In the spirit of the 18-inning marathon the other night between the Sox and hated Dodgers, as well as an equally epic recent show, I thought I’d drop in with a soundtrack for Socks to close out your weekends. The latter individual accompanied me to said show, the latest appearance of ever-prolific fave Guided by Voices, who amazingly played my favorite venue in town and dropped another near-three hour, fifty song fun bomb on the crowd. They sounded great as always — and who’s going to complain about getting nearly 180 minutes of music in a room as cozy as your living room? (assuming of course it’s not something dreadful like The Chainsmokers or Imagine Dragons) — but it wasn’t a home run like usual. The difference this time was in how they sequenced the show, opting to frontload a lot of new stuff at the top — including multiple songs from the THREE ALBUMS the band plans to release next year, let alone the two they’ve released in the past year — which kept the energy lower than normal as the crowd waited to hear something they recognized.
This isn’t a knock on the quality of the newer material — in particular songs like “My Future in Barcelona” and “Cohesive Scoops” sounded pretty great — it’s just that thanks to the relentless pace of the band’s releases, it’s virtually impossible to keep up and connect with everything they put out. Normally the band will sandwich new stuff between some old favorites, allowing the crowd to sing along to the songs they know while appreciating the unfamiliar in smaller doses. For whatever reason they changed things up that night, with frontman Bob Pollard (aka “Robert Fucking Pollard” as the shirt someone from the crowd gifted him said) kept telling the crowd it was going to be like a fireworks show where all the hits would come at the end (after also reminding folks several times the band HAD no “hits,” which outside of chart position and name recognition I would strongly disagree with).
That got me to thinking about Socks and other noobs in the crowd who might be seeing the band for the first time and missing what makes them so great. The value and technical skill shine through (because again — three hours, fifty-plus songs for guys who can rip when they want to is nothing to sneeze at), but burying the best stuff til the end might not make the best case. It’s sort of like showing up to a first date in cargo pants and ordering seltzer and a side salad (both things wifey did on ours) — you might be obscuring your best qualities and making the other person work a little harder to see them than you should in a first impression.
That’s where I come in — because I love this band so much and because I think it’s nearly impossible with someone as prolific as they are to not find SOMETHING you like in their holdings — I came up with what my setlist would be if I were king for a day. (Which I’m sure will happen any day now…) That way the Sockses of the world can get a better sense of what these guys can do and maybe fall for them like I did. (Just like I did my cargo-wearing wife.) Because these guys are really good — as I’ve written before, despite needing an editor from time to time (a position I will gladly fill if asked), they go from sounding like the Who and Kinks one minute to Stone Temple Pilots, Neutral Milk Hotel, and REM the next, all without sounding hackneyed or cliched. And with close to thirty albums and hundreds of songs under their belt — a quantity that would impress regardless of the commensurate quality (honestly, seeing them live and play songs called out from the crowd, I’m amazed they remember the music for so many songs, let alone Bobbo remembering all the words) — there’s a lot to like.
So give it a spin and see what you think. I treated it like a setlist and not a greatest hits list, and therefore folded in stuff from Bobbo’s side projects (mainly the Boston Spaceships), songs sung by other members of the group (vs just those by Uncle Bob), and some covers, and tried to capture a little bit of everything — the polished and the raw, the rippers and the retro, the new stuff and the classics. I kept it in line with a regular GBV show (ie the fifty-odd song, three hour range) and thus inevitably left a ton of great stuff out, but there should be more than enough here to pique your interest and show you a good time. Soft, loud, pretty, weird, I tossed em all in and tried to build to a crescendo, leaving you with your fist in the air and ready to take the day. (Just like I hope the Sox do tonight…) So Socks, here you go — THIS is Guided by Voices…
————————————
We’ll close with a couple one offs from the past few weeks, just to keep the party going. First up is the latest single from Run the Jewels, who tossed a track out for the recent Venom movie, “Let’s Go (The Royal We).” Thankfully the song sounds better than the movie looks (despite the excellent Tom Hardy starring) and it finds Mike and El still in top form. Nothing new or crazy here, just hard hitting beats and lyrics from the pair as always. They’re allegedly in the midst of recording their fourth album, so hopefully we don’t have long to wait for more. In the meantime, give it a listen here:
Next we’ve got the product of another collaboration, this time mega-DJ Diplo, producer Labrinth, and pop star Sia, as the collective LSD. The trio released a mini-EP last month with three songs, one of which is the relentlessly catchy “Thunderclouds.” The other two tracks were a bit underwhelming to me, but this one is a hands-down winner, particularly the stuttering “HEY-EY-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo!” hooks that get lodged in my brain for hours every time I hear it. Pretty good time at the shopping mall — give it a spin and see how resistant you are:
Last up is the surprise reappearance of half the legendary Daft Punk, this being Frenchbot Thomas Bangalter who resurfaced with a short set masquerading as a single, “Riga (Take 5).” In line with the lengthy spirit of this post, it’s a 14-minute slow burn that, similar to the best stuff from his normal act, relentlessly builds towards an explosion. Recorded last year for the film of the same name (a small Latvian film apparently, so don’t beat yourself up for not having heard of it), Bangalter cut this in one take, which is pretty impressive and reminds you of how amazing their live sets were. (In contrast to a lot of the electro crap now, which is all pre-programmed, pre-recorded bullshit.) It sounds just like Daft and gets you moving just the same, which is never a bad thing. Hopefully there’s more to come (either from him or the duo) in the near future. See what you think here:
That’s it for now — until next time, amici…
–BS