Guided by Voices - Cool Planet (2014)

Having been recorded mostly during the great Polar Vortex of 2014 it's no surprise that the next Guided by Voices record, in their inexhaustible reformation, is titled Cool Planet. Here we have another wineskin full of great songs to listen to, recorded in a proper studio - Cyberteknics in Dayton, Ohio - for the first time since the reunion. There's some unusually consistent and consistently awesome production on Cool Planet, thanks to the array of vintage equipment on offer at Cyberteknics. Cool Planet has a weighty crunch that will lay you flat, which is perhaps also in part due to the addition of ex-late-version GBV tub-thumper Kevin March on drums (after a short but lively internecine skirmish that left some people happier than others). Pollard has talked in recent months about having refined his approach to songwriting (as if that was a thing that needed to happen) and the tunes he's written for Cool Planet stack up against the best he's ever done, including the hard hitting title track, which is just begging to be played live. Guitarist Tobin Sprout steps up with (among others) a Bowie-esque number ("Psychotic Crush") and a Beatle-esque number ("All American Boy") - it should be noted that Tobin recorded his songs for the most part at his home studio in Leland, Michigan, but they fit like Lego in the plastic palace of Cool Planet. Look what Guided By Voices have done for the world since reforming in 2010. Six high-quality, full-length albums in less than four years. And that's not counting EPs, singles, tours, or solo records. If the sorry state of the present day indie- alt- or just plain rock landscape is the disease, GBV is the cure. Do not take in moderation.