Although Guided By Voices were around between 1983 and 2004, there is a good chance you’ve never heard of this band. I know I wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for the combined efforts of a cover by …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and Ian’s prodigious musical knowledge.
The song I’m sharing with you is the one I’m desperately, madly in love with these days. Clocking in at a meager 1:45 (2:14 on the Trail of Dead cover), it’s hard to believe it could be so moving. This brief sampling off of 1994’s Bee Thousand is slow and delicate like an aged alley cat and just like that old cat it still resonates like the graceful killer living at its core. That, and you know, there is all that rusty yowling.
The lo-fi buzz permates the latter half, sending the song from a quiet mystery into a trip into the past, when records were cut in one take or bust, all the instruments in one room, and you’d better hope the drums were properly muffled because we aren’t doing this again, dammit.
I highly recommend giving the rest of Bee Thousand a listen. If you have an interest in early R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, or perhaps some of these newer lo-fi and indie darlings like The White Stripes or Trail of Dead, then you should really be listening to Guided By Voices. For those less interested in the actual audio aspect, you can stun all your hipster friends with your new found, old school indie cred, you trend whore.
For musicians, the Guided By Voices website has the chords available for a bunch of their songs (Caution: Frames! T_T). In that same section are MP3s and Real Audio files of live performances, as well as a couple videos.
Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory (lyrics by Guided By Voices)
Cold hands touching my face
Don’t hide… the snake can see you
Old friends you might not remember
Fading away from you
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
And we looked
And we passed
Through the hallways of shatterproof glass
She runs through the night as if nobody cares
She screams and she cries and ignores all the stares
She wants me to come, but I’m never going there
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
This compliation is to die for. It opens with some pleasantly ethereal Bjork. In contrast to the Filter review, this song’s album of origin is not one I assumed I must own. Point of fact, I myself only like Bjork’s material in small doses. (They mentioned a few others I didn’t necessarily classify as flat-out essential. At least, not until I heard this compilation.) This happens to be a particularly pungent and heady dose, a good kickoff to the tone and caliber of this album overall.
The album is sprinkled throughout with the deep, heartwarming and bizzare mix of sonic encounters one has come to expect from a group like the Flaming Lips. Although, ironically enough the track I found least intriguing was the one contrbuted by the band responsible for putting together this otherwise stellar mix of sound. They procure a cover of the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, cheekily titled “Harry Potter and George Bush’s Severed Head Mix”. The listenablility factor is somewhat qwestionerball, what with the heavy presence of siren sounds and the like. However, if one like’s Faust’s odd buzzy tone in the chorus of their contribution (It’s a Bit of a Pain, track 4), then one is apt to enjoy this cover. The other track liable to raise a few eyebrows is the last. It’s part of a series, and not part of the Lips’ picks at all. Worth a listen for the beat poetical value, but definitely not for everyone.
The booklet is highly edifying in this audio journey, and provides a really candid glimpse into the band that is the Flaming Lips - more than worth a look in my opinion.
In these busy days of iPods and burnt discs cobbled together from oddball MP3s, it’s nice to be able to pop down to the record store, and get a total education on music from a single disc. Skim the tracklist, if you don’t know half the artists, and are a Flaming Lips fan, then I implore you to trust their judgement. I picked it up in a Virgin MegaStore, but you can find it online here.
On a one to ten scale, I give this disc an overall of 9.7. Would have scored a perfect if it wasn’t for the two slightly awkward tracks and the realization that I have a lot of albums to buy. (Sebadoh’s Harmacy down… a whole bunch more to go.)
If you like:
Techno -
07 - Flim Aphex Twin
11 - Playground for a Wedgeless Firm Chemical Brothers
Pretty Rock -
03 - Speed of Sound Chris Bell
06 - People Alfie
16 - On Fire Sebadoh
Utterly Unique -
09 - Up The Down Escalator The Chameleons
10 - Seven Nation Army Flaming Lips
Instrumental -
08 - Galileo Mice Parade
02 - My Ship Miles Davis
12 - Saudade Love and Rockets
Old Skoolish -
14 - Sleep Comes Down Psychedelic Furs
18 - I’m Not In Love 10cc
Dreamy -
13 - Monochrome Lush
15 - River Man Nick Drake
17 - Pyramid Song Radiohead
Some kids play in the sandbox. We play in the.... litterbox??? The RKNet staff is pleased that you decided to stop by. Currently this is a 1 author project, with periodic guest posts. Contact giania [at symbol] gmail.com if you'd like to play here to.
