GUIDED BY VOICES – CRAWLSPACE OF THE PANTHEON

Life has moved culture from the club to arenas. But larger spaces require more of less; less unity, faceless crowds cheering you on, with fans spending an exorbitant amount of money to watch their favorite artist from 1,000 feet away. Is it worth living in a world like that? It doesn’t seem so, but so many, obsessed with social media, are always on the prowl for a life filled with abundance, without living a life abundantly.

There’s a long, storied history of Guided By Voices, the brainchild of Robert Pollard, but it has allowed fans a much more personal appeal, with a larger-than-life sound, always within reach. The ever-changing line-up has been solidified over the past few years and has just released its 43^rd album, Crawlspace Of The Pantheon (GBV Inc.). If your expectations of GBV are anything but high, you might be disappointed. From the get-go, Pollard & co. rock with a fervor on “Lost In The Sun” with crunchy guitars as the catalyst to his vocal delivery, right before the thunderous rhythm section of Kevin March & Mark Shue collide with Bobby Bare Jr. and Doug Gillard’s guitars. But it’s the mostly bare-boned “Out With A Theory” that might catch your attention. For the first half of the song, it’s Pollard backed by electric guitars, and it doesn’t need anything else. Gillard tugs on a gentle melody and Pollard rides the lightning. It’s rough and beautiful; a lo-fi aesthetic without sacrifice. That’s when the rhythm comes in, which may not have been necessary, but it’s welcomed.

GBV still takes chances with its sound and style, but there’s no relinquishing those massive 70s riffs like on “Advance Without Dropping” along with buttery vocal splatterings Pollard is known for delivering, but when the band moves in a couple of different ways on “Dagon’s Plunger,” things get real. The sound is initially sinister but then morphs with softer tones, with a thicker bass line and a low-end rumble. It moves in and out of that same darkness, but often delivers us back into the light of a thousand suns.

Well, Guided By Voices again delivers an album worth its weight in gold, sometimes wrapped in platinum. Crawlspace Of The Pantheon isn’t any different, and we should always expect it from the band because, well, it is Guided By Voices after all.

SPARTA – CUT A SILHOUETTE

Erosion. Yes, that’s what normally takes place when a group packs it all up and decides to call it, after a few years of performing globally and releasing material. Their collective sounds normally erode into complacency and/or mediocrity. Sometimes that isn’t the case; instead, having to deal with loss and the inability to function 100% on the road or within a group setting. But you may end up returning with the desire to start again where you last left off.

That’s the story for Jim Ward for a time with Sparta, the band that released 3 albums from 2002 to 2006, went on an extended hiatus, and was revived with 2020’s Trust The River. That album was followed up by the group’s self-titled 2022 release and after 4 years, the group releases its Cut A Silhouette (Equal Vision/Dine Alone). For the new album, the group of Ward (guitar/vocals), Matt Miller (bass), and Neil Hennessy enlisted J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) to record the release. Audiophiles may rejoice but would the songwriting stand shoulder to shoulder with the quality of the sound recording? That’s the actual question, I’m certain of it. Here, the band moves through a variety of ideas, sonic excursions, and playfulness.

The band is on the attack on the opener “Split Lip,” as Ward opens it with short bursts of guitar right before the band joins in fervently as Ward sings, seemingly disillusioned with his choices. The band comes out swinging on the verse, but it’s during the chorus where the bludgeoned attack is slightly quelled by the smooth chorus and ends with backing vocals that Robbins joins in on. The fun doesn’t end there, as Sparta moves into the explosive “Crater,” and who knows, it just might be where Ward’s emotions fell right into. Guitars provide the angst he’s able to set his voice and words to, while bass and drums remain consistent, sometimes providing the syncopation that’s needed, wanted, and delivered. “Mouthbreather” seems much tamer in the sense the anger makes way for a calmness, but doesn’t allow the song to refrain from retaining a strengthened catchiness through use of melody. Backing vocals are reminiscent of Sting’s work in the past, but the song continues to identify as one of Sparta’s.

Now, the other side of Sparta I was referring to could be found on “See You Soon,” a piano & rhythm-driven number that initially might seem out of place, but then, it doesn’t. But then it does. While it might be different, it is a pretty number that shows a different side to the group, with its playfulness that doesn’t have a care in the world. Ward seems to wear his heart on his proverbial sleeve, leaving nothing to the imagination, being as direct as he can. Yes, it’s a love song, but nothing gets lost in its eloquence. “Midnights” takes a much more mid-tempo approach, with Brooks Harlan (Jawbox) contributing organ work throughout the sparseness of the song’s musical landscape. The band delivers a sweet amount of melody, with instruments melting into one another. When Ward sings “I want to feel everything / I want to take the stars from the night,” you get a sense that’s exactly what the band is grabbing hold of. And for a brief moment, Sparta powers through the song before reverting back to where it all began. It’s pretty clever. The band doesn’t stop there because the musicians continuously bounce back and forth, with “Everything You Say,” filling things with a little bit of, um, everything. It’s loud, it’s quiet; yeah, there’s a dynamic play here but it continues to rage on like a Sparta number.

It seems the lengthy moments in between Sparta releases haven’t really affected the band much, instead allowing the members to regroup, pen, and release songs that are able to not only be captured in time but also to allow for something thoughtful and concise in its aggression and tranquil song structures. That’s what we get from Cut A Silhouette; we don’t need much more than that.