GUERRERO, TOMMY Year Of The Monkey (Galaxia) cd ep 10.98
Tommy Guerrero broadens his already broad musical scope further on Year Of The Monkey. It's much more 'full band' sounding than we recall on past Guerrero releases. While it still drifts back into more late night languid clubland themes, it actually seemed quite reminiscent of a lot of Chicago style post-rock. Jason mentioned that he'd seen Guerrero perform with Tortoise a whiles back, and after hearing these five tracks, that doesn't seem at all out of character. In fact, it makes perfect sense. If you've a craving for a little something that's moody and subtly groovy, this might be the ticket. Equally suited for an evening of well-mixed cocktails, a latenight drive along the coastline or a night in with a thick deep read.
MPEG Stream: "Knives Fighting Guns"
MPEG Stream: "By Fist And Fury"

GUERRERO, TOMMY From The Soil To The Soul (Quannum) cd 14.98
Following this album's dainty piano intro we were hit with a big "Whoa!!" Heavier, groovier, funkier... that's Mr. Tommy Guerrero on From The Soil To The Soul. Sounds like he's taking a looser yet more aggressive approach. Y'know, just letting it flow. Diggin' in with some falsetto vocals and hotshit bass and Hammond lines. Whereas his previous albums have been lighter, more playful fare, this is harder hitting, very hard funk influenced a la Isaac Hayes or theme songs for gritty cop shows on tv back in the '70s like S.W.A.T. As usual he covers all the bases though, softening things up a bit for "Just Ain't Me", but then he hits us with the surprisin gly hard rockin' almost rap metal of "Let Me In Let Me Out". Mr. Guerrero's getting down to some serious business.
MPEG Stream: "The Under Dog"
MPEG Stream: "Salve"

GUIDED BY VOICES Alien Lanes (Matador) cd 10.98
Alien Lanes was the band's eighth full length released in March of 1995 (and twelve years into their GBV career! geez!). If their Bee Thousand album the previous year won the hearts of indie kids around the globe, this one sealed the deal in indelible ink. Lo-fi indie rock hugely indebted to the Beatles and Big Star that juggled shambling garage rawk psychedelics and odd bedroom 4-track recorded puppy love pop songs. The latter, as obtuse and cryptic as they may initially seem, still find their way and root themselves firmly into your heart and head. Messy, noisy and clumsy at time, but absolutely addictive and endearing in their untethered rock pop abandon. Alien Lanes' whopping 28 song track count and the songs' time lengths (ranging from a mere 18 seconds to just shy of three minutes) were a clear foreshadowing of the unbelievably prolific song output of Pollard, Sprout and co, as well as their ability to nail a sentiment in under a minute. Awesome!

GUIDED BY VOICES Alien Lanes (Matador) lp 15.98
An undisputed classic GBV album now reissued on vinyl!
Alien Lanes was the band's eighth full length originally released fourteen years ago in March of 1995 (and twelve years into their GBV career! Geez!). If their Bee Thousand album the previous year won the hearts of indie kids around the globe, this one sealed the deal in indelible ink. Lo-fi indie rock hugely indebted to the Beatles and Big Star that juggled shambling garage rawk psychedelics and odd bedroom 4-track recorded puppy love pop songs. The latter, as obtuse and cryptic as they may initially seem, still find their way and root themselves firmly into your heart and head. Messy, noisy and clumsy at time, but absolutely addictive and endearing in their untethered rock pop abandon. Alien Lanes' whopping 28 song track count and the songs' time lengths (ranging from a mere 18 seconds to just shy of three minutes) were a clear foreshadowing of the unbelievably prolific song output of Pollard, Sprout and Co., as well as their ability to nail a sentiment in under a minute. Awesome!

GUIDED BY VOICES Back To The Lake / Dig Through My Window (Fading Captain Series (#20)) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're not gonna bother trying to convince you one way or the other about a new Guided By Voices release. Let alone 4 releases. By this time, after 10+ albums and 50 side projects and thousands of songs, you probably know whether Pollard and Co.'s lo-fi Beatles / Kinks / classic Brit-pop filtered through American indie rock schtick is your cup of tea or not. If you're anything like me (Andee), you find yourself ready to dismiss every new GBV project with cries of 'Quality Control!' but ultimately find yourself digging almost everything Pollard comes up with. These four 7"s are no different. Each single's A side is a track from their forth coming full length, while the B sides are all exclusive to these here 7"s. And they're all pretty darn good, with a couple gems even ranking up with some of the best GBV songs ever. Vinyl only. And limited of course.

GUIDED BY VOICES Bee Thousand (Scat) cd 13.98
By 1994, Guided By Voices were on full length number SEVEN. Hundreds upon hundreds of songs, dozens of releases, almost all of them awesome! That's a pretty good record by anyones standards. And yet there would be more to come, nearly 10 more full lengths, solo records, singles, eps... But if forced to pick THEE record that best exemplifies what made Guided By Voices so special, it would have to be Bee Thousand. Originally released in 1994, their seventh long player, Bee Thousand perfectly captured both sides of GBV, the frustratingly experimental fragmentary side, with short 30 second bursts of pop brilliance that burnt out before making it out of the first verse, exhausting in under a minute, the sort of hook other bands would kill for and would most likely repeat 50 times in a song if they had come up with it, and classic pop songsmithery, with gorgeously hooky, jangly pop gems, cobbled together from bits of the Beatles and the Kinks and other pop stalwarts, all filtered through GBV frontman Bob Pollard's non-sequiter flecked lyrcal flights of fancy and a distinctly drunken desire to ROCK! It's impossible to describe exactly what makes this record so great. The songs sure, but also the way they are recorded, and the sequencing, and the way some songs are butted up right against each other, and some songs just cut off and trample all over the end of another songs. It's absolutely perfect. One of those rare records where the spaces between songs and the random bits of sonic detritus are jus as catchy as the songs themselves. Sort of like the way you would find yourself humming the drum fills in Nirvana songs, GBV records were a single dense collection of sounds and songs and parts and pauses and chunks of rock and pop assembled in a seemingly haphazzard arrangement, but on closer inspection, it couldn't be any other way, and most certainly couldn't be played by any other band. The first ten minutes of Bee Thousand is perhaps the finest opening salvo in musical history. "Hardcore UFO's", "Buzzards And Dreadful Crows", "Tractor Rape Chain", "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory". A 1-2-3-4 punch! And while the record is basically solid, no filler to be found, there are a handful of POP CLASSICS scattered throughout: "Echoes Myron", "Goldstar For Robot Boy", "Awful Bliss", "I Am A Scientist" and more... This record is definitely one of the best indie rock records of all time. Fuck Slanted And Enchanted. Sure that's a great record, but it's irony-heavy and too cool. Bee Thousand is just a regular bunch of beer drinking yokels from Ohio who love pop music, love to rock and somehow struck gold. If you don't own this record, for fuck's sake GET IT!
MPEG Stream: "Hardcore UFO's"
MPEG Stream: "Buzzards And Dreadful Crows"
MPEG Stream: "Gold Star For Robot Boy"
MPEG Stream: "Awful Bliss"

GUIDED BY VOICES Bee Thousand (The Director's Cut) (Scat) 3lp 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Tenth anniversary 2lp release of this all time indie rock / pop classic. There were originally five different versions assembled and abandoned before the final version. A total of 65 songs were considered for the record before it was trimmed down to its current sequence. For this vinyl only reissue the first four sides recreate an early 2lp sequence originally titled Instructions to the Rusty Time Machine. Side five contains songs from the final version of Bee Thousand plus some unreleased tracks from other versions. Side six collects The Grand Hour And I Am A Scientist ep's, as well as a new version of "My Valuable Hunting Knife". 55 songs, 13 never been issued on vinyl, and 7 previously unreleased. Packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve! Here's more about the original cd which we also have in stock:
It's official. Guided By Voices are no more. But what a streak. Hundreds of songs, dozens of releases, almost all of them awesome! That's a pretty good record by anyones standards. But if forced to pick THE record that best exemplifies what made Guided By Voices so special, it would have to be Bee Thousand. Originally released in 1994, Bee Thousand perfectly captured both sides of GBV, the frustratingly experimental fragmentary side, with short 30 second bursts of pop brilliance that burnt out before making it out of the first verse, exhausting in under a minute, the sort of hook other bands would kill for and would most likely repeat 50 times in a song if they had come up with it, and classic pop songsmithery, with gorgeously hooky, jangly pop gems, cobbled together from bits of the Beatles and the Kinks and other pop stalwarts, all filtered through GBV frontman Bob Pollard's non-sequiter flecked lyrcal flights of fancy and a distinctly drunken desire to ROCK! It's impossible to describe exactly what makes this record so great. The songs sure, but also the way they are recorded, and the sequencing, and the way some songs are butted up right against each other, and some songs just cut off and trample all over the end of another songs. It's absolutely perfect. One of those rare records where the spaces between songs and the random bits of sonic detritus are jus as catchy as the songs themselves. Sort of like the way you would find yourself humming the drum fills in Nirvana songs, GBV records were a single dense collection of sounds and songs and parts and pauses and chunks of rock and pop assembled in a seemingly haphazzard arrangement, but on closer inspection, it couldn't be any other way, and most certainly couldn't be played by any other band. The first ten minutes of Bee Thousand is perhaps the finest opening salvo in musical history. "Hardcore UFO's", "Buzzards And Dreadful Crows", "Tractor Rape Chain", "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory". A 1-2-3-4 punch! And while the record is basically solid, no filler to be found, there are a handful of POP CLASSICS scattered throughout: "Echoes Myron", "Goldstar For Robot Boy", "Awful Bliss", "I Am A Scientist" and more... This record is definitely one of the best indie rock records of all time. Fuck Slanted And Enchanted. Sure that's a great record, but it's irony-heavy and too cool. Bee Thousand is just a regular bunch of beer drinking yokels from Ohio who love pop music, love to rock and somehow struck gold. If you don't own this record, for fuck's sake GET IT!
MPEG Stream: "Hardcore UFO's"
MPEG Stream: "Buzzards And Dreadful Crows"
MPEG Stream: "Gold Star For Robot Boy"
MPEG Stream: "Awful Bliss"

GUIDED BY VOICES Bulldog Skin (Matador) cd 7.98
Four song ep from the "Mag Earwig" album with Bulldog Skin, The Singing Razorblade, Now To War (Electric Version) & Mannequin's Complaint (Wax Dummy Meltdown).

GUIDED BY VOICES Cheyenne / Visit This Place (Fading Captain Series (#21)) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're not gonna bother trying to convince you one way or the other about a new Guided By Voices release. Let alone 4 releases. By this time, after 10+ albums and 50 side projects and thousands of songs, you probably know whether Pollard and Co.'s lo-fi Beatles / Kinks / classic Brit-pop filtered through American indie rock schtick is your cup of tea or not. If you're anything like me (Andee), you find yourself ready to dismiss every new GBV project with cries of 'Quality Control!' but ultimately find yourself digging almost everything Pollard comes up with. These four 7"s are no different. Each single's A side is a track from their forth coming full length, while the B sides are all exclusive to these here 7"s. And they're all pretty darn good, with a couple gems even ranking up with some of the best GBV songs ever. Vinyl only. And limited of course.

GUIDED BY VOICES Chocolate Boy (Guided By Voices, Inc.) 7" 6.50

GUIDED BY VOICES Class Clown Spots A UFO (GBV Inc) cd 14.98
Maybe Robert Pollard just needed a break. Writing and recording literally THOUSANDS of songs can do that to a person. Although when Pollard disbanded Guided By Voices a few years back, he didn't really slow down in the interim, instead ended up making just as many records and writing just as many songs solo. But as much as we dug some of that stuff, and as much as GBV is Pollard's show, there was and is something magical about that band, about the chemistry between Pollard and Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Greg Demos, and all the others who sail with the USS GBV. And the evidence is plain to see. GBV's comeback album, Let's Go Eat The Factory, definitely proved there was still a spark, and that even if Pollard wrote most of the songs, these guys as a unit, were way better and making those songs come alive. So it's barely been a handful of months since that record came out, and apparently, there's another one scheduled for November, so GBV are back on track, and working their way back to the sort of release schedule that would kill most bands, but then GBV are most definitely not most bands, and really we're not complaining cuz Class Clown Spots a UFO is even better than Let's Go. Right from the first song, "He Rises! Our Union Bellboy", these guys sound as good as ever, the song impossibly catchy, the band ramshackle but still sorta tight, Pollard's voice in fine form, the lyrics ridiculous but perfect, and so it goes, song after song of classic sounding GBV pop, from the pounding crunch of the awesomely titled "Blue Babbleships Bay", to the woozy, string laden jangle pop of "Forever Until It Breaks", the handclappy power pop bounce of the title track with a really weird (but cool) a capella break (and the title of which we remember from one of those sprawling multiple disc GBV collections, where every track was by a different imaginary band), the dirgey swagger of "Hang Up And Try Again", hell, we could go track by track, but instead we'll just mention that we've only had this for a few days now, and already, just after a couple plays, we're finding these songs stuck in our heads like crazy. And some of the GBV of old is also present in the various super short jams (there's at least 7 or 8 songs that clock in at a minute or less), which as always, manage to be just as catchy, if not more so than their (slightly) longer counterparts.
This should definitely hold us over for a few months, at least until it's time for a whole 'nother set of songs. We already can't wait.
MPEG Stream: "He Rises! Our Union Bellboy"
MPEG Stream: "Blue Babbleships Bay"
MPEG Stream: "Class Clown Spots A UFO"
MPEG Stream: "Chain To The Moon"

GUIDED BY VOICES Class Clown Spots A UFO (GBV Inc) lp 15.98
Maybe Robert Pollard just needed a break. Writing and recording literally THOUSANDS of songs can do that to a person. Although when Pollard disbanded Guided By Voices a few years back, he didn't really slow down in the interim, instead ended up making just as many records and writing just as many songs solo. But as much as we dug some of that stuff, and as much as GBV is Pollard's show, there was and is something magical about that band, about the chemistry between Pollard and Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Greg Demos, and all the others who sail with the USS GBV. And the evidence is plain to see. GBV's comeback album, Let's Go Eat The Factory, definitely proved there was still a spark, and that even if Pollard wrote most of the songs, these guys as a unit, were way better and making those songs come alive. So it's barely been a handful of months since that record came out, and apparently, there's another one scheduled for November, so GBV are back on track, and working their way back to the sort of release schedule that would kill most bands, but then GBV are most definitely not most bands, and really we're not complaining cuz Class Clown Spots a UFO is even better than Let's Go. Right from the first song, "He Rises! Our Union Bellboy", these guys sound as good as ever, the song impossibly catchy, the band ramshackle but still sorta tight, Pollard's voice in fine form, the lyrics ridiculous but perfect, and so it goes, song after song of classic sounding GBV pop, from the pounding crunch of the awesomely titled "Blue Babbleships Bay", to the woozy, string laden jangle pop of "Forever Until It Breaks", the handclappy power pop bounce of the title track with a really weird (but cool) a capella break (and the title of which we remember from one of those sprawling multiple disc GBV collections, where every track was by a different imaginary band), the dirgey swagger of "Hang Up And Try Again", hell, we could go track by track, but instead we'll just mention that we've only had this for a few days now, and already, just after a couple plays, we're finding these songs stuck in our heads like crazy. And some of the GBV of old is also present in the various super short jams (there's at least 7 or 8 songs that clock in at a minute or less), which as always, manage to be just as catchy, if not more so than their (slightly) longer counterparts.
This should definitely hold us over for a few months, at least until it's time for a whole 'nother set of songs. We already can't wait.

GUIDED BY VOICES Do The Collapse (TVT) cd 15.98
Robert Pollard's quest for rock stardom takes another great stride forward by joining the ranks of Ric Ocasek produced groups; Bad Brains, Suicide, Weezer. Beside the extra notches in Ric and Robert's belts, this is a great sounding GBV record. Gone are the 30 song albums, gone are the 15-second pop gems and the unfinished fragments, and in their place are 16 pretty polished (for GBV) and pretty excellent pop songs.

GUIDED BY VOICES Do The Collapse (TVT) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Robert Pollard's quest for rock stardom takes another great stride forward by joining the ranks of Ric Ocasek produced groups; Bad Brains, Suicide, Weezer. Beside the extra notches in Ric and Robert's belts, this is a great sounding GBV record. Gone are the 30 song albums, gone are the 15-second pop gems and the unfinished fragments, and in their place are 16 pretty polished (for GBV) and pretty excellent pop songs.

GUIDED BY VOICES Down By The Racetrack (Guided By Voices Inc.) cd ep 5.98
As if three full lengths last year wasn't enough, everyone's favorite indie rock overachievers start off the new year with this brief blast of warped lo-fi pop gems, and a sound that finds the band seeming to move even further towards the classic GBV of old, and by that we mean warped, fractured, home brewed, experimental pop that really has no right being as catchy as it is, but even the most abstract track here manages to lodge itself permanently in your skull. From the boom box recorded acoustic ballad "It Travels Through Thin Hair", to the weird multi tracked monk-like background vocal on the buzzing brooder "Pictures Of The Man", replete with angular guitar and handclaps (!), from the dreamy string and vocal trifle that is "Amanda Grey" (that sounds a LOT like old Bee Gees), to the pounding piano and drum driven "Standing In A Puddle Of Flesh", with it's super dramatic vocals, and very loose structure, and from the lush, psychedelic swoon of "Copy Zero", to the bombastic fuzz drenched title track, every number here is as catchy as anything else Bob Pollard and company have produced in the last twenty years, and while a six song, ten minute ep might be mostly for fans, it also makes a pretty great introduction to one of the best, and weirdest, indie rock outfits of our generation.
MPEG Stream: "It Travels Faster Through Thin Hair"
MPEG Stream: "Pictures Of The Man"
MPEG Stream: "Down By The Racetrack"

GUIDED BY VOICES Down By The Racetrack (Guided By Voices Inc.) 7" 5.98
As if three full lengths last year wasn't enough, everyone's favorite indie rock overachievers start off the new year with this brief blast of warped lo-fi pop gems, and a sound that finds the band seeming to move even further towards the classic GBV of old, and by that we mean warped, fractured, home brewed, experimental pop that really has no right being as catchy as it is, but even the most abstract track here manages to lodge itself permanently in your skull. From the boom box recorded acoustic ballad "It Travels Through Thin Hair", to the weird multi tracked monk-like background vocal on the buzzing brooder "Pictures Of The Man", replete with angular guitar and handclaps (!), from the dreamy string and vocal trifle that is "Amanda Grey" (that sounds a LOT like old Bee Gees), to the pounding piano and drum driven "Standing In A Puddle Of Flesh", with it's super dramatic vocals, and very loose structure, and from the lush, psychedelic swoon of "Copy Zero", to the bombastic fuzz drenched title track, every number here is as catchy as anything else Bob Pollard and company have produced in the last twenty years, and while a six song, ten minute ep might be mostly for fans, it also makes a pretty great introduction to one of the best, and weirdest, indie rock outfits of our generation.
MPEG Stream: "It Travels Faster Through Thin Hair"
MPEG Stream: "Pictures Of The Man"
MPEG Stream: "Down By The Racetrack"

GUIDED BY VOICES Earthquake Glue (Matador) cd 14.98
Sure Robert Pollard is prolific, but somehow he wears it well. So much better than some of the other record-a-month bands, who shall remain nameless (ahem...acidmotherstemple..ahem). This is Guided By Voices' 15th or so full length record, and that's not including all of the various EP's, live records, side projects and related one-offs. And still, even after all of those releases, the ramshackle pop that Pollard and company seem to be able to pull from their sleeves like a magician's endless scarf, remains fresh and fun, catchy and so fun to listen to. Sure they've mellowed a bit, but c'mon, it's been almost 20 years or something. And while mellower they may be, there's still plenty of rollicking, drunken, off-kilter pop to go around. It's just tempered a bit more this time around by some moody and introspective slow burners. That said, there are no new surprises here, just another batch of great songs from Pollard and company. So folks who dug the last few GBV full lengths, Universal Truths and Cycles, Isolation Drills, Do The Collapse and the rest will just find they have even more GBV to love!
And let's not forget to mention Pollard's recent transformation into the indie rock Willy Wonka! Five copies of this first limited digipak CD (not LP) version of Earthquake Glue will contain a golden ticket, which will entitle the bearer to become the new singer of Guided By Voices! Haha. Just kidding. Not really. That would be amazing though. No, the owners of the golden tickets will receive a free copy of the forthcoming 5 CD / DVD box set Hardcore UFO's, which will contain their never before available on cd debut, the Watch Me Jumpstart documentary and tons more! So, good luck! ...maybe you should buy two of these to improve your chances of winning...
MPEG Stream: "My Kind Of Soldier"
MPEG Stream: "My Son, My Secretary, And My Country"
MPEG Stream: "I'll Replace You With Machines"

GUIDED BY VOICES Earthquake Glue (Matador) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sure Robert Pollard is prolific, but somehow he wears it well. So much better than some of the other record-a-month bands, who shall remain nameless (ahem...acidmotherstemple..ahem). This is Guided By Voices' 15th or so full length record, and that's not including all of the various EP's, live records, side projects and related one-offs. And still, even after all of those releases, the ramshackle pop that Pollard and company seem to be able to pull from their sleeves like a magician's endless scarf, remains fresh and fun, catchy and so fun to listen to. Sure they've mellowed a bit, but c'mon, it's been almost 20 years or something. And while mellower they may be, there's still plenty of rollicking, drunken, off-kilter pop to go around. It's just tempered a bit more this time around by some moody and introspective slow burners. That said, there are no new surprises here, just another batch of great songs from Pollard and company. So folks who dug the last few GBV full lengths, Universal Truths and Cycles, Isolation Drills, Do The Collapse and the rest will just find they have even more GBV to love!
And let's not forget to mention Pollard's recent transformation into the indie rock Willy Wonka! Five copies of this first limited digipak CD (not LP) version of Earthquake Glue will contain a golden ticket, which will entitle the bearer to become the new singer of Guided By Voices! Haha. Just kidding. Not really. That would be amazing though. No, the owners of the golden tickets will receive a free copy of the forthcoming 5 CD / DVD box set Hardcore UFO's, which will contain their never before available on cd debut, the Watch Me Jumpstart documentary and tons more! So, good luck! ...maybe you should buy two of these to improve your chances of winning...

GUIDED BY VOICES English Little League (Guided By Voices Incorprated) cd 14.98
We know, it seems ridiculous to be reviewing ANOTHER new Guided By Voices record, after three whole full lengths last year (or was it four?), and of course that's not counting solo records or side projects or who knows what else. But Robert Pollard seems to have a bottomless supply of songs, and we're talking good songs. For a man whose prolificity seemingly defies the concept of quality control, there's a surprising amount of quality to be found in the now perhaps thousands of songs he's recorded. It's a good thing too that GBV fans are crazy obsessives, but then they'd sort of have to be really, but we count ourselves among them, and with every new record, even when it's the fourth or fifth in 15 months, we find ourselves super excited, and when we throw it on, it's warm and comfortable, and it's a whole 'nother set of songs to dig into and become obsessed over. And it's not hard, the songs here like the last few are crazy catchy, still a little bit skewed and fucked up, some total perfect pop gems, others fuzzy off kilter rockers, and still others the musical ramblings of a madman surrounded by yes men, just lucky for us said madman seems to strike some sort of gold even when he seems to be veering into whatthefuck territory. We're beginning to think Pollard must have struck a deal at the crossroads, cuz for fuck's sake he's FIFTY FIVE years old, and he kicks the ass of pretty much any and every indie rocker you can think of. And even after maybe 20 solo records, and 20 GBV albums, and about a million other releases, he's still got a songwriting pen few can compete with, and only the foolish would even try.
No need to go into great detail about this new one. Fans, if you're like us, you're gonna want it, just like all three (four?) albums from 2012, and you're gonna love it. And like we mention in pretty much every GBV review, folks who STILL haven't figured out this GBV thing, buy Bee Thousand, or Alien Lanes, or Vampire On Titus, or all of those, and we guarantee, before long you'll be like us, equally obsessed with an embarrassment of warped pop gems, and a whole lot of catching up to do!
MPEG Stream: "Xeno Pariah"
MPEG Stream: "Know Me As Heavy"
MPEG Stream: "Islands (She Talks In Rainbows)"
MPEG Stream: "Trashcan Full Of Nails"
MPEG Stream: "Send To Celeste"

GUIDED BY VOICES English Little League (Guided By Voices Incorprated) lp 15.98
We know, it seems ridiculous to be reviewing ANOTHER new Guided By Voices record, after three whole full lengths last year (or was it four?), and of course that's not counting solo records or side projects or who knows what else. But Robert Pollard seems to have a bottomless supply of songs, and we're talking good songs. For a man whose prolificity seemingly defies the concept of quality control, there's a surprising amount of quality to be found in the now perhaps thousands of songs he's recorded. It's a good thing too that GBV fans are crazy obsessives, but then they'd sort of have to be really, but we count ourselves among them, and with every new record, even when it's the fourth or fifth in 15 months, we find ourselves super excited, and when we throw it on, it's warm and comfortable, and it's a whole 'nother set of songs to dig into and become obsessed over. And it's not hard, the songs here like the last few are crazy catchy, still a little bit skewed and fucked up, some total perfect pop gems, others fuzzy off kilter rockers, and still others the musical ramblings of a madman surrounded by yes men, just lucky for us said madman seems to strike some sort of gold even when he seems to be veering into whatthefuck territory. We're beginning to think Pollard must have struck a deal at the crossroads, cuz for fuck's sake he's FIFTY FIVE years old, and he kicks the ass of pretty much any and every indie rocker you can think of. And even after maybe 20 solo records, and 20 GBV albums, and about a million other releases, he's still got a songwriting pen few can compete with, and only the foolish would even try.
No need to go into great detail about this new one. Fans, if you're like us, you're gonna want it, just like all three (four?) albums from 2012, and you're gonna love it. And like we mention in pretty much every GBV review, folks who STILL haven't figured out this GBV thing, buy Bee Thousand, or Alien Lanes, or Vampire On Titus, or all of those, and we guarantee, before long you'll be like us, equally obsessed with an embarrassment of warped pop gems, and a whole lot of catching up to do!
MPEG Stream: "Xeno Pariah"
MPEG Stream: "Know Me As Heavy"
MPEG Stream: "Islands (She Talks In Rainbows)"
MPEG Stream: "Trashcan Full Of Nails"
MPEG Stream: "Send To Celeste"

GUIDED BY VOICES Everywhere With Helicopter / Action Speaks Volumes (Fading Captain Series (#22)) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're not gonna bother trying to convince you one way or the other about a new Guided By Voices release. Let alone 4 releases. By this time, after 10+ albums and 50 side projects and thousands of songs, you probably know whether Pollard and Co.'s lo-fi Beatles / Kinks / classic Brit-pop filtered through American indie rock schtick is your cup of tea or not. If you're anything like me (Andee), you find yourself ready to dismiss every new GBV project with cries of 'Quality Control!' but ultimately find yourself digging almost everything Pollard comes up with. These four 7"s are no different. Each single's A side is a track from their forth coming full length, while the B sides are all exclusive to these here 7"s. And they're all pretty darn good, with a couple gems even ranking up with some of the best GBV songs ever. Vinyl only. And limited of course.

GUIDED BY VOICES Get Out of My Stations (Siltbreeze) cd 10.98
This classic GBV rarity finally makes it onto cd. And it's about time. You can ask any Guided By Voices obsessive what his or her favorite release is, and I bet at least half of the time the answer would be Get Out Of My Stations. From the keening vocal-and-guitar melancholia of Scalding Creek to the twangy garage throb of Mobile to the bouncy perfect pop of Melted Pat to the swaying sweetness of Dusty Bushworms, this ep demonstrates everything about Guided By Voices that made us all fall in love with them. Somehow simultaneously REALLY lo-fi and perfectly lush and rich sounding. Lots of fucked up 4-track detritus only adds to the charm, which faded as their finesse in the studio grew. But back then, Pollard and company could weave perfect pop out of a sweaty basement, a busted 4-track, and a case of shitty beer. Relive the magic! Features four live bonus tracks not on the original ep.
MPEG Stream: "Scalding Creek"
MPEG Stream: "Melted Pat"

GUIDED BY VOICES Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (Matador) cd 14.98
Can it really be? Is it really true? The LAST Guided By Voices Record? Hard to believe but this is, at least according to GBV head honcho Robert Pollard, going to be the very last GBV record ever. Now before you freak out, know that Pollard will continue to record by himself, he just feels like he's too old to front a rock band, and he always promised himself that when he made a record good enough to be a final album, well then he'd pack it in. And apparently he thinks Half Smiles is that good. So is it? Well, it pretty much is. Especially if you've dug the last 3 or 4 or 5 albums, ever since GBV made the switch to recording in a real studio and aspiring toward some sort of sonic high fidelity. This is nowhere near the inspired short attention span indie rock brilliance of Bee Thousand (which is soon to get the deluxe-extra-track-vinyl reissue treatment) or Vampire On Titus. But why should it be? Or rather how could it be? That was years and years and about a million songs ago. No, Guided By Voices Mach 2 are just an amazing pop band, that write and play super catchy songs. Period. And that's most definitely enough. Fuzzy Beatles-esque melodies, rocking indie rock jangle, and Pollard's brilliantly obtuse and surreal lyrics. GBV are definitely slower and a lot more introspective, but they had been heading in that direction for a while now, and it's a sound that suits them well. I bought this immediately knowing I would love it, and I of course did. Completely! GBV are that sort of band, once you're hooked, you're hooked, and always will be. So it's truly sad to see them go. And while everybody may have joked about how many songs (too many?) Pollard had written, now aren't we all glad that he wrote as many as he did, since those songs are gonna have to last us forever!
MPEG Stream: "Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)"
MPEG Stream: "Sleep Over Jack"
MPEG Stream: "Girls Of Wild Strawberries"

GUIDED BY VOICES Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (Matador) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Can it really be? Is it really true? The LAST Guided By Voices Record? Hard to believe but this is, at least according to GBV head honcho Robert Pollard, going to be the very last GBV record ever. Now before you freak out, know that Pollard will continue to record by himself, he just feels like he's too old to front a rock band, and he always promised himself that when he made a record good enough to be a final album, well then he'd pack it in. And apparently he thinks Half Smiles is that good. So is it? Well, it pretty much is. Especially if you've dug the last 3 or 4 or 5 albums, ever since GBV made the switch to recording in a real studio and aspiring toward some sort of sonic high fidelity. This is nowhere near the inspired short attention span indie rock brilliance of Bee Thousand (which is soon to get the deluxe-extra-track-vinyl reissue treatment) or Vampire On Titus. But why should it be? Or rather how could it be? That was years and years and about a million songs ago. No, Guided By Voices Mach 2 are just an amazing pop band, that write and play super catchy songs. Period. And that's most definitely enough. Fuzzy Beatles-esque melodies, rocking indie rock jangle, and Pollard's brilliantly obtuse and surreal lyrics. GBV are definitely slower and a lot more introspective, but they had been heading in that direction for a while now, and it's a sound that suits them well. I bought this immediately knowing I would love it, and I of course did. Completely! GBV are that sort of band, once you're hooked, you're hooked, and always will be. So it's truly sad to see them go. And while everybody may have joked about how many songs (too many?) Pollard had written, now aren't we all glad that he wrote as many as he did, since those songs are gonna have to last us forever!
MPEG Stream: "Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)"
MPEG Stream: "Sleep Over Jack"
MPEG Stream: "Girls Of Wild Strawberries"

GUIDED BY VOICES Hardcore UFOs (Matador) 5cd + dvd 59.00
Figured that since we were listing the FINAL Guided By Voices album we'd relist the amazing Hardcore UFO's box that is at once a greatest hits, a rarities collection, a super introduction to the band and so much more. Check it out:
Not sure how much needs to be said about this monstrosity, Guided By Voices' THIRD BOXSET! That's if we're counting correctly. And even if we're not, HOLY CRAP! And that's on top of 40 albums and 800 singles and 3000 side projects. How do they do it? But the thing is, they do it. And do it well. Even after all that, they're still writing great songs! For some reason we never get tired of it. Fans will obviously need this. If you're new to Guided By Voices though, odds are you're not going to want to spend $50 to get acquainted, although it would be the perfect introduction, greatest hits, rarities and b-sides, live performances, a documentary. But then again that might be a bit overwhelming. As if a band with thousands of songs, many less than a minute long, wasn't overwhelming enough. Anyway, if you're curious, but feeling thrifty, you can pick up the greatest hits disc by itself elsewhere on this list. But for the more brave among you, let's dig a little deeper. Five cds, a DVD and an 80 page book with photos and liner notes and all sorts of extra stuff! Disc one is 32 of Guided By Voices greatest hits, for a more complete rundown on this see the review elsewhere on this list. Needless to say, it's chock full of that stumbling, rocking, jangly, lo-fi inhumanly catchy indie rock that GBV do so well. The second disc is a collection of out of print singles and B-sides and is quite a testament to GBV's pop acumen as it plays like an alternate greatest hits. A lot of the glaring omissions from the actual Greatest Hits show up here. Disc three is all unreleased recordings, including a handful of unfinished tracks, some so good you wonder why they never saw the light of day until now. Some not. The fourth disc is a collection of live recordings spanning the band's whole career, and demonstrating the band's knack for rocking out, and getting unbelievably drunk. Disc five is the first appearance on cd of GBV's 1986 debut Forever Since Breakfast. And finally, the DVD is the Watch Me Jumpstart documentary (that yours truly, Andee, has a line of dialogue in! Three words, see if you can find em!) which is really entertaining and funny. For the DVD reissue, they tacked on ALL of the bands music videos, some extra short films, and a bunch of live footage. Wow. It may seem overwhelming, but once you get your feet wet, you'll be up to your neck before you know it. And loving it.
MPEG Stream: "14 Cheerleader Coldfront"
MPEG Stream: "Bulldog Skin"
MPEG Stream: "Shocker In Gloomtown"

GUIDED BY VOICES Hold On Hope EP (TVT) cdep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited edition 9-track cd single with one song from their recent "Do The Collapse" album and 8 others not found there!

GUIDED BY VOICES Human Amusement at Hourly Rates: The Best Of... (Matador) cd 10.98
Seems like it would be tough to pick 20 or so songs for a greatest hits album when the band in question has several thousand to choose from. But Pollard and company have done just that. So here we have an introduction to perhaps the world's most prolific pop band. And as with all greatest hits records, some of the song choices are questionable, and there are some definite glaring omissions, but for the most part, someone new to Guided By Voices would be hard pressed to not fall in love. Jangly and ramshackle, perfectly skewed lo-fi indie pop: like the British Invasion filtered through early eighties college rock, or the Beatles if they recorded for Homestead, or the Kinks if they had grown up in the midwest. A bit heavy on the newer stuff for my liking, which is not because those songs are necessarily bad because they're not. Let's face it, for having written thousands of songs GBV hits the mark more than most bands with a fraction of their recorded output. It's mostly disappointing because there's SO MUCH great older stuff that obviously got bumped for songs probably still fresh/relevant to the band. That said, this is a pretty perfect collection. But if you're already a fan, you might as well buy the Hardcore UFO's boxset since this disc is included and you most likely have all these songs anyway.
MPEG Stream: "A Salty Salute"
MPEG Stream: "Echos Myron"
MPEG Stream: "Surgical Focus"

GUIDED BY VOICES I Am a Tree (Matador) cd 7.98
Available only at stores who buy direct from Matador. The cd has 4 songs, the 7" has 3.

GUIDED BY VOICES I Am a Tree (Matador) 7" 2.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Available only at stores who buy direct from Matador. The cd has 4 songs, the 7" has 3.

GUIDED BY VOICES I Am a Tree (Matador) 7" 2.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Available only at stores who buy direct from Matador. The cd has 4 songs, the 7" has 3.

GUIDED BY VOICES Isolation Drills (TVT) cd 16.98
Guided By Voices continue on their lugubrious trek towards stadium rock. Where are we now? Album number 10? 15? Who can keep track? But this is definitely about as close as they've gotten to standing alongside their Madison Square Garden brethren: Rolling Stones / U2 / Aerosmith. Huge, crystal clear production (with an occasional lapse into broken four track territory, just so you know they haven't forgotten their roots), simpler, less quirky songs (less immediately cacthy too it seems, although we just got it today) and guest appearances by Elliott Smith and the Soldier String Quartet. The first track, 'Fair Touching' is the best track R.E.M. never wrote. And track 10, 'Glad Girls' is all FM radio Cheap Trick / Grand Funk hit! This is definitely a pretty great pop record, just maybe not nearly as weird as we've come to expect.
RealAudio clip: "Fair Touching"
RealAudio clip: "Glad Girls"

GUIDED BY VOICES Jellyfish Reflector 2lp 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GUIDED BY VOICES Keep It In Motion (GBV Inc) 7" 6.50

GUIDED BY VOICES Let's Go Eat The Factory (Guided By Voices Inc.) cd 14.98
A new Guided By Voices? With the 'classic' line up? Holy Shit! If you're anything like us you hold near and dear those classic GBV records even now, Bee Thousand, Vampire On Titus, Alien Lanes, and even though it's been nearly 15 years since this line up made a record together, and 8 years since GBV was a going concern, you might be forgiven for not even realizing that Guided By Voices had in fact broken up. Other than that initial announcement, and a cessation in the seemingly continuous flow of Guided By Voices releases, GBV mastermind Robert Pollard never really stopped making music, or even slowed down really, releasing a bajillion solo records, and countless collaborations. That's not to mention that Guided By Voices have been on a year long reunion tour, but fuck it, who cares about all that. The real question is after all this time, what's this new record like. And is it any good? Or is it GREAT?
Well, if you've heard the first single "The Unsinkable Fats Domino", you should have a pretty good idea, and our first impression was that this new record really IS a lot like those old classics, sonically, production wise (with much of the record recorded in living rooms and garages), the sound and songs super varied, almost schizophrenically so, but in that distinctly GBV way, where they all somehow sound like they do in fact belong together. The single kills, which is obviously why it was chosen, and while at first blush, nothing else on the record even comes close, a few more listens in, and we're suddenly hearing more and more potential hits. And with every listen, we're digging it more and more. Opener "Laundry And Lasers" starts out with some pulsing lo-fi guitar churn, before the song launches into some fuzzy classic distorto jangle, with Pollard sounding better than ever, the main hook totally irresistible, the song muddy and murky but joyously catchy. "The Head" is one of those fragmented sonic trifles GBV were the masters of, creating tiny snippets, that could have been stretched out into full on proper pop songs, but somehow have so much more power in their truncated form, not to mention the weird organ buzz that's twice as loud as the rest of the band. "Doughnut For A Snowman" starts off with some warbly flute flutter, before suddenly becoming surprisingly hi-fi, and becoming something akin to classic GBV. "Spiderfighter" is buzzy and fuzzy, and on the weirder noisier side of the GBV spectrum, but manages to remain strangely catchy, and so it goes.
It would be easy to go track by track, there's so much going on, strings, and synths, organs, hooks galore, killer turns of phrase, goofy genius lyrics, lush arrangements, raw lo-fi blowouts, delicate sun dappled dream pop, what the fuck drug addled sonic experimentation and pretty much every twisted, catchy as hell stop in between, all woven into an impossibly cohesive, and yeah, dare we sat it, classic Guided By Voices record.
MPEG Stream: "The Unsinkable Fats Domino"
MPEG Stream: "Laundry And Lasers"
MPEG Stream: "Doughnut For A Snowman"
MPEG Stream: "Spiderfighter"

GUIDED BY VOICES Let's Go Eat The Factory (Guided By Voices Inc.) lp 15.98
A new Guided By Voices? With the 'classic' line up? Holy Shit! If you're anything like us you hold near and dear those classic GBV records even now, Bee Thousand, Vampire On Titus, Alien Lanes, and even though it's been nearly 15 years since this line up made a record together, and 8 years since GBV was a going concern, you might be forgiven for not even realizing that Guided By Voices had in fact broken up. Other than that initial announcement, and a cessation in the seemingly continuous flow of Guided By Voices releases, GBV mastermind Robert Pollard never really stopped making music, or even slowed down really, releasing a bajillion solo records, and countless collaborations. That's not to mention that Guided By Voices have been on a year long reunion tour, but fuck it, who cares about all that. The real question is after all this time, what's this new record like. And is it any good? Or is it GREAT?
Well, if you've heard the first single "The Unsinkable Fats Domino", you should have a pretty good idea, and our first impression was that this new record really IS a lot like those old classics, sonically, production wise (with much of the record recorded in living rooms and garages), the sound and songs super varied, almost schizophrenically so, but in that distinctly GBV way, where they all somehow sound like they do in fact belong together. The single kills, which is obviously why it was chosen, and while at first blush, nothing else on the record even comes close, a few more listens in, and we're suddenly hearing more and more potential hits. And with every listen, we're digging it more and more. Opener "Laundry And Lasers" starts out with some pulsing lo-fi guitar churn, before the song launches into some fuzzy classic distorto jangle, with Pollard sounding better than ever, the main hook totally irresistible, the song muddy and murky but joyously catchy. "The Head" is one of those fragmented sonic trifles GBV were the masters of, creating tiny snippets, that could have been stretched out into full on proper pop songs, but somehow have so much more power in their truncated form, not to mention the weird organ buzz that's twice as loud as the rest of the band. "Doughnut For A Snowman" starts off with some warbly flute flutter, before suddenly becoming surprisingly hi-fi, and becoming something akin to classic GBV. "Spiderfighter" is buzzy and fuzzy, and on the weirder noisier side of the GBV spectrum, but manages to remain strangely catchy, and so it goes.
It would be easy to go track by track, there's so much going on, strings, and synths, organs, hooks galore, killer turns of phrase, goofy genius lyrics, lush arrangements, raw lo-fi blowouts, delicate sun dappled dream pop, what the fuck drug addled sonic experimentation and pretty much every twisted, catchy as hell stop in between, all woven into an impossibly cohesive, and yeah, dare we sat it, classic Guided By Voices record.
MPEG Stream: "The Unsinkable Fats Domino"
MPEG Stream: "Laundry And Lasers"
MPEG Stream: "Doughnut For A Snowman"
MPEG Stream: "Spiderfighter"

GUIDED BY VOICES Live (???) 2lp + 7" 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This live double lp, in a plain black and white sleeve, and lacking any sort of liner notes, is credited to some band called King's Ransom, but we have it on good authority that this is actually a live recording of Guided By Voices from their 2000 spring tour. And it comes with a bonus 7", which seems, on good authority, to also be Guided By Voices, but from 1998. Limited to 500.

GUIDED BY VOICES Live From Austin TX (New West) 2cd 15.98
The cd releasing wing of Austin City Limits (aka New West Records) sure is on a roll! Hot on the heels of their Johnny Cash and Neko Case Live From Austin TX cds comes this bountiful double cd of Guided By Voices in concert. The sticker affixed to the shrinkwrap exclaims "full concert with 30 performances from their FAREWELL TOUR! 2 CDs!" That pretty much sums it up! Having been their final shows understandably emotions and energies were high, especially in the case of frontman Robert Pollard who spits out his between song banter like an incomprehensible madman (almost reaching the infamous fevered pitch of Venom's Cronos). The band was in fine form that evening, a little loose, very very drunk (as always), and rockin' out with an urgency befitting the finality of the event. It's a super duper GBV fan pleaser deserving of more exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Girls Of Wild Strawberries"
MPEG Stream: "I Am A Scientist"

GUIDED BY VOICES Mag Earwhig (Matador) cd 12.98

GUIDED BY VOICES Mag Earwhig (Matador) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GUIDED BY VOICES Pipe Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet (Recordhead) cd 12.98
Another Guided By Voices record. It's true. It almost seems like a joke now. Like I see a GBV record and I honestly think "you have to be kidding". Remember when a band released a record a year for 10 years tops. As far as I can tell (and as far as I was willing to count) according to the official GBV discography, this is Guided By Voices' 75th release since 1986 (including eps and 7"s). That's NOT counting 3 videos, 1 DVD, 1 MP3 cd, and TWO BOX SETS!!! That's also not counting the hundred or so side project releases!! But, as I mentioned in my review of the last Guided By Voices record (from maybe 2 months ago....hahahaaa) this shit is still GREAT. If anything, it's getting better, less pop and more weird and progressive. Which has turned off a lot of folks, but I think it's the one thing that can keep this band interesting after so much output. The pop's still there and when it surfaces it's quite sublime, but the songs are slower, and stranger, and less obvious, and harder to get your head around. Which is a good thing. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Visit This Place"
RealAudio clip: "Swooping Energies"

GUIDED BY VOICES Propeller (Scat) cd 12.98

GUIDED BY VOICES Suitcase 2 (Fading Captain Series) 4cd boxset 45.00
How many indie rock bands can you think of that have released THREE multiple disc box sets? We can only think of one. And that would be Guided By Voices. Doesn't seem so weird when you think about the total amount of material the band released before their break up a couple years back, the albums, the eps, the 7"s, just the sheer number of songs. So the mind boggles at how much unreleased stuff there must be sitting around on beat up old cassettes hidden beneath piles of beer cans and empty cigarette cartons and Chinese food takeout containers. Thus we have Suitcase 2, a continuation of the appropriately titled Suitcase 1, four discs jam packed with songs, and song sketches, and song fragments, some melodic, some harsh, some jangly, some ambient, all weird and wonderful. Much like the first suitcase collection, every track here is credited to a different artist, Billy Ray Human, Bleep Bleep Fuck, Yummy Ropes, Seraphim Barf, Devron Zones, Wig Stomper, Wim Dials, Milko Waif, The Bug-Eyed Mums, Ragged Enzymes, Terror Of Living and more. While lots of the songs are barely-there-pop-song-could-have-beens clocking in at less than a minute, there are also plenty of GBV should-have-been-classics that never were. Hooks everywhere, only the staunchest anti-popster could leave this collection without humming a little ditty that got itself firmly lodged in their head, but sometimes you have to work a bit, trying to navigate a crazy jumbled sonic world of deconstructed not-songs, blasts of what-the-fuck lo-fi weirdness and definite BAD ideas to get to the gems hidden within. Definitely for fans only, cuz only a true blue GBV fanatic could handle -another- four plus hours of dizzyingly fragmented pop jangle overload. So if you've yet to discover the joys of GBV, pick up Bee Thousand or Vampire On Titus and prepare to have your mind blown and your ass kicked, but if you're already a disciple of Bob and his 'Voices and need more more more and even still way more, well, then this is most definitely for you.
Includes a big booklet of photos, reviews, credits and record covers.
MPEG Stream: THE PLAGUE "This Ream"
MPEG Stream: TERROR OF LIVING "Rocket Head"
MPEG Stream: BILLY RAY HUMAN "Somewhere Sometime"
MPEG Stream: CHILD OF JOE "Tin Can Laughter"

GUIDED BY VOICES Suitcase: Failed Experiments And Trashed Aircraft (Recordhead) 4cd box 63.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ok, it's not a real suitcase, but it's a hefty four-cd box of Guided By Voices / Robert Pollard lo-fi pop odds and ends recorded over the last 20 years! Yep, number six in the "Fading Captain" series is a doozy. 4 hours of music, 100 songs!! Almost each and every one is credited to a different band name, each more ridiculous than the last (Groovy Lucifer, Ceramic Cock Einstein, Ricked Wicky, Fake Organisms, Urinary Track Stars, Antler, Ben Zing, Elvis Caligula). There's nearly as many of these "bands" as there are songs. Anyway, this should keep GBV fans busy for some time to come (and there's a big booklet with lyrics, set lists, photos, etc. and artwork on each of the four cds to feast your eyes on as well, while your ears deal with the Pollard-overload-smorgasbord). We're still trying to get through the whole Merzbox, so we haven't been able to take a break and really delve into this, but it certainly seems pretty cool.

GUIDED BY VOICES Sunfish Holy Breakfast (Matador) 12" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
10 songs priced as an EP.

GUIDED BY VOICES Sunfish Holy Breakfast (Matador) cdep 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
10 songs priced as an EP.

GUIDED BY VOICES The Bears For Lunch (Guided By Voices Incorprated) cd 14.98
Now here on cd too! For those of you keeping track, The Bears For Lunch is the THIRD new Guided By Voices record this year, and yeah, that means just in the last 10 months! It's like they're making up for lost time. That brief period when the band was broken up or on hiatus or whatever, even though their were numerous side projects and multiple solo records, it still wasn't enough for the overflowing backlog of songs that Robert Pollard seems to keep filling up with pop gem after pop gem. And yeah, as much as we want to scoff, The Bears For Lunch is another fantastic collection of pretty perfect pop songs, sonically all over the map, still the hi-fi incarnation of GBV, but a very lo-fi strain of high fidelity (with a handful of the songs actually lo-fi, sounding like they were recorded at home, and not in the studio), but really, little has changed dramatically since the 'old days' of GBV, when they first made the shift to recording in proper studios, around Alien Lanes, and while nothing here is as immediately catchy as "A Salty Salute" or "Game Of Pricks", repeated listens will definitely have you humming "King Arthur The Red" to yourself like crazy, a super rocking chunk of classic GBV noise pop, that starts things off on a serious high note, and the record doesn't really let up. Some of the songs here are SO good. Definitely worthy of the GBV canon/pantheon, all the more shocking that even after hundreds and hundreds of songs (out of thousands and thousands supposedly written), that Pollard and company can still pull it off, and have it sounds as fresh as the first time we head Bee Thousand.
If you're already a fan, and have probably already bought the other two 2012 GBV releases, this one is a no brainer. And if somehow you've made it this far in your indie rock life and managed to not get into GBV, heck, might as well start here, and then prepare yourself to fall into GBV's musical rabbit hole, as you find yourself needing more and more, Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, Vampire On Titus, Mag Earwhig, Propeller, Isolation Drills and on and on and on on...
MPEG Stream: "King Arthur The Red"
MPEG Stream: "The Corners Are Glowing"
MPEG Stream: "Waving At Airplanes"
MPEG Stream: "White Flag"

GUIDED BY VOICES The Bears For Lunch (Guided By Voices Incorprated) lp 15.98
For those of you keeping track, The Bears For Lunch is the THIRD new Guided By Voices record this year, and yeah, that means just in the last 10 months! It's like they're making up for lost time. That brief period when the band was broken up or on hiatus or whatever, even though their were numerous side projects and multiple solo records, it still wasn't enough for the overflowing backlog of songs that Robert Pollard seems to keep filling up with pop gem after pop gem. And yeah, as much as we want to scoff, The Bears For Lunch is another fantastic collection of pretty perfect pop songs, sonically all over the map, still the hi-fi incarnation of GBV, but a very lo-fi strain of high fidelity (with a handful of the songs actually lo-fi, sounding like they were recorded at home, and not in the studio), but really, little has changed dramatically since the 'old days' of GBV, when they first made the shift to recording in proper studios, around Alien Lanes, and while nothing here is as immediately catchy as "A Salty Salute" or "Game Of Pricks", repeated listens will definitely have you humming "King Arthur The Red" to yourself like crazy, a super rocking chunk of classic GBV noise pop, that starts things off on a serious high note, and the record doesn't really let up. Some of the songs here are SO good. Definitely worthy of the GBV canon/pantheon, all the more shocking that even after hundreds and hundreds of songs (out of thousands and thousands supposedly written), that Pollard and company can still pull it off, and have it sounds as fresh as the first time we head Bee Thousand.
If you're already a fan, and have probably already bought the other two 2012 GBV releases, this one is a no brainer. And if somehow you've made it this far in your indie rock life and managed to not get into GBV, heck, might as well start here, and then prepare yourself to fall into GBV's musical rabbit hole, as you find yourself needing more and more, Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, Vampire On Titus, Mag Earwhig, Propeller, Isolation Drills and on and on and on on...
MPEG Stream: "King Arthur The Red"
MPEG Stream: "The Corners Are Glowing"
MPEG Stream: "Waving At Airplanes"
MPEG Stream: "White Flag"

GUIDED BY VOICES The Best of Jill Hives (Matador) cd single 9.98
You can never have too many Guided By Voices songs. So in that spirit, here's three more. The title track from the most recent album, which just happens to be one of Pollard's best, one unreleased original, all dreamy and strummy and sleepy, and a Cheap Trick cover! Good stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Free Of This World"

GUIDED BY VOICES The Electrifying Conclusion (Plexifilm) dvd 24.00

GUIDED BY VOICES The Official Ironman Rally Song (Matador) cdep 7.98
4 songs.