Robert Pollard, Lord of the Birdcage

Doesn’t he sound like ‘80s Bowie now? Definitely removed from the regrouped Guided by Voices sound, more songwriterly and less concerned with pushy solos by other players. The songs with the best titles—“Garden Smarm,” “Ash Ript Telecopter,” “Silence Before Violence”—tend to the be the weakest overall, strangely. Pollard’s legendarily self-derivative prolificity is definitely a liability here. But as someone who only recently came to a real understanding of Pollard’s extraordinary influence on a whole generation of indie upstarts, this is a document worth studying, particularly for its philosophical airs and profound lack of swagger.