After a summer spent devouring experimentalists from the 70's, my tryst with the thoroughly pop-driven Guided By Voices was all the more refreshing. In 1994, they released Bee Thousand, a lovable lo-fi masterpiece, blending the best of 60's British invasion with 90's garage rock to create the most listenable sonic mess since Jesus and the Mary Chain. There's a lot of genre hoping, though it is most consistently a garage rock album, and like the experimentalists of gone ages, Guided By Voices put musical quality before sound quality. That means a lot of crackling, fuzz, low-grade drum kits and oddly cut tracks, a style of production with a history of alienating potential fans. But do yourself, and me, a favor; if you aren't sure garage rock is your thing, or if you're unsettled by the thought of a record where you hear the musicians fussing with their instruments, set aside your biases long enough to hear "I Am a Scientist," which exemplifies Guided By Voices at their most listenable. Then, try out "Gold Star for Robot Boy," a more traditional, washed-out GBV song. If those do nothing for you, I'm surprised, but I've got one last track: the always charming, 60's inspired "Echos Myron."
We here at Phatfellas hope you're having a winter break of epic proportions!
Peace out or whatever
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