Boston Spaceships?!?!?!? Say Wha'?

Robert Pollard, you son of a bitch.

For awhile in 1999-2000, Guided by Voices were my favorite band. I really wore out my copies of Alien Lanes & Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. "Quality of Armor" off of Propeller remains maybe the catchiest song I've ever heard. I really liked Bee Thousand, but thought when people said it was their best album that they were clearly nuts. I thought Vampire on Titus and Mag Earwig! were a bit better than given credit for, and Sunfish Holy Breakfast had my favorite Tobin Sprout Guided by Voices song ("Jabberstroker"). On the other hand, I thought Do the Collapse and Isolation Drills were as bad as everyone said, and Universal Truths and Cycles was completely overrated. Earthquake Glue & Half Smiles of the Decomposed were pretty good.

At some point I'll post some of my favorite GbV songs, but today is not that day.

Anyway, Guided by Voices broke up, but Robert Pollard continued to write the worst Guided by Voices songs (52 seconds long, no melody, meandering atonal guitar, the end), and remain involved in several side projects that did the same thing.

I had remained hopeful for a long time that Robert Pollard might return to form, but I think I gave up on that idea in about 2003 and never bothered to buy another one of his solo albums or side projects again.

But I just heard of his new project, Boston Spaceships, which will release their debut Brown Submarine in September. The album is described as "pop punk" with only a few (thankfully) "prog flourishes." I heard one of their songs, and it sounds like an above average GbV track, if not exactly exceptional. It only has one or two completely tuneless moments! But hey, it's one song, Robert Pollard wrote it, and it actually sounds vaguely like music, so for the first time in awhile I'm actually considering buying one of his albums.

For the record, lest I sound to scornful of "brilliant musical experimentation," all of Robert Pollard's "atonal moments" sound exactly the same. If you've ever heard them, you know what I mean. It's like the Groundhog Day of cringe inducing offkeyedness. Strike that, more like the She's the Man of offkeyedness.

You can find "Go for the Exit" off the forthcoming album as Track 26 on the player.

Here's there website: http://www.bostonspaceships.com/