Title: Isolation Chills
Product review: Having never been a proponent of the lo-fi movement in the mid-90s (for a song to be recorded badly as an aesthetic value is nothing short of hubris!), I'm now put in the awkward position of making a case for Guided by Voices to go back to their sloppy heyday. On Isolation Drills, they've never sounded better to such little avail. Since Bee Thousand in 1994, their (badly) recorded highpoint, GbV have acquired tons of studio technique. Of the five full length CDs they've released since then, I can recall a handful of songs. In comparison, and from a cursory look at the Bee Thousand back cover, I remember every track, including bad musicianship and pronounced tape hiss. Would the songs on Isolation Drills be saved by the lo-fi aesthetic? Probably not, though they could use a bit of roughing up. Perfect as they are: "Unspirited", about the road too frequently traveled, and "The Brides Have Hit Glass", about the glass ceiling also known as marriage.
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