20-02-2011, 13:43
hearing a different influence on every track here
that's a good thing
very good kick-ass alt
Grade - 1.9
released Feb 15th, 2011
![[Image: p56465anxh0.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drp500/p564/p56465anxh0.jpg)
from the album - Paradise Is Not So Bad - 2.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev0ETlX9nss
from all music
Bio
Lifeguards finds two notable figures from the Midwest indie rock community joining forces to create tuneful but powerful rock & roll, though it's not the first context in which Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard have worked together. Pollard, from Dayton, Ohio, had been the leader, principle songwriter and lead vocalist with Guided by Voices since the group's formation in 1985. Meanwhile, Gillard was a guitarist and songwriter with the Cleveland-based art-punk band Death of Samantha from 1984 to the band's breakup in 1990, and later formed the blusier Cobra Verde with DoS singer and guitarist John Petkovic in 1992. In 1996, Pollard had a falling out with the other members of Guided by Voices, which led to him firing his bandmates and hiring Cobra Verde to serve as his backing band for the recording of the 1997 album Mag Earwhig! and a subsequent tour. (The album included a new recording of the song "I Am A Tree," which Gillard wrote and recorded with his short-lived group Gem.) While eventually most of the members of Cobra Verde drifted away from the Guided by Voices lineup, Gillard stayed with GbV until Pollard opted to retire the band at the end of 2004. In 1999, Gillard collaborated with Pollard to make the duo album Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, and in 2003 Pollard and Gillard formed Lifeguards as a side project, recording the album King Mist Urth, which was released through Pollard's Fading Captain label. In 2010, Gillard contributed to Our Cubehouse Still Rocks, the fourth album from Pollard's project Boston Spaceships, and later the same year they revived the Lifeguards moniker for another collaborative album, Waving At The Astronauts, which was released in February 2011.
Album Review
A quick look at Robert Pollard's post-Guided by Voices body of work makes two things clear -- left to his own devices, his solo albums tend to be uneven and often indifferent, while when he teams up with worthy collaborators (such as John Moen and Chris Slusarenko in Boston Spaceships or Tommy Keene in the Keene Brothers), he's still capable of making smart, vital rock & roll with a hard edge despite their pop inclinations. If anyone needs an example of this principle in action, they need look no further than Waving at the Astronauts, the second album from Lifeguards, in which Pollard teams up with his former Guided by Voices bandmate Doug Gillard. Gillard is a fine songwriter as well as a powerful guitarist (he penned "I Am a Tree," one of the finest GBV tracks written by someone other than Pollard), and with a similarly talented colleague on board, Pollard has made the strongest album he's released since he retired GBV in 2004. Gillard and Pollard both contributed to the songwriting on Waving at the Astronauts, and while there are plenty of Pollard's usual melodic tricks here and his lyrics are clever but oblique in his usual manner, the tunes are also shot through with a wiry energy and an adventurous but hard-rocking attack that make the most of their shared obsession with 1970s rock. And with Gillard's guitar work giving this music a firm backbone and a bold sense of drama, Pollard steps up his game as a singer -- he's sometimes sounded more precise than he does here, but it's been quite some time since he's felt like a for-real rock & roll singer, as he clearly does on this material. There are moments when Pollard and Gillard's fascination with the textures of prog rock allows these songs to meander more than they should, but far more often this music sounds intelligent but passionate and muscular, and Waving at the Astronauts is that rarity, a rock & roll album that's mature, adventurous, and exciting at the same time. It's clear Pollard and Gillard bring out the best in one another, and if they have any sense at all, they won't wait another eight years before starting work on Lifeguards album number three.
Track Listing
1 Paradise Is Not So Bad Gillard, Pollard 4:45
2 Nobody's Milk Gillard, Pollard 3:34
3 (Doing The) Math Gillard, Pollard 4:40
4 Product Head Gillard, Pollard 3:53
5 You're Gonna Need a Mountain Gillard, Pollard 5:46
6 Sexless Auto Gillard, Pollard 3:13
7 Trip the Web Gillard, Pollard 4:00
8 They Called Him So Much Gillard, Pollard 3:04
9 Keep It in Orbit Gillard, Pollard 4:00
10 What Am I? Gillard, Pollard 4:11
that's a good thing
very good kick-ass alt
Grade - 1.9
released Feb 15th, 2011
from the album - Paradise Is Not So Bad - 2.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev0ETlX9nss
from all music
Bio
Lifeguards finds two notable figures from the Midwest indie rock community joining forces to create tuneful but powerful rock & roll, though it's not the first context in which Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard have worked together. Pollard, from Dayton, Ohio, had been the leader, principle songwriter and lead vocalist with Guided by Voices since the group's formation in 1985. Meanwhile, Gillard was a guitarist and songwriter with the Cleveland-based art-punk band Death of Samantha from 1984 to the band's breakup in 1990, and later formed the blusier Cobra Verde with DoS singer and guitarist John Petkovic in 1992. In 1996, Pollard had a falling out with the other members of Guided by Voices, which led to him firing his bandmates and hiring Cobra Verde to serve as his backing band for the recording of the 1997 album Mag Earwhig! and a subsequent tour. (The album included a new recording of the song "I Am A Tree," which Gillard wrote and recorded with his short-lived group Gem.) While eventually most of the members of Cobra Verde drifted away from the Guided by Voices lineup, Gillard stayed with GbV until Pollard opted to retire the band at the end of 2004. In 1999, Gillard collaborated with Pollard to make the duo album Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, and in 2003 Pollard and Gillard formed Lifeguards as a side project, recording the album King Mist Urth, which was released through Pollard's Fading Captain label. In 2010, Gillard contributed to Our Cubehouse Still Rocks, the fourth album from Pollard's project Boston Spaceships, and later the same year they revived the Lifeguards moniker for another collaborative album, Waving At The Astronauts, which was released in February 2011.
Album Review
A quick look at Robert Pollard's post-Guided by Voices body of work makes two things clear -- left to his own devices, his solo albums tend to be uneven and often indifferent, while when he teams up with worthy collaborators (such as John Moen and Chris Slusarenko in Boston Spaceships or Tommy Keene in the Keene Brothers), he's still capable of making smart, vital rock & roll with a hard edge despite their pop inclinations. If anyone needs an example of this principle in action, they need look no further than Waving at the Astronauts, the second album from Lifeguards, in which Pollard teams up with his former Guided by Voices bandmate Doug Gillard. Gillard is a fine songwriter as well as a powerful guitarist (he penned "I Am a Tree," one of the finest GBV tracks written by someone other than Pollard), and with a similarly talented colleague on board, Pollard has made the strongest album he's released since he retired GBV in 2004. Gillard and Pollard both contributed to the songwriting on Waving at the Astronauts, and while there are plenty of Pollard's usual melodic tricks here and his lyrics are clever but oblique in his usual manner, the tunes are also shot through with a wiry energy and an adventurous but hard-rocking attack that make the most of their shared obsession with 1970s rock. And with Gillard's guitar work giving this music a firm backbone and a bold sense of drama, Pollard steps up his game as a singer -- he's sometimes sounded more precise than he does here, but it's been quite some time since he's felt like a for-real rock & roll singer, as he clearly does on this material. There are moments when Pollard and Gillard's fascination with the textures of prog rock allows these songs to meander more than they should, but far more often this music sounds intelligent but passionate and muscular, and Waving at the Astronauts is that rarity, a rock & roll album that's mature, adventurous, and exciting at the same time. It's clear Pollard and Gillard bring out the best in one another, and if they have any sense at all, they won't wait another eight years before starting work on Lifeguards album number three.
Track Listing
1 Paradise Is Not So Bad Gillard, Pollard 4:45
2 Nobody's Milk Gillard, Pollard 3:34
3 (Doing The) Math Gillard, Pollard 4:40
4 Product Head Gillard, Pollard 3:53
5 You're Gonna Need a Mountain Gillard, Pollard 5:46
6 Sexless Auto Gillard, Pollard 3:13
7 Trip the Web Gillard, Pollard 4:00
8 They Called Him So Much Gillard, Pollard 3:04
9 Keep It in Orbit Gillard, Pollard 4:00
10 What Am I? Gillard, Pollard 4:11
