GBV OCD

[reebty]

And they're saying there'll be more!

[auto-da-fey]

pretty sure 2007 would be my vote for Pollard's all-time worst. I find both Merge albums from that year dull and plodding, and the Happy Jack 7" series had few b-side treasures. I pulled Silverfish Trivia out yesterday, and it too bores me to sleep.

I guess there was Bad Football, one of my top picks for most-underrated efforts, but still, everything else was either sluggish or a Circus Devils album.

[edison]

"The Unsinkable Fats Domino", from the forthcoming GBV album, is streaming here: http://robertpollard.net/ (scroll down a bit)

Sounds pretty good!

[sashwap]

"The Unsinkable Fats Domino", from the forthcoming GBV album, is streaming here: http://robertpollard.net/ (scroll down a bit)

Sounds pretty good!

downloadable here: http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2011/10/25/guided-by-voices-new-single-by-original-lineup-the-unsinkable-fats-domino/

yeah, i love it. it's just a simple, charming little song, really worked its way into my head almost immediately.

[sashwap]

http://soundcloud.com/firerecords/gbv-doughnut

another promising new song, "doughnut for a snowman."

[elpollodiablo]

Yeah! Pretty great

[auto-da-fey]

I went on a binge yesterday and ordered all three new GBV 7"s, even though the Matador one doesn't have any non-LP b-sides; just figured at this point I'm in deep enough that it barely even matters.

To wit: recently received the new Circus Devils and Pollard solo-acoustic-boombox-demo version of Let It Beard. The former is alright; plunked pianos, some vomit noise, and a few songs that M compared to David Byrne (!!!). It's probably my 5th favorite of the 9 Circus Devils albums, so take that for what you will. The boombox demos, meanwhile, might actually be unlistenable, and assuredly are pointless for anyone who's not writing a dissertation in musicology on the songwriting genealogy of drunken lo-fi indie rock. But there were only 500 copies, it sold out on pre-order in about three days, and I have the horrible satisfaction of possessing one, which I guess was the only point all along.

[auto-da-fey]

oh also I just learned from a four-year-old interview that Bob Pollard had a vasectomy. I won't pollute this thread with a protracted quote, but it is an awesome and terrible story, both in their old-school senses.

also, "Solidarity in Infertility" seems like a potential GBV title, one with which I would sing along.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Good god that story is horrifying.

[auto-da-fey]

Did anybody see that Gary Waleik from Big Dipper recently wrote and recorded a song called "Bob Pollard" (they collaborated on the Mars Classroom album that was pretty decent but got kinda buried on the blitzkrieg-Bob gush of music this past year)?

It's actually quite good, especially for a toss-off; not quite up there with the Posies' "Grant Hart" or Local H's "Eddie Vedder," but arguably better than the Queers' "Ben Weasel" or, I dunno, most Wesley Willis songs. 

[narlus]

it's a great song. i saw them play it a couple of months ago, instant classic (i'd never heard it before that night).

[narlus]

GBV playing ATP/IBYM and Primavera Sound next year.


i've got my IBYM tickets.

[sashwap]

i'm interested to hear tobin sprout's new GBV songs. apparently he's got six on the new record. he's written some fantastic pop songs, with GBV and solo, but his more recent stuff hasn't struck me as particularly GBV-ish. it's pleasant and good, but maybe a bit dull.  i guess what i'm wondering is if the tour and rekindled energy fuels a return to top form.

whit, i just picked up a couple tobin records, the eyesinweasel one and let's welcome the circus people. the latter was a little bit disappointing after moonflower plastic, but the eyesinweasel (ugh, that name!) record is surprisingly solid.

also, got the new GBV single from matador. "the unsinkable fats domino" is really great, it channels alien lanes without a problem. the other side has "we won't apologize for the human race," which sounds more like a boston spaceships/takeovers track, with hints of their pre-propeller albums.

[auto-da-fey]

ooh, that means the 7" might be awaiting me when I get to work tomorrow, since I mail everything there now.

and LWtCP, while not great, does have one of my favorite Tobin Sprout songs ever in "Vertical Insect (the Lights are On)," just such a lovely, lovely tune.

[davy]

I haven't read this yet, but I was hoping it would be controversial (or terrible, or something)! The Quietus takes on GBV!

King Shit: An Overview of Guided By Voices

[auto-da-fey]

was that article supposed to be controversial? I just found it blandly curated ("stay between 1992 and 1997, but then also get the three box sets with 300 unreleased tracks before you bother with anything after the first Clinton administration and plus I saw them in college in the 90s" was my takeaway). that said, you can't go wrong with anything it mentioned.

meanwhile, both new GBV 7"s arrived this week. "Unsinkable Fats Domino"/"We Won't Apologize for the Human Race" is B+/B material, but hot damn am I loving the "Doughnut for a Snowman" record--lovely a-side, then a great run of four b-side fragments that culminate in one of those Tobin Sprout minute-long gorgeous ditties the world has so desperately needed since he began stretching his songs past three minutes. I've spun this thing several dozens of times already and can't bring myself to stop.

[davy]

I want everything The Quietus publishes to be either hysterically bad or controversial. I will never forgive them for that Orange Juice article.

[sashwap]

I've spun this thing several dozens of times already and can't bring myself to stop.

me too! totally addictive.

[sashwap]

here's a new pollard interview: http://www.avclub.com/articles/robert-pollard,66000/

also, there's a good one in this issue of magnet where he talks about all the songs on the new album: http://www.issuu.com/redflagmedia/docs/magnet_flip_82

[narlus]

shitballs...GBV cancel ATP and Primavera shows...unclear as to they are 'broken-up' or not.

[sashwap]

shitballs...GBV cancel ATP and Primavera shows...unclear as to they are 'broken-up' or not.

pitchfork just posted this clarification:

UPDATE: Although ATP's press release said that Guided by Voices have broken up, GBV's manager says the band is working on new material, and have just canceled their ATP and Primavera performances. They plan to release a new album, Class Clown Spots a UFO in May.

[elpollodiablo]

How does "we don't want to play your show" become "we're broken up"?

[auto-da-fey]

I think it was the opaque reference to "personal problems," never a promising phrase.

In the meanwhile, I think it's awesome and hilarious that Pollard just put out "Best of 2008-09" AND a "Best of 2010-11" albums. Kind of weird how they only about 50% overlap with how I'd construct them.

[auto-da-fey]

the Philadelphia Punk Rock Flea Market had a big record-selling annex last weekend, and the big treasure for me was a copy of the Nightwalker/Freedom Cruise split 7". Nightwalker is one of my favorite avant-Pollard projects, and even if this 5-minute noise-sculpture is hardly essential, I enjoy having the thing, what can I say.

meanwhile, still playing the "Doughnut for a Snowman" single over and over and over again.

[sashwap]

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/18/143507341/first-listen-guided-by-voices-lets-go-eat-the-factory