screen) is as entertaining as ever and you will never be bored.  I truly appreciate kid’s music as being a stepping stone into excellent musical taste as an adult as Gustafer Yellowgold has provided many years of enjoyment to our family.

For those in the know, the Gustafer Yellowgold experience is equal parts acoustic rock concert and minimally animated movie. The songs are equivalent to alternative music for children and the the video elements unfold in graphic novel fashion which are appealing to both adults and children.  Taylor began honing his songwriting skills after he moved from Ohio to New York City in 1999 and began a career as a successful sound engineer.  Not only that, as a self-taught cartoonist, he started drawing Gustafer Yellowgold in the winter of 2004 in between his touring gig with Autum Defense (featuring WILCO’s John Stirratt and Pat Sansone).  Taylor debuted his first live Gustafer concert in the summer of 2005 in Seoul, Korea and his first two CD/DVD sets dropped in 2007.  To say this has been a long journey may be an understatement.

In the last installment of the series, Gustafer Yellowgold’s Dark Pie Concerns, continues the earthly adventures of Gustafer Yellowgold. This set explores the depths of Gustafer’s relationship with Earth’s food, where none of it ever makes it past his lips.  Each animated video navigates a different culinary-inspired scenario.  A fat steak on a black eye, power-drilling some onions, a love poem to a perfect piece of fruit, and a gravy craze bigger than the Macarena are all part of the buffet in this ten-song collection, where the track list reads more like a café menu than family/alt-pop record jacket.  Recorded in upstate NY, Dark Pie Concerns is the first collaborative production and performance effort between Morgan Taylor and GRAMMY winning producer, Dean Jones (Okee Dokee Brothers’ 2012, Can You Canoe) with drums by Dan Reiser (Rosanne Cash, Norah Jones, Marcy Playground).

The DVD/CD begins with the metaphorically bright, acoustic guitar & talking drum groove of “Sunny Side”.  Gustafer’s best pal Forrest Applecrumbie the Pterodactyl is trapped in a Groundhog Day loop of over-baked pies to the Bee Gees/Daft Punk inspired grooves of “Dark Pie”. “Cinnamon Tap” sees Gustafer enjoying his Seuss-ian, garden syrup-dispenser over a moody, euphoric Harry Nillson-type lilt.  This album contains two previously released Sirius/XM Kids Place Live #1 singles; “Cakenstein” and “Rock Melon”, as well as the Top 12 hit, “Gravy Insane”.

Check it out!  Here is the video “Dark Pie” from this new Gustafer album!

Surprise! The DVD disc includes the bonus feature “Let’s Draw Forrest Applecrumbie”, where Taylor takes us on a step-by-step, in-depth tutorial on his artistic process drawing Gustafer’s fashion obsessed Pterodactyl cohort.

‘Gustafer Yellowgold’s Dark Pie Concerns’ Song List:   

1. Sunny Side
2. Dark Pie
3. Rock Melon
4. Cinnamon Tap
5. Strawberry Love
6. The Brightest Beef
7. One’s Onions
8. Gravy Insane
9. I Sandwich
10. Cakenstein

Want more Gustafer?  Previous Gustafer Yellowgold DVD/CD sets include Gustafer Yellowgold’s Have You Never Been Yellow? and Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wide Wide World (both released in 2007), Gustafer Yellowgold’s Mellow Fever (2009), Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock (2011), Gustafer Yellowgold’s Year In The Day (2012), and Gustafer Yellwogold’s Wisdom Tooth of Wisdom (2014).

Awards: Taylor’s DVD/CD sets, Gustafer Yellowgold’s Have You Never Been Yellow? and Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wide Wild World are NAPPA Gold Award winners and were honored by the Kids First! Film and Video Festival.

Gustafer Yellowgold’s Dark Pie Concerns – Brand New DVD/CD Releasing 9/4

www.gustaferyellowgold.com

List Price: $ 19.99 (Apple-Eye Productions, Run time approx. 80 minutes, total content. For ages 4 and up.)