In a time when bands that I thought were totally mind blowing 4 years ago are "influencing" bands that are getting a lot of attention now. A time when the hipsters can go from loving a band at the beginning of the day and hating it after reading the Pitchfork review that evening (or Vice-versa). Where does that leave Robert Pollard? From the once-lauded Guided by Voices Pitchfork now gives all his solo efforts very low scores or scores that take the attention away from him in favor of the writer his/herself getting attention for their oh so witty score (Relaxation of the Asshole).

I once spent two weeks where the only song I listened to was "My Valuable Hunting Knife" but otherwise have found (like everyone else) Guided by Voices to be very hit a and miss. The same can be said for most of Pollard's solo career but the thing about Pollard is he's always having fun and doesn't care what you think. This album pretty much consists of Pollard 'taking a piss' as he usually does, although there is no standout like "Love is Stronger than Witchcraft" but all in all I enjoy this quite a bit more than "From a Compound Eye". The ambience included at it included at the beginning of most of the songs improves them considerably (especially the instrumental "Back to the Farm") and the lighters in "Another man's blood" set the mood for the album perfectly. Check this out for a good laugh and some pretty good tunes. - Takomora