Guided by Voices - Crawlspace Of The Pantheon - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Scalping The Guru is an archival Guided by Voices , envisioned and sequenced by Robert Pollard as a cohesive album, featuring select tracks from four GBV EPs released in 1993-1994 by Domino, City Slang, Siltbreeze and Engine Records. These hard to find records are essential for fans of Vampire On Titus and Bee Thousand, with classics including InchMy Impression Now,Inch InchMatter Eater Lad,Inch and InchBig School.Inch They feature the line-up that includes Robert Pollard with Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Kevin Fennell, Jim Pollard, Dan Toohey, Greg Demos, and Larry Keller. Recorded on four-track cassette by Tobin Sprout, with some songs lovingly fucked with by Mike Hummel.

Styles We Paid For is Guided by Voices' third album of 2020 and it stands as a testament to this Year In Isolation, reflecting these dark days through Robert Pollard's prism, with the band sounding as confident and authoritative as ever. The fifteen tracks were recorded remotely during quarantine from five states (Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Tennessee) to comprise GBV's ninth album since 2017.Pollard's searing vocals hold center stage, with endless melodic invention and impeccable phrasing. The massively crescendo-ing opening track InchMegaphone RileyInch seems to be inspired by a diabolical politician-in-chief, and like an indie-rock Nostradamus, presciently highlights the InchJumbo VirusInch, while in the final couplet of the album closer InchWhen Growing Was SimpleInch Pollard urges InchDon't drink and drive / stay at home and eatInch. Other album highlights include include Big Rock standouts like the incredibly hooky InchMr. ChildInch with the band in full arena rock power swing, while the titular protagonist is mentioned by name no less than sixteen times; the touching beauty and lyrical relevance of InchStopsInch and the majestically elegant InchIn Calculus StratagemInch, a bubbly pop rock joyride in InchCrash at Lake PlaceboInch; the subtle current-day technological observations of InchThey Don't Play The Drums AnymoreInch and the sleek InchElectronic Windows To NowhereInch (written by a man who owns neither a smart phone or a computer). It's notably heavy in it's worldliness, lyrical content, texture, and approach-and rides out like a cinematic journey of the bizarro world one find oneself in.While other bands have been napping, GBV have achieved their second consecutive hat-trick (three albums per annum), and have further cemented their status as rock legends for achieving more in this bleak year then most bands do across their entire careers.

The mighty Guided By Voices are set to unleash upon the world their 35th and quite possibly... best album, Crystal Nuns Cathedral. How do they do it you might ask? Well we have no idea how they do it, but we certainly do know why they do it. They do it because quite honestly we need them to do it. The world needs The Rock, and we need loud guitars, we need anthemic songs, we need a reason to raise a rock fist in the air and give a InchHell YeahInch! On Crystal Nuns Cathedral, the band delivers all of this and so much more. Just four months since It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them!, comes this latest, twelve songs determined to challenge for the title of greatest Guided by Voices album of all-time. Hyperbole you say? Not this time. The guitars are bigger, the arrangements are more ambitious, the songs are uplifting, epic, and as incredibly hook-laden as always! Pure power pop perfection like lead single InchExcited OnesInch mix perfectly with the slow burning InchClimbing A Ramp,Inch which reaches it's climax on a stunning guitar lead before dissolving into the fist pumping anthem InchNever Mind the List,Inch which serves as the beating heart of the entire album. Do you still need convincing? Listen to the one-two punch of InchForced to SeaInch and InchHuddledInch and marvel at the epic scope and vision of an incredible band on full display. This record is a statement, a challenge, a monument, a call to arms. Top this one if you can, this is the new benchmark. Who will best it? Who will try? Listen to Crystal Nuns Cathedral, and report back to us. We will be eagerly waiting.