Not In My Airforce/Matador

By James Lien

If the solo debut by Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard sounds like his band, that's because for all intents and purposes, it is. The only things that are tangibly different on Pollard's solo debut are a couple more microphones and a little bit more whump in the drum sounds on a few of the tunes. For the last year or two, the GBV formula of deliberate low-fi elitism and hipster anti-posing was beginning to smack of dilettantism, and not only that, it was also getting stale real quick. What Bob Pollard's done is the opposite of an aging rocker stripping down his sound and "going back to the roots" - he's actually made an album that's a tenative move towards selling out. And so, the most eagerly-awaited solo album in all of indie rockdom is also the best GBV-related project since Bee Thousand. Songs like "Girl Named Captain", "Parakeet Troppers" and "The Ash Gray Proclamation" are beautiful reminders of exactly what everybody liked about GBV in the first place. And, as with GBV, the greatest thing about Robert Pollard on Not In My Airforce is that he hasn't read his own reviews. He just keeps playing air guitar in front of the mirror as if that's all that really matters.

Tobin Sprout

Carnival Boy/Matador

By Tom Roe

Guided By Voices' slow, then meteoric rise to the top of the indie-rock heap has now spawned solo albums from both the Ohio band's songwriters. While Robert Pollard's collection will probably draw more attention, Tobin Sprout's Carnival Boy is not to be ignored. Save for the spare instrumental "The Bone Yard", Sprout's fuzzy guitars and minor-key melodies create hazy soundscapes for emotions to lurk. Sprout's lyrics evoke more than they emote, though. With the lonely accompaniment of his guitar, Sprout opens "Gas Daddy Gas" by singing, "Such a fuss about such a story/Standing in the punchline/Scratch the back of some strange emotions." Keeping with the minimal setting, he cautiously invokes images of a lost childhood to create one of the album's most haunting songs. Creating another world is what Sprout does best, as on "Hermit Stew" where he equates modern city life with hermetic living: " Come to my city of dull surroundings/Population barely four/Watch me come and go/I'm everyone I know". Unfortunately, Sprout's unguided tour is far to short; the 14 songs here zoom by in half an hour.