La La Land (studio album) by Guided By Voices

From Arthurknight 01/31/2023 00:48

So Pollard claims La La Land is a companion piece to 2022's Tremblers and Goggles by Rank in that it continues a purported experimentation in GBV's sound and in new song structures. However, I think to any GBV fan there's literally nothing new to be found in either album except for twenty-one new Pollard songs almost all of which are good, some great even. La La Land is the better project of the two.

I wonder whether anyone seriously listens to these newer GBV albums because they're released with such frequency that you can't help but pre-emptively judge them as just throwaway projects. In the 90s this kind of sketchbook immediacy was in vogue, and Pollard & co. understood marketing hype enough to wrap up the better work as a GBV album and call the rest side-projects, but nowadays there's too much to keep up with in terms of new music that only hardcore fans are honestly listening to this.

There is an irony here though: Pollard's musical fecundity is the result of 35+ years of almost treating writing as a 9-5; a mark of festitidious professionalism. However, from the perspective of a listener, compared to everyone else's release schedules it feels like no perfectionistic tinkering could have ever go into his work... that it might not be worth your 40 minutes... that it's just a hobby. Meanwhile, as one of the 50 thousand or so big fans, I'm not complaining.

For those of you who like Bee Thousand because someone on the internet told you it was good I'll help you out: Listen to Another Day to Heal, Released into Dementia, Queen of Spaces, Face Eraser and Pockets.

Album Rating: 67.64
(744/11)

1.Another Day to Heal. 64
2.Released Into Dementia. 69
3.Ballroom Etiquette. 68
4.Instinct Dwelling. 73
5.Queen of Spaces. 68
6.Slowly on the Wheel. 71
7.Cousin Jackie. 68
8.Wild Kingdom. 63
9.Caution Song. 64
10.Face Eraser. 69
11.Pockets. 68