Guided by Voices

The GBV train shows no signs of slowing with their most welcome offering in years, so get on board! Chock full of hooks with some unprecedented moments as well
When we last heard from Guided By Voices, they had released an astonishing four albums in just over 12 months. Each has a distinctive creative identity: Zeppelin Over China was a meat-and-potatoes double album, Warp And Woof was a return to the band’s low-fidelity roots and under-two-minute earworms, Sweating The Plague was a slice of moody stadium rock, and Surrender Your Poppy Field was an unpredictable grab-bag of all of the above. After venturing through the tangled brambles of Plague and Poppy Field, here is a sunny summer reprieve, a relentless barrage of hooks—Mirrored Aztec is the latest stop on this runaway train.

Following GBV's sprawling double-album Zeppelin Over China, Robert Pollard has written and recorded another full-length in record-breaking time. It's Warp and Woof (April 26, 2019), exuberantly barreling through 24 songs in just 37 minutes with a brevity similar to mid-90s GBV albums Alien Lanes and Vampire On Titus. GBV kicked this one out in a flash, recorded in studios, club soundchecks, hotel rooms and even in the tour van.

Guided by Voices’ Robert Pollard has reimagined and combined his two out-of-print 2007 albums into a new release, Our Gaze, set to arrive May 20 via Rockathon Records.