Gum Takes Tooth

As Gum Takes Tooth, the duo of Thomas Fug and Jussi Brightmore plot an adventurous, idiosyncratic and wilfully unpredictable trajectory. Continuously exploring and mutating with an ever more nuanced approach while maintaining a staunch commitment to non-conformity, the band formed in East London in 2009 with wild gigs across the East London underground music and art scene. Early material coalesced primitive DIY Silver Apples electronics, blast beat mayhem, and experimental noise with explosive avant-punk energy.

Now marrying an unflinching beat-driven assault to a questing and transformative vision, their fourth album RECOVERY POSITION (2023) represents a clean slate for Gum Takes Tooth at a time when this ever shifting and morphing entity sheds its skin once again, revealing a lean, formidable and precise new form.

Recalibrating their signature enmeshing of drums and electronics they landed on a propulsive all-electronic delivery that stubbornly eschews genre constraints while maintaining the duo’s clear affinity for the rattle and rumble of bass bins under duress. Thus was birthed a unique amalgam of industrial grime aerobics, sci-fi mutant 808 protest music and hands-in-the-air rave bangers.

The album documents the tumultuous years of personal and worldwide upheaval since its predecessor. Yet the duo have alchemically transcended their circumstances, channelling the personal and political into salvation. True to form, what’s emerged is their most singular and potent work to date, simultaneously their most pop-adjacent and their most extreme.

Supporting Gum Takes Tooth is Faex Optim.

Edinburgh based IDM artist Faex Optim worked under the radar for years on downtempo electronica until releasing Crystal Pleasures in 2023, with a change of focus and more up-tempo style. His music lies somewhere between 90s Warp-esque IDM and modern organic techno, resulting in a fusion of lush chords and driving beats. Often noted for crisp drums and cloudy synths, Faex Optim makes driving IDM electronica that’s not out of place on either the headphone commute or the club floor.