October 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
|
newsarchive
|
|
October 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
|
| • back to October 2002 index |
|
|
Guided By Voices self-release odds & ends mini-LP 18 October 2002
This year they returned to their old label Matador for the release of the Universal Truths And Cycles album, which they followed up with a limited edition 7" singles series (now sold out). Pollard put out two very interesting collaboration LPs this year under the names Airport 5 (with GBV founding member Tobin Sprout) and Go Back Snowball (with Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan). This week saw the release of a DVD video collection called Some Drinking Implied. And a month ago, GBV self-released a 10-song mini album with the tongue-in-cheek, faux-medieval title The Pipe Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet—the topic of this review. The first five words on the Digipak’s inside cover say a lot: 'Creatively controlled by Guided By Voices.' The band, who have broad enough appeal to make them attractive to the Recording Industry as a Pop Product, have elected here to go totally DIY. They self-produced or co-produced all the tracks, handled the album’s primitive collage artwork themselves, and are not hooked up with any major distributor or PR agency. So the wrapping is pure indie-cred. So far, so cool... What’s inside, simply put, are ten excellent songs done extremely lo-fi. The unabashedly primitive audio sound—with telephone-quality vocals, plenty of guitar-amp hum, uneven use of reverb, too much compression, sparing use of only the most primitive of effects, and generally irregular recording approach from track to track—combined with impeccable playing and overall excellent balance—gives this record a very ’60s feel. Pipe Dreams is totally raw and anti-pretentious. If you’re gonna like it, it will be for the songs and the performance... at which point you’ll be able to see the noise, distortion, and simplicity as intentional elements in the audio palette from which the band created this work. The track Request Pharmaceuticals opens with tape noise and then one, two, three, four electric guitars playing the same staccato chord. Pollard sings through a megaphone. The rest of the band kicks in and the tension mounts, keeping it up until the unlikely ending scarcely two minutes into the idea. Then again, For Liberty, which follows, is but a Bowie-esque song fragment that disappears in under a minute. The poignant and lovely ballad Dig Through My Window, on the other hand, is a four minute song with relatively clean production which, by contrast, feels like a perfect pillow at the end of a long, rough day. If you missed out on the Universal Truths And Cycles singles, you get all of their B-sides on this record, as well as the B-side to the band’s Everywhere With Helicopter single from June—which serves as this disc’s title track. Also included are three more songs that appeared on various CD and vinyl singles this year, and two previously unreleased songs recorded during the sessions for UT&C and for GBV’s 2001 album, Isolation Drills: Swooping Energies and Stronger Lizards. In The Pipe Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet I hear a band that has been making music for 16 years and has not lost its open view of life or its capacity to create fresh art. I also hear proof that lo-fi, in 2002, is a totally viable approach to recording rock. Four bites out of five. Rockbites ratings 5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying. | Guided By Voices | | CD from Amazon US | | bio | | discography | | top of page | |
| back to October 2002 index |
|
|
click for Rockbites Home
|
|
|
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 M. Jason. All Rights Reserved. Rockbites is not for profit and supports human rights. “Rockbites” and “Alternative Daily” are service marks of Rockbites. All names are the property of their respective owners. Send your feedback or questions to feedback@rockbites.org Send your press releases to press@rockbites.org Rockbites Alternative Daily contact information |
|
