REVIEW: The Planets Are Blasted By Boston Spaceships

(Guided By Voices Inc.)

*****

As the lead singer of lo-fi champions Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard is a name most indie music fans are aware of. Pollard has also fronted such projects as Circus Devils, Cosmos and Boston Spaceships - the latter are his current priority. Interest in the project has garnered him an impressive list of collaborators; Chris Slusarenko and John Moen (of the Decemberists) take Pollard’s demos and flesh them out, also Chris Funk, Gary Jarman and former GBV bandmate Greg Demos appear on The Planets Are Blasted. The college rock flows throughout and never lets up. ‘Canned Food Demon’ and ‘Keep Me Down’ exhibit the power pop that has endeared Pollard’s songwriting to many. ‘Big ‘O’ Gets An Earful’ explores a moodier, melodically grandeur path of craftsmanship, and, for the GBV faithful, some of the more obscure tracks from Pollard’s back catalogue are also reworked. ‘Heavy Crown’, ‘Dorothy’s A Planet’, ‘Headache Revolution’ and ‘Catherine From Mid-October’ are a great introduction to Pollard and Slusarenko’s celebrated group. Its an astonishingly strong release. With over 1,000 songs to his name, you wonder if Pollard’ll ever seize up. The Planets Are Blasted suggests he won’t. Ever.

Benjii Jackson