Currently Obsessed:: Connections

Since 1992 Rockathon Records has been the outlet for countless Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard related releases, with the exception of Columbus, OH's 84 Nash who released two LP's of excellent lo-fi pop with Rockathon, The King Of Yeah and 1999's Band For Hire. 84 Nash suffered the same fate that many unappreciated and overlooked acts suffer and disbanded after those releases. However last year founding members Kevin Elliott and Andy Hampel returned as Connections and released their debut full length, Private Airplane. The band  also features Kevin's brother, Adam Elliott of Times New Viking, bassist Phillip Kim and Dave Capaldi  of OH's art punk outfit El Jesus de Magico. Connections recently issued the Tough City EP witch essential picks up where there debut left off with 4 tracks of concise and catchy as all hell fuzzed covered pop songs that would have bowled us over in 1993 and have us completely hooked in 2013. Were currently obsessed with Alternative Nation from the aforementioned Tough City EP, it's ode of sorts to the 90's, not to mention a nod to our beloved Lemonheads and their big hit single.  Connections have just finishing mixing and mastering their 2nd LP, Body Language which according to their tumblr page will be out shortly.

This Weeks Short Burts :: Robert Pollard's Teenage Guitar, Ovlov, + Future Carnivores

Hot on the heels of the recently issued and might I add exceptional, English Little League from Guided By Voices and just a week after the announcement of the impending Robert Pollard solo release, Honey Locust Honkey Town comes Teenage Guitar a Pollard solo project that features appearances from GBV's Greg Demos and Joe Patterson. Teenage Guitar's Force Fields At Home features 18 tracks recorded at Pollards home studio using a historic mid-90s Tascam 488 cassette recorder. He wrote the lyrics while the music was composed spontaneously while the tape ran. According to the press release we can expect, "Experiments in spontaneity and lo-fi witchiness and wizardry, exploring multiple moods and styles". Teenage Guitar and Honey Locust Honkey Town will both be released on July 9th. Atlantic Cod finds Pollard in his natural habitat, recording a fuzzed up pop gem in the confines of his home. Teenage Guitar welcome to  my wheel house.
Teenage Guitar - Atlantic Cod via Stereogum

I seem to have developed a small problem in that I can't seem to stop playing the new Ovlov track, Blue Baby that the band recently posted to their bandcamp. It's not so much a problem than it is an obsession and one I probably won't be able to shake anytime soon. That track finds the brothers Hartlett delivering on the promise on their grunge infused 2011 EP, WASGATC? Blue Baby starts with a slow building chord progression before the Connecticut trio blast headlong into discordant guitar fuzz, head pounding rhythms, and subtle yet engaging hooks throughout the bands sprawling and flat out stunning new single. Ovlov will release their debut long player, am on July 2nd via Exploding In Sound Records, in the meantime they're currently in the middle of a tour of the northeast with Boston's Grass Is Green, not to be missed.


On Tuesday June 4th 6th Boston pop deconstructing sextet, Future Carnivores will release Come Inside the bands second full length and if the tracks they've been sharing over on their Soundcloud page are the slightest indication Future Carnivores have have just kicked the sophomore slump squarely in the teeth. With tracks like Blame Time and The Drugs She Fed You Last Night the song writing duo of Ruben Bettstak (Guillermo Sexo) and Bo Barringer (MEandJoanCollins) continue to expertly marry post-rock/post punk and shoegaze while pushing the bands sounds to new and captivating directions. Future Carnivores will celebrate the release of Come Inside on Thursday June 6th with a Record Release show at T.T.'s.

Reviewed :: Guided By Voices - Let's Go Eat The Factory

Shortly after what was reported to be the final show of the classic line ups reunion at North Carolina's Hopscotch Music Festival in September, news came that the band had been writing and recording new songs back in Dayton, 21 one of those appear on the soon to be released Let's Go Eat The Factory, the line ups first new recording in fifteen years. The album will be released on January 1st to mail order and to record shops on January 17th. However if you're feeling a bit impatient and really who could blame you, the digital release is set for this Tuesday December 20th.

Over the past couple of weeks I've spent a lot of time listening to Let's Go Eat The Factory and to no one's surprise I'm completely bowled over by it. From the first listen, I wanted to experience these songs on their own merit, so not to compare them to what many (myself included) would call the bands holy trinity of Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, and Under The Bushes, Under The Stars, not an easy task. The album has plenty of lo-fi charm and like the bands best work it sticks with you long after the final tracks ended. Laundry and Lasers opens the set with a mid-fi, distortion drenched anthem that does an effective job of both setting the tone for the LP, and providing a true eureka moment, similar to the first time you heard Buzzards and Dreadful Crows. Doughnut For A Snowman, shows off Robert Pollard gift for writing the perfect melancholic pop song, while Spiderfighter finds Tobin Sprout providing charging rhythms and angular guitar lines, before giving way to a gorgeous piano coda. Varied and inventive instrumentation add some depth to tracks like the string laden beatlesque, Hang Mr. Kite. It's not all anthemic pop songs, some the albums strongest moments are also it's darkest like on the wonderfully sleazy, The Big Hat And Toy Show, with squealing guitars, throbbing bass, and Pollards almost creepy vocal. The album closes with the sinister and ultimately triumphant, We Won't Apologize For The Human Race. You will wake up in the morning with these song playing in your head and the only thing to do is reach for Let's Go Eat The Factory, for more.

I had very high expectations for Let's Go Eat The Factory and remarkably the album surpasses all of them. But what makes the album so special, other than that it exists at all, is the fact that this line up has brilliantly picked up where they left off and delivered an album as great as Let's Go Eat The Factory.

[MP3] The Unsinkable Fats Domino
[MP3] Doughnut For A Snowman

Reviewed :: Boston Spaceships - Let It Beard

Robert Pollard's been threatening a double LP since the mid 90's, but for whatever reason, those projects never came to fruition. Most notably Guided by Voices' aborted The Power of Suck, with several tracks from that session finding a home on GBV's classic recording, Under The Bushes, Under The Stars. Well, it took 16 years but the double album Pollard's been trying make has finally arrived and to put it bluntly it's been well worth the wait. According to Pollard Let It Beard "is a subconscious concept album about the sorry state of rock and roll". For the sessions Pollard recorded 40 acoustic demos, that he delivered to multi instrumentalist, Chris Slusarneko (GBV) that were then trimmed down to 26. Slusarenko and drummer John Moen (The Decemberists) quickly worked up some basic tracks and over the period of 6 months added new sounds and arrangements to the tracks including, horns, strings, and some notable guest contributions.

Let It Beard is the 5th and final full length from Boston Spaceships, and as with the bands previous output they've managed to take another step forward, albeit this time it's a quantum one. It's almost as if this is the album Pollard has been hinting at since releasing the Spaceships' debut Brown Submarine. For a record that clocks in at 75 minutes, you might think there is some skipable material on Let It Beard, quite the contrary actually. This is one the most varied, engaging, and addictive LP I've heard in years and one that should be listened to in one sitting. The album starts off with Blind 20-20, the song features 4 time changes, not to mention plenty of guitar crunch and a bit of cello. J.Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) shows up to provide a guitar solo on Tourist U.F.O. which only enhances the already staggering and melancholic anthem. Elsewhere Colin Newman (Wire) guests on the punked up, You Just Can't Tell, Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) appears on the psych pop of I Took On The London Guys and Mitch Mitchell provides guitar (and cigarettes, we assume) on the fist pumping You in My Prayer. But it's the more noise riddled tracks like German Field of Shadows and A Hair in Every Square Inch of The House that add some weight and complexity to the album. Let It Beard and it's spectacular 26 songs is a masterwork and one of Pollard's finest records. Yeah, you need this.

[MP3] Boston Spaceships - Christmas Girl

Let It Beard was released today August 2, 2011 on Guided By Voices, Inc.

Buy Let It Beard from Rockathon/The Factory of Raw Essentials

This Weeks Short Bursts :: Boston Spaceships + Cymbals Eat Guitars

Two Robert Pollard related posts back to back on consecutive days, unheard of? No, not really and if you research the origin and the naming of this here blog it kind of makes sense, at least to us. Like many of our fellow Pollard obsessives we've been anxiously awaiting the release of Let it Beard from Boston Spaceships, due out on August 2nd. Expect a review on theses pages shortly. Well, today we creeped just a little closer to release date, thanks to Spinner as well as Boston Spaceships we get our first taste of the 26 track double LP, via the track Christmas Girl. As for the song itself, we listened 10 or 11 times (we lost count) over the last hour, so yeah we dig it, especially the blaring horns and Pollard's spoken word coda. There is also a video contest for Christmas Girl that you can read about here, if you are so inclined and we hope you are.

[MP3]Boston Spaceships - Christmas Girl

Pre-order Let it Beard

New York's indie throw backs Cymbals Eat Guitars will issue their second full length Lenses Alien through Barsuk in the U.S. on August 30th and September 12th through Memphis Industries in the U.K.. At the price of your e-mail address you can grab the album's lead track, Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name) below.

Cymbals Eat Guitars return to Boston to kick off a tour in support of Lenses Alien on September 20th with Hooray For Earth in tow. Be advised we've seen CEG twice over the past couple of years and both times they had our jaws on the floor.

Tour Dates:
09-20 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
09-21 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
09-22 Hamden, CT - The Space
09-24 Washington, DC - Black Cat
09-26 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
09-27 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
09-29 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
09-30 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's
10-01 Austin, TX - Emo's
10-02 Denton, TX - Dan's Silverleaf
10-04 Tucson, AZ - Hotel Congress
10-05 San Diego, CA - Casbah
10-06 Long Beach, CA - Alex's Bar
10-07 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
10-08 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
10-10 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
10-11 Seattle, WA - Crocodile
10-13 Boise, ID - Neurolux
10-14 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10-15 Denver, CO - Hi Dive
10-17 Omaha, NE - Slowdown Jr.
10-19 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
10-20 Madison, WI - High Noon
10-21 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
10-23 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern
10-25 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10-27 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom

Pre-order Lenses Alien

Transmissions :: Circus Devils - I Razor Kickstarter Campaign

A Kickstarter campaigned has been launched to assist in financing a Circus Devils full length film, I Razor. A $20 dollar donation will get you a copy of the film on DVD. It will not be available commercially and is limited to a run of 1,500. This is sure to be a spectacle of both sight and sound.

I RAZOR stars Steve Five (The Library is On Fire) as the Sgt. and Cory Race as the Professor. Music and direction by Todd Tobias. Songs by Circus Devils (Robert Pollard, Todd Tobias and Tim Tobias).

+ The project has just met it's goal of $1,500, but you can still contribute to the project until August 8th and we recommend you do so.

For more information on the forthcoming film/DVD visit the Circus Devils I Razor Kickstarter page.

Be afraid.

Reviewed :: Lifeguards - Waving at the Astronauts

Q: Can someone with a nom de plume of Echos Myron contribute a negative review of a Robert Pollard project for a blog called The Ash Gray Proclamation?

Dropping today (February 15th),via Serious Business Records/Ernest Jennings Recording Co. Lifeguards Waving at the Astronauts is the second Robert Pollard album of 2011, and again pairs Pollard with ex-Cobra Verde, ex-Guided by Voices 2.0 guitarist Doug Gillard. While we assume Pollard is good for 3 or 4 more releases this year, (Mars Classroom, his highly anticipated collaboration with ex-Volcano Suns and Big Dipper ax man Gary Waleik is due in March) Pollard is off to a great start in twenty-eleven with January’s excellent solo release Space City Kicks, and this thoroughly rewarding merger of Prog and Pop by Lifegards. Pollard and Gillard have paired up before, on 1999’s magnificent Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department and again on 2003’s solid Mist King Urth. While Speak Kindly, arguably one of the best Robert Pollard records of the post classic lineup GBV cannon, sounded more like a Pollard solo record, Astronauts sounds like more of a collaboration record in the vain of his work released under Airport 5 with long time foil Tobin Sprout and Go Back Snowball, his collab with Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan. Like those records, Astronauts is the product of Pollard (deftly in this case) applying lyrics and melodies to music already recorded, at least in demo-form, by Gillard. What separates this record from its piece-meal predecessors is that on Astronauts, the listener can hear Pollard apply his tremendous gift for melody and uncanny ability to write hooks –to fairly straightforward guitar riffs.

While nowhere on Astronauts does Gillard deliver Pollard a pure meatball like Pop Zeus, although the stellar lead track Paradise Is Not So Bad comes pretty close. Uncle Bob hits Gillard’s compositions to all fields with power, knocking (Doing The)Math,You’re Gonna Need A Mountain, andThey Called Him So Much right out of the ballpark. While many of these tracks are more rhythmic than melodic, and fairly standard-rock instrumental tracks, the fact that Pollard transforms the other 6 compositions into memorable, hum-able pop songs, is a testament to his unparalleled pop chops, and what makes Waving at the Astronauts such a enjoyable listen.

~Echos Myron

LIFEGUARDS - Paradise Is Not So Bad by seriousbusiness

Follow The Links :: Winter 2011

Welcome one and all to Follow The Links, a new feature where we will gather up the finest in free, legal, and highly recommended new music streams and downloads. With the advent of Bandcamp and Soundcloud, as well as the generosity of the artists themselves, the discovery of your new favorite band, album, or rare live recording has never been easier. Although we will continue to post audio content in our regular features, Follow The Links will allow us to point you to music deserving of your attention in a consolidated and concise format. We hope you find this exercise to be a fruitful one and by all means feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions on this and future installments.

We Are Losers - The Newbridge, Kildare, IRL fuzz poppers issued their 3 song debut last summer and hooked us in immediately. The band has just posted a brand new track, Cheerleader, two and half minutes of sublime indie pop that you will find below. You can also download the bands debut EP from their bandcamp site.

We Are Losers - Cheerleader
Blogspot/Twitter/Bandcamp

Maritime - it's been a full four years since Maritime released any new music and eight since Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier formed the band out of the ashes of the highly influential and in our eyes criminally over looked, The Promise Ring. On April 5th Maritime will release LP #4, Human Hearts on Dangerbird Records. The band is currently giving away the track Paraphernalia at the cost of your e-mail address at their site. We have also posted the track below , mainly because it's an irresistible pop song and we think you should hear it.

Maritime - Paraphernalia
Facebook/Twitter/Official

Chris North & the Love Parade - In late December Chris North fronter for Boston's American/Irish folk outfit The Points North, somewhat quietly released this self titled EP. As a genre we usually don't go for a lot of the "folk" stuff but there is something about these songs as well as North's Music with The Points North that strikes a chord with us. Beautiful and haunting all at once. Chris has made these songs available at his Bandcamp site for free however we request that you support his efforts with a donation of $5.00 or more.

Shows: Chris North will play Gay Gardens performance space in Allston on 2/18 and The Points North will play T.T. The Bears on 2/24 with The Craters.


Bandcamp/The Points North/Twitter

The Bigger Lovers - We were flat out ecstatic when we heard that Philadelphia's purveyors of intelligent power pop were reuniting and reissuing their fantastic debut album How I Learned To Stop Worrying. As if that wasn't enough the band has just released their first new music since 2004's This Affair Never Happened… and Here are Eleven Songs About It, in the form of the new digital EP dubbed, The Little Giant Maxi-Single. Technically this one isn't free,but it's pretty close, four songs for a measly $4.00. The EP can be streamed and purchased over at The Bigger Lovers Bandcamp page or at finer digital retailers. You might as well pre-order the bands debut on limited edition 180 gram vinyl while you're at it. The Bigger Lovers have announced one hometown show in March, but we're totally hopping that the band adds some additional dates,like uh um Boston!


Tumblr/Bandcamp/Facebook

Yuck - Ever since releasing their debut single, last March these Londoners have been planted firmly on our radar as well as the rest of the interwebs. On February 15th Yuck will release their highly anticipated self titled debut and will answer the question that all blog buzzed bands must eventually address, was the hype justified? Based on the amount of time we've spent listening to the tracks that occupy their first long player, the answer is a resounding yes. You can hear a handful of these songs at the bands Soundcloud and Bandcamp pages.

Yuck - Holing Out
Soundcloud/Blogspot/Facebook/Twitter

Low -Deluth,MN's slow core/minimalist legends are set to return on April 12th with C'mom via Sub-Pop. The 10 track album was recorded at Sacred Heart Studios, a former catholic church and where they tracked 2002's Trust. The albums cover art has some local ties, it was snapped by Boston music blogger and all around nice guy, Brad Searles from Bradley's Almanac. Low have just announced a tour in support of C'mon that will have them in town for a show at the soon to be reopened Paramount Center on April 29th. Try to Sleep is the first track revealed from C'mon and it's yours in exchange for your electronic address.

Official/Facebook

Gruff Rhys - Originally intended as an album of piano ballads to lament his 40th birthday, thankfully that plan went a little off course in favor of impeccably constructed albeit off kilter pop songs (with horns) from the Super Furry Animals fronter. Rhys' third solo outing will be released in the U.K. on February 14th on Turnstile, however U.S. fans will have to wait until May 3rd before we can get our mitts on Hotel Shampoo via Wichita Recordings. As of yesterday you can now listen to the album in it's entirety at The Gruffington Post or on the widget that you'll find below.

Gruff Rhys - Sensations in The Dark [Video]

Listen To Hotel Shampoo

The Gruffington Post/Facebook

Fat History Month - These Boston lo-fi noise makers and frequent basement dwellers are responsible for one of our current favorite releases, First Tape which includes a ramshackle cover of Daniel Johnston's Casper The Friendly Ghost, among other noise drenched nuggets. Due to limited information available on line it's unclear when this album was actually released, we think and hope recently. The band makes regular appearances throughout the New England underground. They play Gay Gardens, Allston on March 26th with State Champion. Up until about 24hrs ago First Tape was available at Bandcamp, however it has since been taken down. Until we can locate that fine release, we hope you will find consultation in the track we found as the Bedroom Suck Records Soundcloud page.

Fat History Month - Money=Time=Death

Official/Bedroom Sucks

The Skull Defekts - Often referred to as Sweden's answer to Sonic Youth, The Skull Defekts have been at the center of the Swedish experimental scene since their inception in 2005 and for good reason,. On February 15th the band returns with Peer Amid on Thrill Jockey with a fifth member in tow, Daniel Higgs of Lungfish, who supplies vocals, chants, and various instrumentation. The bands label is offering the album track Fragrant Nimbus as a free download, go get it.

The Skull Defekts - Fragrant Nimbus
Thrill Jockey/Official/Facebook

Robert Pollard / GBV - What would this exercise be without the inclusion of Uncle Bob and his various vehicles for his seemingly endless deluge of material. With the near perfect, Space City Kicks already under his belt this year and collaborative releases from Lifeguards with former GBV guitarist Doug Gillard which will be released next week, as well as Mars Classroom with Big Dipper's Gary Waliek due in late March. There's plenty for us Pollard fans to look forward to in the very near future. You can hear the lead track off The Lifeguards' Waving at The Astronauts, Paradise Is Not So Bad at Serious Business Records. Not to mention that the reunion of Guided By Voices classic line up is alive and well and they have just added a couple more live dates, including one at this years Sasquatch Festival in Seattle. We're hoping for another trip east from Dayton but until then we're happy to find this bootleg from the Isolation Drills tour. GBVDB, the encyclopedic on-line resource for everything and anything you wanted to know about Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard, have recently unearthed The Last of The No Hit Wonders, Live at The Mercury, Austin, TX 06/17/01 and offered it as a free download. We remember this tour fondly which included some highlights from Suitcase as well as the bands TVT years.

Download The Last of The No Hit Wonders from GBVDB

[MP3/Stream] Guided By Voices - Settlement Down [Live in Autin]

Robert Pollard/GBV/Facebook

Reviewed :: Robert Pollard - Space City Kicks

Just like clockwork, the new year arrives and Robert Pollard is ready to unleash another slew of releases to the faithful. With upcoming collaborations with former GBVer', Doug Gillard on the forthcoming Lifeguards LP and Mars Classroom, in an almost too good to be true line up that fetures Big Dipper's Gary Waleik, and Pell Mell's Robert Beeman, to be released this March. Not to mention the next Circus Devils or Boston Spaceships album that he'll write this weekend or next. But, first up on Pollard's 2011 docket is the release of an 18 track solo offering, Space City Kicks.

The material found on Space City Kicks treads the line between charming pop experimentations and fully realized rock anthems. From the brash punk of the albums opener, Mr. Fantastic Must Die! to the perfect power pop of Touch Me in The Right Place at The Right Time, Space City Kicks is the ideal album for those still coming down after the recent GBV reunion and proof that Bob's got plenty of tricks left in his bag. He achieves perfect balance with seemingly, off the cuff skeletal snippets and fist pump inducing pop rock, the likes of, we haven't heard since, Alien Lanes or more recently on 2006's superb,From A Compound Eye.

Once again Robert Pollard recorded the tracks at Waterloo Sound in Kent,OH with assistance from frequent collaborator, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias. Space City Kicks continues the tradition of Pollard solo albums by offering enough immediately satisfying tracks to hook us in on first listen, but the real pay off comes after repeated listens when the albums best moments reveal themselves. Pollard sounds as loose as we've heard him in a while especially after last years reflective and poignant, Moses on a Snail. Space City Kicks incorporates the best of Bob's post-GBV output; marrying the abrasion of Circus Devils with the big hooks of Boston Spaceships and the melancholy of quieter moments found on past solo releases. Space City Kicks is a superbly crafted pop record riddled with memorable hooks abundant melodies and to our ears the first great record of 2011.

[MP3/Stream] Robert Pollard - Touch Me in The Right Place at The Right Time

Pre-order Space City Kicks, released on January 25th on Guided By Voices, Inc.

Reviewed :: Boston Spaceships
Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
I know what you're thinking, another Robert Pollard related review on the pages of The Ash Gray Proclamation. Well, although factually correct this my friends is far from just another review of the Fading Captain. First let me set this up by saying that yes, I am one of those obsessive buy every release fans. However I am not one who arbitrarily gives every release a 5 star review. For instance I'm still trying to digest and come to terms with Pollard's last LP, Moses on a Snail. That being said the ratio of great to skippable material coming out of his Northridge, OH home base is still off the charts. Even so, when the man completely knocks me on my ass like he's done with Our Cubehouse Still Rocks, the fourth LP with Boston Spaceships I feel obligated to shout the good news from the nearest rooftop.

Our Cubehouse Still Rocks is the fifth release from Pollard, Chris Sluserenko (GBV),and John Moen (The Decemberists)in just under two years. The new offering finds the trio picking up where last years spectacular, Zero to 99 (#1 on our 2009 list) left off with fists in the air,charging guitar lines and drum fills that would make Keith Moon proud. The first thing you'll notice on Our Cubehouse Still Rocks is how strong the songs are. Track Star opens the album with some Pollard rambling but quickly kicks into gear with building power pop and an unforgettable chorus that will linger long after the track ends. Elsewhere Pollard resurrects Unshaven Bird from GBV's Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft with stunning results and on Airwaves, Boston Spaceships deliver a Bowie-esque romp, that would makeThe Thin White Duke jealous.

I've been listening to the record pretty much non-stop since it was released last week on Pollard's Guided By Voices, Inc. imprint and I've come to the opinion that this is the most accessible and enjoyable record Pollard has released since he disbanded Guided By Voices in 2004. Our Cubehouse Still Rocks is a triumph and flawless rock record, not mention a pure joy to listen to.

Maybe you're holding a ticket to the upcoming GBV reunion tour but you haven't been keeping up with the onslaught of Pollard releases? You my friend owe it to yourself to spend some quality time with Our Cubehouse Still Rocks. Boston Spaceships will not be denied.

Boston Spaceships - Come On Baby Grace