Last September Djo—the musical alter-ego to actor Joe Keery—released his sophomore album, “DECIDE.” Midnight of November 17 the instrumental B-sides to the album were released. It’s a two-song EP of funky, 8-bit, retro-style songs called “D-SIDES” as a play on his name being Djo (pronounced Joe). The release consists of two tracks, “Uglyfisherman” and “Listen.” While “Uglyfisherman” is a weirdly titled, short musical endeavor, “Listen” is just over five minutes long. 

The song starts and ends with a whisper of a vocal, but the rest is all snappy percussion, synth, whomps, and imitation horn. It is very reminiscent of 80’s arcade soundtracks, much like “Runner” from his LP “DECIDE.” “Djo, Our Modern 70’s Psych-Synth Pop Star” goes more in-depth on the various electronic sounds of the full album.

While fans might have been expecting more vocal songs after the release date being announced the morning of the drop, it’s no lie that Djo has a knack for glowing musical production. There are a plethora of layers, instruments bouncing in and out like a constant swell of sound. His instrumentation is very impressive. Now we wait for his next musical venture.