With this month’s fantastic World Cup coming to a close in a few short hours, thought I’d pop in to make this a true champion of a day for you and highlight a few finds. First up is the latest from the relentlessly productive Bob Pollard and Sunshine fave Guided by Voices. Despite already putting out an album this year (on top of two last year and one the year before), they’re already teasing more new material — from their two already completed albums (one of which is a double album) that they’ll be releasing over the next two years.
Pollard’s definitely a “throw it at the wall and see what sticks” kind of guy — he’s released more albums under the GBV moniker than there have been World Cup champions (32 to a measly 20, plus umpteen other side projects and solo albums) — and at this point every offering highlights the dangers of that approach (vs bands who dote over material and go five or six years between albums). It’s impossible to both keep up and connect with so much new material (Tim Heidecker’s comments last year are hilarious and spot on), but there’s always some really good tunes in there so you can’t ignore them altogether. As the caller in that clip says the live shows are always the best place to find out which two/three/four songs you need to add to the arsenal (the band really is best at calling itself on its bullshit), which I’ll be doing in a few months when they roll through town. In the meantime, the first single’s not bad — the second half after the string interlude captures the uplift of some of the old GBV choruses nicely. Check it out here:
Next we’ll do a duo of offerings from the National — a couple new tracks that they debuted at a recent show in Croatia and the side project for guitarist Aaron Dessner. The former two are nothing earth-shaking — just two more solid songs from a band that’s quietly been putting out excellent albums for over a decade. I was reminded of this when they recently put out the live version of their exceptional 2007 album Boxer, which I still remember discovering accidentally back home, walking into long lost favorite Earwax Cafe for lunch and hearing this sad baritone coming out of the speakers. I initially thought it was Stephen Merritt from the Mag Fields, as it was a scorching hot day and I’d positioned myself next to the industrial-sized fan to cool down and couldn’t hear very well. Thankfully I asked the waitress what album it was of theirs (this being well before the days of Shazam) and she kindly corrected me as to who it really was. I’ve been a fan ever since, so hopefully they keep the trend going on the next album — “Quiet Light” is my initial favorite of the two:
As for the side project, it’s a hipster’s wet dream — Dessner from the National and Justin Vernon from Bon Iver releasing a surprise album as Big Red Machine. All that’s missing is some free trade coffee, hand stitched clothing, and eccentric facial hair and you’ve achieved their nirvana. It’s apparently a project that’s ten years in the making, and they recently debuted songs for it at Vernon’s Eaux Claires festival in his native Wisconsin and posted four studio versions online. It’s an interesting mix of Vernon’s recent more bleep-bloopy style Bon Iver and Dessner’s understated guitar riffs, but works well from what they’ve offered so far. Dessner’s looped part on “Gratitude” is pretty and hypnotic while Vernon again channels Bruce Hornsby (though I’m pretty sure Hornsby and his fans would have a heart attack if he ever sang a line like Vernon’s). My early fave from the four is “Hymnostic,” though, as it strips down the electronics and just showcases Vernon’s incredible voice, all warmth and soul over its three minute duration. We’ll see what the rest of the album holds — in the meantime, give it a listen here:
We’ll close with the latest in Stereogum’s ongoing series, “Things To Remind Everyone Sunshine is OAF,” this entry focusing on the 20th anniversary of the Beastie Boys’ Hello Nasty album. The article does a good job walking through some of the difficulties people had with the album and the trajectory the band was on (and where they subsequently ended up). I’ve always been hit or miss with them myself, liking a lot of what they put out, but then scratching my head on some of the songs/albums — I suppose they’re similar to GBV in that aspect, but the Beasties were always underwhelming if not terrible live for me (as most rap is) whereas GBV are always epic delights in person. I never struggled with this album as much as the author, though — I remember listening to it exhaustively the summer it came out (along with the Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium), popping it in for the first time in the juco parking lot after class and loving it from the opening notes of “Super Disco Breaking.” It wasn’t “classic” Beasties with oodles of samples, it was weirder with different beats and sounds — and while it had monster hits like “Body Movin” and “Intergalactic” (which absolutely dominated MTV that summer), it also had quirkier favorites like “Just a Test,” “The Negotiation Limerick File,” and “Unite.” Baby Bobby spent a lot of time listening to those in his beat up old Probe that summer, testing the limits of his stock speakers while driving around causing mischief. Those are the three I’ll leave you with, too — the album as a whole still stands up, but those three remain faves, ones I still remember every word to despite not listening to them much in 20 years. Give em a ride yourself and get a little amped up before the big final.
Until next time! –BS