You most likely have never heard of Morgan Taylor, a talented singer-songwriter and illustrator, or his remarkable creation, Gustafer Yellowgold. Gustafer is an immensely likable yellow fellow, originally from the Sun, who now resides in suburban Minnesota and considers an Eel, a Dragon and Pterodactyl his close friends.
While you may be scratching your head at what I just wrote, chances are, if you have a young child and are interested in music and film, you will soon be familiar with Gustafer Yellowgold and his pals. Morgan Taylor and his golden friend have recently signed to Little Monster, a new kids’ imprint of the much larger V2 records. Big things are in store for this yellow fella from the Sun and the Brooklyn band that brings him to life.
Right now, there is only a Gustafer Yellowgold DVD available, no audio-only version of the songs that tell his story. The DVD consists of eight short songs, each with a short animated video of hand-drawn illustrations.
Reading the insert, I understand that this DVD is the first of what will (hopefully) be many more. I can only assume that we will learn more about these characters as Morgan slowly begins to uncover their full story. I look forward with anticipation to the build-up and the longer-term nature of this presentation method. With character development over time and solid songs to tell the tales, I believe Gustafer Yellowgold is here to stay.
My wife feels an undercurrent of spirituality throughout the Gustafer DVD song structure. While I do not know if the story is touched by religion in any way, the themes and tales are gentle and agreeable, if not a tad odd to the casual viewer. We live in an age of over-stimulation and an era of storytelling that prefers a wallop-over-head approach to delivering the moral over anything resembling subtlety. The Gustafer songbook presents a clear alternative to the standard children’s fare, trusting the audience to draw their own conclusions, without being timid or tired. We are allowed to watch and listen without being provided all the answers or all the pieces of the puzzle – personally, I love that.
The eight songs on the DVD are each crafted to tell a particular character’s story. The film starts with the tale of Gustafer himself, naturally, and how he came to Earth. We also learn about his favorite pastime (jumping on cake), about his pets (Slim the Eel and Dragon), and his friends. All the songs are solid but there are a couple standouts, namely Pterodactyl Tuxedo and Mint Green Bee. The former could be a lost track from Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions. The tune has an infectious groove and is the most sing-along and dance friendly number on the disc. Mint Green Bee is just gorgeous, telling the story of a sad but friendly singing bee that stakes claim to Gustafer’s windowsill.
Morgan and his band often will take their show on the road, playing in front of an enormous screen projecting the illustrated chapters of this songbook. This is how we first came to learn of Gustafer, and only bought the DVD after seeing the live show. We have since fallen in love with the characters. I cannot recommend the Gustafer Yellowgold Wide Wild World DVD enough to anyone in search of a fresh alternative to the mass-produced, focus-group-tested and too-heavily-branded children’s entertainment of today.
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Buy Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wide Wild World DVD