Roch on Music

By Roch Parisien

GUIDED BY VOICES Under the Bushes Under the Stars ****

(Matador)

Writing about music from the relative geographical isolation of Canada has certain advantages. With the world becoming increasingly smaller through the electronic eye, where one communicates "from" matters far less than ever before. Still, the vagaries of physical distribution of goods continue to affect our ability to access such information vehicles as music and film releases. Historically, Canada has maintained almost equal access to, and influence from, original music produced in the UK and the US in addition to our own domestic artists. Non-mainstream British albums are often released here ahead of the States and vice-versa (Liverpool's Cast, a case in point - debut album _All Change_, the #2 Roch On Music disc of 1995, saw its American release only last month).

Of course, things don't always work out to our advantage. Despite much under-and-above-ground media frenzy and a huge catalogue of previous indie releases (eight studio albums, a double-live recording, numerous singles and EPs, plus a box set!), I had never heard Akron, Ohio's Guided By Voices until its latest _Under the Bushes Under the Stars_. I came to the disc tabula rasa; if anything, doubting the flavor-of-the-moment hysterics and the band's reportedly rigorous, deliberate lo-fi affectation.

I was, quite honestly, immediately floored. The sub-three-minute psychedelic whimsy of early, Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd meets the freeform lyricism of Captain Beefheart; the earnest riffing of Husker Du meets the feedback candy of Jesus and the Mary Chain; all polished to a fuzzy pop sheen and produced like the recording was emanating from a 60s-vintage transistor radio - the influences such an equal and original blend of British and American that Guided Voices would make the perfect Canadian band. Should they ever tire of their native Akron, we would be pleased to welcome them as our own with open arms.

Guided By Voices songs are brief - no, more than brief, abrupt - often shutting down just as a groove gets established, paying alarmingly zealous heed to the tradition of "give em what they want, but leave em hungry for more." This leaves room for a dizzying, 24 track song lineup, the group specializing in titles that are as absurdly evocative ("Man Called Aerodynamics," "Burning Flag Birthday Suit") as the songs themselves are compact.

What appears, at first, to be the band's production conceit evolves into the completely organic concept of paring everything back to the song's integral essence. The infectious, controlled amateurism of these lighting commando raids on the brain leave shrapnel fragments imbedded deep in the subconscious. My personal GbV addiction, "Cut-Out Witch," features one of the most fascinatingly propulsive riffs imaginable, closely followed by the lurching, lugubrious, Move-like churn underlying "Lord Of Overstock." From the core of Guided By Voices' minimalist melodic sketchbook emerge intimations of rock-opera drama ("Burning Flag Birthday Suit"), early R.E.M. ("The Official Ironmen Rally Song"), jangly folk-rock ("Atom Eyes") and phased, "Across The Universe"-style Beatles ("To Remake The Young Flyer"). A number of odd snippets serve up willful dissonance and experimentation, providing exotic offsets for these more finely-honed constructs.

Needless to say, I will now be seeking out this unique ensemble's back catalogue and listening, from now on, to those eccentric voices in my head with far more abandon than ever originally anticipated.