Electric Guest’s cofounders, vocalist-instrumentalist Asa Taccone (a Danger Mouse mentee) and drummer-producer Matthew “Cornbread” Compton, like to say they met in 2011 when they both rented rooms in a Los Angeles house that essentially functions as a dorm for musicians. An October profile in Paper magazine suggests that Compton decided he wanted to collaborate after hearing Taccone’s music in the house, but their professional and personal lives had already intersected in other ways. Taccone’s older brother, Jorma, is part of popular comedy music trio the Lonely Island, whose 2009 debut album, Incredibad, used a team of producers that included both Compton and Taccone (though they didn’t work on the same tracks). Whatever circumstances finally led to Electric Guest, though, I’m glad the duo got together. After two albums of middling, shapeless indie-pop, they made a slight pivot toward suave, R&B-influenced tracks for their Atlantic debut, October’s Kin. On the Kin press run, Taccone told Billboard that after Electric Guest worked with Carly Rae Jepsen on her 2019 album, Dedicated, they became more focused on making unabashed, euphoric pop jammed with hooks. On Kin single “Dollar,” Taccone’s almost avian falsetto floats above a joyous keyboard melody, horn flourishes, and punchy percussion—Electric Guest seem to be summoning all their powers to introduce a little optimism into our darkest days, and here and there I’d swear I can feel summer sun on my face. v
Electric Guest find the code to pop joy on their third album, Kin
