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From Jason Thornberry

Howling Wolf Orchestra
Speedtraps for the Bee Kingdom
#9 in the Fading Captain Series

HOWLING WOLF ORCHESTRA “Speedtraps For The Bee
Kingdom” (Rockathon/Recordhead)
File this in the already immense Guided By
Voices catalog (Number Nine in the Fading
Captain Series). Just when it appeared that the
party was over for the whole movement and
their six dollar recording budgets (tap ramen,
coffee and a blank D-90), tape noise,
one-take-and-it’s-done performances, and obtund,
lethargic guitar tones, the sole crown-bearer of
that tiny, tinny era blows the dust off his
dependable four-track recorder and belches out
eight new songs that can be considered a
prequel/companion to the bright and shiny
Isolation Drills. 

Here you get the Pollard brothers (Jim, and GBV
mainstay Bob), and Nate Farley taking turns on
drums, bass, guitars, piano, and vocals by Robert
as he channels the ghost of John Lennon.
Fantastic, and all too brief. Witnesses to 1995’s
amazing Alien Lanes album will note that, like
early Napalm Death, eight GBV songs will usually
last about nine whole minutes. This miniature
release clocks in at a marathon 13:54, and is
flawless, though it’s really about 45 minutes in
length if you can count me re-playing Insane
Building Concepts (I.B.C.). The club is still
very much open.