Tympanogram Grade: C+

Let’s Go Eat the Factory is the new release by Dayton, OH’s recently reunited Guided by Voices, and we all know what that means. GBV and Robert Pollard release massive quantities of music. Small songs and snippets dominate an uneven album.

The material is sketchy. There are some great moments, but too many songs bog the album down with tired mediocrity. GBV made some great albums: Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, King Shit and the Golden Boys, Mag Earwhig and Isolation Drills. Unfortunately, Let’s Go Eat the Factory is not one of them.

The problem isn’t that it is a bad record. It’s a very listenable record, actually, especially if you like GBV and recognize how nice it is to have the (once fired) Bee Thousand-era line-up back in Pollard’s good graces again. And obviously, Let’s Go Eat the Factory is a massive upswing from Pollard’s 13 individual solo releases of recent years which became a perpetual cruel joke.

The problem is that there comes a point when you need to expect more. “Hang Mr. Kite,” “Waves,” “Chocolate Boy,” “My Europa,” “The Unsinkable Fats Domino,” “How I Met My Mother,” “Doughnut for a Snowman,” “Spiderfighter,” “Imperial Racehorsing,” “We Won’t Apologize for the Human Race,” “God Loves Us,” and “Laundry & Lasers” are perfectly great songs. There’s always the promise of greatness in GBV, though, and that greatness is rarely attained outside of concert.

It’s been a damned long time since we’ve had a great GBV release. We’re long overdue. The good news is that Let’s Go Eat the Factory shows us that there is still the promise of greatness, but come on… the promise of greatness is there in every GBV record! I am getting tired of waiting for Pollard to deliver an all-around satisfying record; after all, it’s been about a decade since Earthquake Glue. All I want to see is a solid 40-minutes of music on one release, which shouldn’t be hard for a band that produces their level of material. The punchline – of course – is that Pollard has a solo album coming out in March.

Guided By Voices // The Unsinkable Fats Domino

Guided By Voices // Doughnut for a Snowman

2012 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Tim Presley and his basement 60′s-rock revival outfit, White Fence. First, he and Ty Segall collaborated on an album titled Hair, which is due out on April 28. Second, Presley’s own double LP, Family Perfume is due out on Woodsist Records this year, with Volume 1 set for release on April 3. And third, both albums are going to fucking awesome. Want proof? Grab “Swagger Vets and Double Moon” below.

Presley has cranked up the distortion a bit on this track and croons his monotone vocals over moody blues riffs and rough strumming. What was more reminiscent of 60′s pop outfits like Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds on his 2011 release …Is Growing Faith has now taken a turn towards the grittier side of things, and we’re all the more lucky for it. The style may be a bit edgier, but it’s the familiar voice and authentic spirit that unifies each piece of art that White Fence releases. This may only be the second single to be released from Family Perfume, but so far, Presley is batting 1.000.

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White Fence // Swagger Vets and Double Moon [mp3] from the forthcoming Family Perfume

Tympanogram Grade: B-

Some bands opt to redefine their music on each release. There’s the acoustic and sparse album followed by the electric and grandiose album. Or the “prog album” followed by the “folk album.” Not Dr. Dog. The Philly rockers have been content to evolve their sound slowly and subtly, each consecutive album adding a bit of extra scenery to the musical view. Similarly, their fan base has grown slowly but surely. Like the tortoise, they’re winning the race at their own pace.

Their latest album, Be The Void, bucks that trend just a bit, but in a sporadic and undefined way. They were a little less subtle in the changes they’ve made and perhaps a bit too adventurous in making them. The album’s opening track, “Lonesome,” brings a bluesy folk layer to their oeuvre. It’s a decent sized leap for them and it works wonderfully. As the next track, “That Old Black Hole,” starts up with its funky beat, spacy backdrop, and bongo highlights, it is quickly apparent that the refreshing new sound found in “Lonesome” is not a harbinger for things to come. The album continues to fluctuate between different influences throughout the rest of the album, whether it be the late 70′s hair-rockers “Big Girl” and “Warrior Man,” the Eastern-infused “Get Away,” or the almost mirrored return to folk on album closer “Turning the Century.”

I am certainly not knocking variety as a whole, but in this case it seems that Dr. Dog may have added a bit too much too fast. The album ends up lacking cohesiveness and becomes rather a collection of songs. Some of the songs are great, and will be welcome additions to Dr. Dog’s excellent live show. It just doesn’t particularly work well in the album setting. The songs heard individually become more enjoyable then when they are played in the context of the whole album. This may not necessarily be a bad thing. I get the feeling that indie giants Wilco and My Morning Jacket have both progressed past their “great album” stage as they have suffered similar cohesiveness issues on their past couple of albums. Yet they are known to be two of the best live acts going in the indie-rock world and the albums still served well in adding new highlights to their concert experiences. Dr. Dog hasn’t gotten quite as much credit or popularity for their live show, but anyone who has seen them knows they’re among the best as well.

So perhaps they too have matured to the point where their best albums are in the rear view mirror and now we’re all humming along at Dr. Dog speed, enjoying the view. Or maybe it’s just a bump in the road. Regardless, I think Dr. Dog’s most ardent fans will find a lot to like here, just not sure how many new ones will be made.

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I’ll admit, it’s been a slow start to 2012 for me. Not a great deal in January really got me excited. Maybe it’s the prospect of a new Meat Loaf album in February that’s set my expectation bar pretty high for the year, but none of the year’s early releases really got me going.

So when I started listening to the new single “Wishing Well” by Finnish songstress Manna, it was with a slightly hopeless sigh of scepticism. I made my way through the first verse, minding my own business, enjoying her dulcet Nordic tones and then BAM!, the chorus hits and Mark Lanegan kicks through my speakers with snarls of electric guitar and shrill electronic whirls like Optimus Prime trashing a Kiss themed wedding party in Valhalla.

Lanegan doesn’t duet with just anyone, but it’s easy to see why he’s deigned to take part on this Manna track. Her sultry, slightly creepy verses play perfectly against a massive, industrial sounding chorus taken by Lanegan and his trademark growl. There’s superb interplay between the slow burning verses, adorned with lonely plinks of acoustic guitar, and the behemoth guitar thuds of the chorus. It’s a massive track, and has helped to add Manna’s upcoming sophomore album Shackles to my list of anticipated 2012 releases. And let’s hope Mark Lanegan spreads himself around a bit more too.

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Manna (ft. Mark Lanegan) // Wishing Well [mp3] from Shackles

Happy To You is out on March 27th.

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I don’t know what it is that I’ve recently been experiencing, but I’m mired in some sort of musical lull. I have found myself nearly unmoved by any and all music lately, and I’m fairly discouraged by it – especially seeing as, you know, I have a music blog. I’ve taken steps to dislodge this malaise, or whatever it might be, by searching out things I may have missed or not given proper due. SiriusXM is doing a free two-week trial, which has moderately helped in giving me some new research material, but I’m still dispassionate and it sucks. Luckily, today I found a few things that are clearly good; mostly older music from long before I was born.

[mp3] COOLRUNNINGS // Spirit of the High

Fittingly then perhaps, I came across a grungy tune reminiscent of a bygone era. I checked the archives, and though it doesn’t seem we’ve written of Knoxville’s COOLRUNNINGS, we’ve certainly been aware of them. On new track “Spirit of the High,” the band incorporates southern rock elements for a sound that is dirty and quite good. The sound is a bit of a departure from what I am most accustomed to from the outfit, that being the more avant garde and electronically tinged BABES FOREVER EP. It’s a direction I can see myself getting behind.

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The ways in which bands form is as diverse as the genres of music they play. The members of Milano Sun all hail from Gothenburg, Sweden, but they met on a trip around Europe in 2010. The band managed to record an album this past year, and the single below is their debut, a lightweight, synth-heavy track titled “Already Gone.”

There’s a section right in the middle of “Already Gone” where it sounds like the band went out to the beach on a windy day and just recorded the sounds they heard; all things considered, that’s exactly what this song seems perfect for: a drive to the beach in the warm days of July, with your hand outside of the window, feeling the air rushing past.

There’s no word on when the rest of the band’s aforementioned album is going to be available, so we’ll have to make do with just this track in the meantime. I think there are worse ways we could all be spending our time. And if you must, the video for “Already Gone” is available as well. It will make you long for the open road and warmer, less-restrictive days. Also, it has nipples in it. Consider yourself warned.

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