This Weeks Short Bursts :: Circus Devils, Twerps, + Hallelujah The Hills

Just when we've finally got our heads wrapped around Let It Beard, the sprawling opus from Boston Spaceships, released last month and reviewed by us here. Robert Pollard is ready to let another batch of songs loose. On October 25th Pollard returns with his creep pop trio, Circus Devils and the 19 track Capsized! Once again the album was recorded with brothers Tim (music) and Todd Tobias (instrumentation, noises, and production) somewhere between Dayton and Waterloo Sound in Kent, OH.

From the Capsized! press release:

Circus Devils hits the high seas with CAPSIZED! (The exclamation point is part of the title). Once again the Ohio trio featuring Robert Pollard defies and transcends musical genres with a strangely coherent blend of soft rock, aggressive stompers, creepy soundscapes and a radio-friendly pop single (Cyclopean Runways). CAPSIZED! Is cinema for the ears, taking the listener on a dark adventure with strange cargo, sirens, shipboard ghosts and bad soup.

Capsized! will be issued by Happy Jack Rock Records on October 25th, but there doesn't seem to be any pre-order info available at the usual Pollard web haunts. We assume that pre-orders will be up shortly at The Factory of Raw Essentials, in the meantime you can order the album from Insound and Midheaven. But until then you can bask in the direct pop glory of Cyclopean Runways from Capsized!

Circus Devils - Cyclopean Runways by ashgrayproclamation

Melbourne's rising jangle pop phenoms Twerps will issue their self titled debut long player on October 18th via NJ's Underwater Peoples and Australia's Chapter Music. For the uninitiated, Twerps specialize in warm, infectious pop songs, crystalline guitar lines, with intelligent lyrics. The band brings to be mind Galaxie 500, The Feelies as well New Zealand's 80's Flying Nun roster but manages to bring new life and something completely unique to those influences. Over the course of a couple 7" and a limited run cassette release Twerps have committed their charming songs to hissy 4-track tape, but the new album finds the band cleaning up their sound a bit and recording in a professional studio with engineer Jack Farley (Beaches). Check out Dreamin from their soon to be released debut. In addition, all of the bands previous releases can be heard and streamed at their Bandcamp page, so dig in.

Twerps: "Dreamin"

We finally have some news to report on the Kickstarter funded third release from Hallelujah The Hills. In a post that recently appeared on the bands official web home HTH fronter, Ryan Walsh gives what we would call a status update on the album. The songs have been recorded, the artwork has been created, the title has been bestowed, and now it's time to get the tracks mixed. Understandably this information doesn't offer a lot in the way of new material, however Hallelujah The Hills recently recorded a session for locals Sleepover Shows where they offered stripped down version of two new tracks, Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire and Call Off Your Horses. If after hearing those you need more, we recommend that head over to the Hallelujah The Hills and The Stairs Bandcamp Pages and grab the digital reissues of The Stairs catalog, Wash's bedroom pop project, The Motel Candlewasters, and lets not forget last springs outing of the HTH track Every Number Has A Potency. Those should hold us over until we get our mits on album #3.

[Video] Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire
[Video] Call Of Your Horses

Hallelujah The Hills play Great Scott on Wednesday September 28th with Earthquake Party! and The Fagettes

Hallelujah The Hills Bandcamp|The Stairs Bandcamp| HTH Official

Transmissions :: Boston Spaceships - Let it Beard Trailer

For what is easily our most anticipated release of the year, Robert Pollard's Boston Spaceships have issued this trailer/teaser for the forthcoming 26 song opus, Let It Beard. The double album will be released on August 2nd through Guided By Voices, Inc. and will feature contributions from Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), Colin Newman (Wire), J. Mascis, Dave Rick (King Missile/Phantom Tollboth), and Mitch Mitchell (GBV..duh!). You can expect a review of the album on these pages next month. Until then be proactive and pre- order the album as well as the new kick ass Let It Beard T from The Factory of Raw Essentials.

Reviewed :: Robert Pollard - Lord of The Birdcage

For his second solo and fourth overall release of 2011, Robert Pollard went to a collection of previously penned poems, with assistance from frequent collaborator and producer , Todd Tobias and transformed them into a cohesive LP filled with haunting acoustics, frantic power pop, and lush balladry. Having already released high caliber recordings with Mars Classroom (Gary Waliek of Big Dipper) Lifeguards, (former GBV guitarist Doug Gillard), and his own Space City Kicks this year, Pollard is operating with dare I say, surgical focus. [Apologies for the pun readers and uncle Bob, I couldn't resist working that in -Ed.]

Perhaps it was the description of the album in the press release that lessened my expectations, however I wasn't prepared for Lord of The Birdcage to be this good. The album opens with Smashed Middle Finger, at first a gentle guitar strummer, but only to give way to a fist pumping Who-esque romp with a killer chorus "I got a Smashed Middle Finger, I want to give to the world". Elsewhere Pollard delivers earnest and durable melodies. Dunce Codex shares qualities with some of Pollard's best songs, however that never distracts from the infectious and utterly addicting track. Like most releases from Robert Pollard, Lord of The Birdcage rewards the listener on repeated listens, especially on the prog punk of You Can't Challenge Forward Progress, the glam stomper Ribbon of Fat and the gorgeous acoustic ballad, In A Circle. But there's an argument to be made that Pollard saves his best songs to serve as album closers, as is the case with the power pop gem, Ash Ript Telecopter.

It can be daunting to keep up with the Über prolific release schedule of Robert Pollard, but when he continues to record and release consistently rich and engaging material like that found on Lord of The Birdcage, it continues to be (at least for this reviewer), an incredibly rewarding exorcise.

Lord of The Birdcage will be released on June 7th via GBV, Inc. and is currently getting the pre-release stream treatment over at Spinner.

Buy the album from GBV Digital or The Factory of Raw Essentials/Rockathon

Reviewed :: Mars Classroom - The New Theory of Everything

Late last year when it was announced that Robert Pollard had a recorded an album's worth of material with Gary Waliek of our beloved Big Dipper we nearly fell out of our chairs. But after we gave it some more thought we realized that this dream team collaboration, made perfect sense. After all we witnessed Pollard's Big Dipper fandom first hand when he tapped them to open a show at The Paradise for his Boston Spaceships in 2008. Not to mention that he was perched at the side of the stage for Big Dipper entire set that evening, showing his obvious appreciation. Was it that fall evening in Boston that the seeds of Mars Classroom were planted? Who knows. More importantly what would the pairing of the magnanimous Robert Pollard and Gary Waliek, founding member of both Volcano Suns and Big Dipper sound like?

Rest assured, Mars Classroom works on every level. With assistance from Pell Mell's Robert Beerman , Pollard and Waliek have issued an instantly satisfying collection of mostly chiming guitar power-pop with a few curve balls to keep us on our toes. The album works so well because of the pristine and varied guitar driven underbelly that Waliek provides throughout, which allows Pollard to insert some of his most direct and stirring melodies. The New Theory of Everything is book ended by two of Pollards most instantly satisfying tracks. The title track had us reaching for the repeat button from fist listen and the albums final track, Wish You Were Young is a gorgeous, albeit melancholy gem, that reminds us a bit of the quieter moments from GBV's 2001 TVT released, Isolation Drills. But our odds on favorite track is the jagged Pre Meds A Trip which finds the trio upping the noise and prog factor all the while pummeling you with blistering pop hooks. But then again this record has a habit of revealing a new favorite with each listen.

Depending on who you ask you might get a slightly different answer, but to say that Robert Pollard has been on hot streak over the last few years is a gross understatement and Mars Classroom manages not only to continue the streak it manages to raise the bar a bit. Tell you're old college buddies, you know the ones you talked into that GBV reunion show, to pay attention, Mars Classroom is the Pollard pop record they've been waiting for, and frankly so have we. Let's hope this is not the last we hear from Mr's Pollard, Waliek, and Beerman as Mars Classroom because it's too good to be a passing fling.

Buy it via The Factory of Raw Essentials|Official|Facebook