GUIDED BY VOICES
Static Airplane Jive EP (Recordhead/Luna Music)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry

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If you're in a band, chances are, there's a four-track recorder at your practice space. A four-track is a lil machine that looks like your standard tape recorder. Musicians use them as tools. Demo-ing songs on them, then listening to the tapes, and seeing what can be improved there, or maybe the songs are just crap. In short, four-tacks are like sketch pads. Trim the chorus here, shorten that masturbatory guitar solo there, take the drum roll out completely, etc. When bands, like Guided by Voices started releasing finished music that started, and stayed on four-track, that's when the term 'lo-fi' began. To the math-rock crowd, GBV were always clearly amateurs. 'They can't even begin to play anything like B.T.O!' Who cares? Guided by Voices have always been a study in tunnel-vision. Songwriting. Period. If the song stinks, it doesn't matter where you recorded it. This EP cements my contention that Robert Pollard is arguably the best songwriter currently breathing. Best song here: Hey Aardvark. Fan-tastic!

gbv.com or rockathonrecords.com

© 2000 - Jason Thornberry