Good Willsmith

Good Willsmith are an experimental trio from Chicago consisting of <a href="spotify:artist:60md7mIj8Cg2vtqpUl1y3O">Doug Kaplan</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2pM2N6yzrf4201puxjeIKY">Maxwell Allison</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3W8UkPK2qxmnwqcBxqf1vL">Natalie Chami</a>. Their free-flowing, improvised music utilizes guitars, electronics, looping devices, and vocals, creating a playful, sometimes intense wall of sound that draws from ambient, noise, psychedelia, and numerous other influences.

The trio started performing together in early 2012, around the same time <a href="spotify:artist:60md7mIj8Cg2vtqpUl1y3O">Kaplan</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2pM2N6yzrf4201puxjeIKY">Allison</a> (also of post-rock group the Big Ship) founded <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hausu+Mountain%22">Hausu Mountain</a>. The label issued cassettes and CD-Rs by both Good Willsmith and the Big Ship, as well as the members' respective solo projects (<a href="spotify:artist:60md7mIj8Cg2vtqpUl1y3O">Kaplan</a> records as <a href="spotify:artist:60md7mIj8Cg2vtqpUl1y3O">MrDougDoug</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2pM2N6yzrf4201puxjeIKY">Allison</a> is known as <a href="spotify:artist:2pM2N6yzrf4201puxjeIKY">Mukqs</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3W8UkPK2qxmnwqcBxqf1vL">Chami</a> goes by <a href="spotify:artist:3W8UkPK2qxmnwqcBxqf1vL">TALsounds</a>). Through numerous releases and constant gigging (including shows with <a href="spotify:artist:6m6fw8IM7yDdkdgjBTTisW">Negativland</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6UahQwC9EZGsFSuGjHJNe1">Wolf Eyes</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2w7aH9RfRWfODKlj0WI8By">Mark McGuire</a>, and dozens of other artists), Good Willsmith earned acclaim, as <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hausu+Mountain%22">Hausu Mountain</a> became one of the most buzzed-about experimental labels. The group made their vinyl debut in 2014, when Mexican label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Umor+Rex%22">Umor Rex</a> issued The Honeymoon Workbook. Returning to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hausu+Mountain%22">Hausu Mountain</a> (and the cassette format) for 2015's Snake Person Generation, Good Willsmith's second LP for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Umor+Rex%22">Umor Rex</a>, Things Our Bodies Used to Have, appeared in 2016. Exit Future Heart, a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:3XxrXIYWH5PpuTbYSXDOZw">Takako Minekawa</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:484ZnYb0Vh2fHtYD0bEQuF">Dustin Wong</a>, was released in 2018. HausLive 2, recorded at Chicago's Sleeping Village venue, was issued in 2021. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi