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MOJO
By Andrew Carden
Lo-fi goes hi-fi. Four track pop gods return with a
new label, producer (ex-Car Ric Ocasek) and a collection of songs to make Mr. Gallagher
green.
Having spent two-thirds of their nigh-on 15-year career in underground obscurity, Dayton,
Ohio's Guided By Voices create their best chance yet to achieve alt pop stardom with this,
their highest-profile release to date. Despite a new, cleaner, expanded sound this is
umistakenably classic GBV: a feast of riffs, infectious hooks and 60's influenced gems
that display mainman Robert Pollard's love of The Beatles, The Who and punk rock. From the
powerpop bookends of Dragons Awake and An Unmarketed Product through the anthemic Hold On
Hope to the pounding rock of Picture Me Big Time, this is surely the most consistent GBV
platter yet. OK, so it may lack the oblique charm of Alien Lanes or Bee Thousand, but its
immediacy should attract the kind of widespread attention Pollard so clearly deserves.