London Times

By Stewart Lee

Guided by Voices

Mag Earwhig!

(Matador)

"In contrast to the studied neutrality of Froom (left)*, Ohio's Guided By Voices have spent a decade & a half & a dozen albums simply foregrounding everything indiscriminately, often to unlistenable effect. But the acoustic vignette I Am Produced reads like an apology for the band's developing mastery of technology. GBV, who used to sound like they were rehearsing in your living room, now sound like they're recording at the exact centre of your forehead.

Welding trebly extremes to stream-of-conciousness lyrics & an encyclopaedic knowledge of 1960s British beat boom B-sides, ageing ex-school teacher Robert Pollard elevates these 21 simple psychedelic garage rock songs into an endless sing-along stream of high-impact pop-art statements, bursting out of the speakers with the pinpoint accuracy of a Roy Lichtenstein air-to-air missile. Pop music rarely gets more exciting."

* refers to a review of Ron Sexsmith's, Mitchell Froom produced, new LP